To Teflon, or not to Teflon........

[Dimarco Kid]

Go fast lake hydro, occassional drags, maybe 10 hours a year of use. Teflon blower? Non-teflon blower? I got a 6-71 non-t blower now, looking at an 8-71 t'd. Should I? Can I get away with a teflon blower for a year and re-strip it every winter? Thanks
D Kid

[SOUTHWIND377]

I have a teflon stripped blower and I run it all summer and get it retefloned in the winter. If during the summer you are running the same drive ratio and you notice the boost fall off considerably then you might want to check it out, but I run mine all summer and then some.

[Dimarco Kid]

Do you notice any boost loss through out the summer? I would plan to restrip it every winter, and obviously when ever it needed it. Just wanted to see how long I can get with consistant boost. Thanks alot.
D Kid

[SOUTHWIND377]

D Kid, I haven't noticed a difference I had mine done last winter and I still haven't noticed a difference. I would have to say you could probably get by with two summers depending on how much you run your boat.
Dustin

[puder]

i have a b&m 174 and it is goign on a 454 can i re-teflon it myself or doe sit have to be sent back to holley or some other rebiulder to replace the teflon?

[Dimarco Kid]

I'm obviously no expert, but do they build a B&M 174 with teflon stripped rotors? I guess I didn't realize they did.
D Kid

[SOUTHWIND377]

I have never heard of a 174 being tefloned but there is always a first.

[Infomaniac]

Some B&M's were stripped. They use Teflex rather than teflon. Wears much better. A lot of 6-71 & 8-17 use teflex also on the non competition blowers. Littlefield etc. The main reason for it's use was purely for marketing purposes. The average users were wanting their blowers stripped. You will notice they do not wear out like it would if it was Teflon.
As recommended, let the boost guage and visual inspection determine when to have it replaced.

[nitro557]

call littlefield and get a stripped blower from him,are you ready for the injection system yet?give me a call when you get a chance

[Dimarco Kid]

Nitro,
I'm going with a teflon 8-71 competition Littlefield. That way all i have to do is change the blower itself. Can still use standard dist./intake/etc.....
Tell Bomber he ought to have the 6-71!
D Kid

[hulshot]

DK if you are just a lake racer why are you looking for that extra lb of boost. You can run a close tollerance non teflon blower and still create a good amount of boost with out having to worry about tearing it down. I ran a blown gas flat with a 6:71 Hampton non tefloned blower and made 17/18 psi. I ran it for 3 years and it made the same boost until I took it off to change to a hi helix14. I ran that boat everywhere on almost all sunny weekend days and in the NJBA where it ran 8.52 very consistantly.
by the way you can run a 10:71 with a stock GM style distributer, it is close but it works.
do you boat in norther cal?? ever here of camp far west lake?

[Dimarco Kid]

Hulshot,
Thanks for the added info, how do you get a "close tolerance" blower? Do you send it out to Littlefield and they re-work it? Let me know at that one.
No, I am from Maine. But the funny thing is, I came to CA to buy the boat and the previous owner used it at Camp Far West. I used it up there for a summer before I came back to Maine. Very nice lake. How long have you been going there? I brought my boat back about 3 years ago. If you were up there, maybe you remember a yellow Dimarco hydro with a NOS T-ram Chevy and the name of the boat was "Fast Forward". Just thought you might have seen it. Previous owner was a gentleman named Rick Rodriguez. Next time I'm out there, I'll be back up, for sure!
Thanks alot,
D Kid
P.S. Will a 10-71 work with a Mag?
[This message has been edited by Dimarco Kid (edited March 09, 2002).]

[Infomaniac]

My BDS 8-71 is not stripped and my last Littlefield 6-71 was not stripped. Like I mentioned before that process evolved from race only blowers and they had to start doing it to non-competition blowers to be able to sell them. Is not necessary by any means.

[boatnam2]

hey dk,my friends uncle is mert littlefeild,and my buddie works at little feild rebuilding blowers so i asked them for you.not needed but there willing to do it for ya.he said its about 300 bucks i not sure if that is with the buddie discount or not.

