Pantherjet?

[Flashy]

Trying to help my friend out here .He has a pantherjet on a Mardella or somethin. Boat runs good BBC,Roller motor 62 mph ,i know weight=HP=setup means everything .But will these things perform or is he wastin his time.
Also on one of the old jet sites a guy made a homemade placediverter to fit a panther does anyone have a pic or any ideas?
I had a drag boat with a Berkley setup but i dont know much about this panther or what to tell him.
Thanks
Flashy

[Keithb87]

Talk to 180 Degrees out.... He runs a Panther on his Omega..
:idea: Don't think that you'll get much more that 70 to 75 from it though. :idea:
Panther should have a website and I think they offer a "Diverter" but I'm not sure about that..

[Some Kind Of Monster]

180 out has 600 - 650 hp on a 19' Omega and we GPSed this weekend at 64mph.. You won't find too many guys that support Panther. They are rare, but they DO exist. FYI I beat him good Keith. He wasn't happy and won't admit it. :jawdrop:

[Cas]

Trying to help my friend out here .He has a pantherjet on a Mardella or somethin. Boat runs good BBC,Roller motor 62 mph ,i know weight=HP=setup means everything .But will these things perform or is he wastin his time.
Also on one of the old jet sites a guy made a homemade placediverter to fit a panther does anyone have a pic or any ideas?
I had a drag boat with a Berkley setup but i dont know much about this panther or what to tell him.
Thanks
Flashy
Define "perform".
What does he want to do with the boat? What are the expectations? What's the bottom of the boat like? hook? rocker? How about the intake, has it been modified? What's the transition from the hull to the pump like? Do you know the angle of the pump installation? Are the impeller blades nicked or are they sharp? what's the clearance between the impeller and the housing? how about the clearance between the impeller and the Stator Housing? Do you know if the rear zerk fitting has been greased every 20 to 25 hrs to keep the bushing lubed?
The first 2 questions are probably the most important for him to answer.
Click the link to find out more
Panther Forum (http://p210.ezboard.com/fclassic***boatsfrm21)

[Flashy]

Define "Perform" ? come on Cas you know what i mean.
Im pretty sure hull has no hook or anything wrong with it . Just trying to figure the guys problem out. So far all i have heard at the lake was how bad Panthers were. I dont run a jet anymore ,so im not 'hip' with the latest and greatest stuff. I never saw a Panther till this guy showed up. I ran a berkley in a Light retired no interior race hull with a mild BBC , My boat ran probably 65 im guessing by the speed from others were running. This guy has a roller motor and twisted off 7000rpm monday and only ran 62-64 . I wanted to know if the pumps were efficient or do we need to start cutting this dude for a new pump install. If we could get him up around 70 or so i think he would be happy. I will check out your link on your post. Thanks Cas.
Flashy

[badrat]

I have a Panther in a 18' pantera, I just finished rebuilding it and it seems to work real good, This is my first boat with a jet, I have always had v/dr's, so as far as a comparison with another pump I can't give you one, I have heard storys about their performance not being as good as others, but as far as I'm concerned, they are fine, so I don't see any need to do alot of work on the hull to replace it with something that is probably not any better, altho I'm sure lots of folks will disagree , mine runs in the hi 50's
I did take the ugly cover off of mine and made a Alum cover that helps keep the water out of the boat, when in reverse,
Panther does have a web site, it is www.pantherjet.com , they have a rebuild kit , and also a place deverter available,. but requires machine work,
Bill
BIG BOYS TINKER TOYS
HOT RODS AND CUSTOMS
OREGON,

[Cas]

actually Flashy, you answered the perform question with the 70 mph target. A lot of people have 90's in mind and that would be fairly difficult to do with a Panther although it has been done.
All the other questions may need to be looked into to be answered, unfortunately.
One of the biggest problems with Panthers that I've just recently come to find out is the installation. Panther pumps were sent out to the boat manufacturers with a matched insert from the factory. Once at the boat shops, they often times got mixed up which meant the pump was installed wrong. You can take some measurements to find out if your friends is installed correctly. Side to side is pretty cut and dried, up and down is a bit more difficult. The pump should be set in at about 0º up/down. If it's out, you can get a "wedge" from Panther to adjust it and/or something to play around with for optimum speed.
The 4 areas that need to be addressed are:
1. the clearance between impeller and housing
2. the clearance between the impeller and the stator housing
3. the rings on the stator housing are not warn off
4. the impeller blades
If you need any help with any of it, feel free to drop me an email and I'll do what I can to help. I've rebuilt a few of these things and have had real good success. The real tough part is if there's an installation issue.

[Cas]

oh yea, 70 shouldn't be a problem with his motor providing the hull is pretty straight and the set-up is decent.

[fullwood]

There is only 3 good setups for panther's! 1:tie the entire pump to the boat and gently climb your ass to the front of you bow and gently lower the panther to the bottom of the lake/river/body of water and wait until it grabs something to stop your gentle movement i.e. boat anchor. 2:Use the panther as trade in for a "real pump" such as a american turbine! 3:use there inherently bad performance to verbally assault people such as CAS and other panther lovers, RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR thanks BAD BERK!!!

[Jet City]

This guy has a roller motor and twisted off 7000rpm monday and only ran 62-64 .
Flashy[/QUOTE]
Something doesn't sound right about this, 7000 rpm (with a tight pump) would require around 900 hp, and would surely generate more than 64 mph, If it were me I would look over the impellor and clearances, sounds like the pump needs help or its cavitating. Panther offers a nice manual for around $30. that covers all the info you'll need. My 18' Panther pumped boat goes 55 mph at 4900 rpms with a stock 460.

[Cas]

JCR,
It's my guess that it's cavitating at the top end which leads me to believe that there's either an air leak somewhere or the transition from the hull to the pump isn't all that great.
My 19' Tahiti ran 63 at 5100 with a 375 hp BBC before I put the diverter on. Unfortunately, I didn't gps it after that change. The boat is now sitting in the backyard awaiting something that I'm not sure of yet :D
I bought another boat that we've been using this past summer with a Berk. Now that I've had a decent comparison, each boat/pump have their pros and cons. I've been debating on putting this current motor in the Tahiti/Panther just to have a real good comparison.....just not sure I want to go through the whole engine change over thing.