any advise

[ford359]

i bought a 1974 tahiti tiger with a 454 chevy and a jc berkley pump, im new to jet boats, i dont know what i should do to take care of the pump? dose it hurt the pump to run it out of water? are tahiti's bad boats? im think of building a 496 bbc what will brake with 550-600 hose power? i know the pump is good to 400hp but what about the boat hole is it worth my money to beef the pump up or is the hole to weak, it has 1/4 stringers. thanks for any advise you have.

[YeLLowBoaT]

don't run the boat out of the water with out disconnecting the pump, EVER.
Tahiti's make great family boats. The are not really designed or built to take big hp. if you want a boat to have fun with the family they are perfect.

[Jetaholic]

Well you can run them but you have to hook up a garden hose to them to do it without damage. And even then I wouldn't do it for very long.
Go to Pep Boys and get a radiator flush & fill kit. In it you will find a T fitting. You install that inline with the water hose that runs from the jet pump to the front of the engine block. This will allow you to hook up your garden hose to the motor and the jet pump, supplying cooling water to the motor as well as water to the pump.
Now if you want to be able to run the engine on the trailer for extended periods, I suggest buying a Jet-A-Way from Hi-Tech Performance. They are a bit pricey, but well worth the money seeing as how it also performs a safety function in case your motor dies on the water. But what it also allows you to do is it allows you to disconnect the motor from the jet so that you can run the motor on the trailer without dry firing the pump. I would also recommend installing a spicket in between the T-fitting and the pump, and closing it when you're firing the motor on the trailer with a Jet-A-Way so that all the water from the garden hose runs through the motor for cooling since the pump won't need it.
Oh and one more thing...DO NOT FORGET TO REINSTALL THE T-FITTING CAP BEFORE YOU GO OUT TO THE LAKE!!! You WILL sink your boat if you do and will regret it "later".

[gforceauto]

got any pics? i have a tahati also and about 500 hp and i think ive pushed it just about as far as it will go, but i love it it takes the waves good.

[Goad]

got any pics? i have a tahati also and about 500 hp and i think ive pushed it just about as far as it will go, but i love it it takes the waves good.
post up some pics...
growing up, my dad had a tahiti tiger.....brings back some great memories

[KYBOATER]

I just picked up a 75 19' tahiti tiger. will be doing a completed rebuild. real basket case right now

[ford359]

how do i post pics

[67weimann]

You have to host the pics somewhere like Photobucket (http://www.photobucket.com)
http://***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=19467
http://***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=19468
http://***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=19469
http://***boat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=19470

[67weimann]

BTW, looks nice. What is that on the dash? I like the Chameleon paint on the pump...congrats and welcome to ***boat...

[ford359]

the thing on the dash is just the pic, used a cheep throw away to take them, the flames are Chameleon as well

[Devilman]

Nice lookin boat! :cool:

[gforceauto]

nice boat!!

[QuickJet]

I'd do the basics first before I dealt with the pump. Saddle tanks and some headers is where I'd start. How fast you lookin to go?

[77Woodbridge]

Nice!