[hulshot]

DK I had Don Hampton at Hampton blowers set it up. He makes all his own 3 rib blowers rotors and plates. He actually does alot for boat racing and re-does many littlefields, mooneyhams, Khuls, Dyers, ect... He is well known. I ran at camp far west for years until I crashed there testing for Bakersfield. I had built a blown alcohol flat that ran in the 7's. If you know any one from there that has been going for a few years ask them about the white with blue t-deck runner call HULLSHOT #757 Wicked boat. weighed 325#. blown injected Alcohol thats where the hi helix 14:71 Mike Khul blower was added instead of the 6:71 Hampton.
some mags may fit like the hunt, or vertex because they are the same diameter as a GM distributer just taller.
If you ever plan on going to camp far let me know. I still like the go fast V-drives. I did put together a 77 Sanger hydro with the motor out of my crash boat and it ran very hard. It ran 8200 in second gear with 60's in the box, smmooookkking. not quite as fast as my flat but just as fun. have fun with you hydro and always wear you lifline when going fast, I was wearing all my gear when I went over at 130+ and am talking to you now because of it. Play hard but play safe.

[Costello]

Hulshot, while enjoying a plate of BBQ and beans a few years back, I had the misfortune of watching that crash. I knew it was bad from the initial hit, before you even came into view. There was a red flat off to the west side running 35-40 mph and his rollers I just knew were going to cause a problem on that pass. Unfortunately I was right. I am glad to see you are still here to talk about it. There was not much left of that flat when we belted it back on the trailer.

[Dimarco Kid]

Hulshot, man sounds like you went for a ride! I'm glad to hear your alright and more importantly, still into fast boats. Hate to see people get to the point they don't want anything to do with boats anymore. Thanks alot for your help, it's really shed some light on the situation.
Be good,
D Kid

[hulshot]

Thanks guys, the wife is not too happy about me being back in a fast boat but this is who I am and I'm not going to change.
Costello, you wouldn't happen to know of anyone who got any photos or video of that day. I'd still like to see what exactly happend. All I remember is going through the side of the boat and opening my eyes under water. I have alot of memories of the day after, but none of the crash. 7/3/98. Thanks for any help. I'm glad that I had alot of friends there when I needed them, especially Roger in the yellow jet with the wig on. He pulled me out of the water. It scratched his boat but he wont get it fixed because it is a constant remeinder of what will happen when constantly pushing the envelope.

[Costello]

Hulshot, I sure don't know of any photos or video that exist. I told my wife when you nailed it deep in the cove "Oh No". It was BAD WATER with definite deep rollers from that red flat. Most people probably wouldn't know what caused the crash, but being as I was sitting and eating dinner, I had a pretty good constant view of the situation. As you came into view at a speed I would estimate around 90 mph or so(the boat was still making it, plenty of gear left), you came across the rollers. As I recall, the boat got loose, nosed in real hard right, and then blew the ass out of the water and it zinged real hard and instantly sunk. At that point you were ejected and as I recall cartwheeled in air roughly 4 times before hitting the water. Roger was there within seconds. There was all kinds of mayhem at that point, a fight with injuries on the north shore, a car accident at the dam and your incident all going on simultaneously. Then nightfall came, and I remember them trying to land the helicopter on the beach and causing a massive dust storm. They then decided that the dam road was a better landing site. Some guy with a red and white Spectra 24' cruiser is the one that latched onto the boat once the divers located it. I think they dove for roughly 6 hours. We all kinda took turns flagging the dive spot throughout the day. I think the boat sustained further damage on the tow in above and beyond what the crash did to it. That's about all I can tell you. BAD WATER caused that crash. There was no way you could have seen it that deep into the cove though, it was just unfortunate circumstances, too many boats, too much going on, too many drunks etc. As I recall you had a good vest and helmet on. You know how many of the "regulars" up there are wearing swim trunks and flip flops, and running 100+ mph flirting with disaster. It's a cluster screw. I lived on the north shore side for 3 years so it was naturally the place to go that close to home, but I don't like going anymore, too many nutcases. These boats have enough risks running sanctioned events with tech inspection and mandated safety equipment. I wish that incidents like yours could raise awareness with some of these hellcats, but by most of them it's probably long forgotten.

[hulshot]

Costello, thanks for shedding some light on this. I would like to THANK YOU for being a part of the rescue efforts. I tried to thank everyone I knew that helped and then some. Many people in fast boats don't realize how fast things can happen.
And to let you know I still have the lifeline vest and still do wear it in the current boat I own, some may say it looks rediculous in this size of boat but all it takes is one roller the wrong way. I have the helmet to but the jaw was broken on impact, it is just a reminder. DK keep the shiny side up always and good luck with the hydro.

[daboot]

D kid. I have a 174 B&M charger. I bought it off a friend who had it on a 454 bbc 22' v-hull. He had it for 9 yrs. He changed the gear oil bi-yearly and changed out the nose shaft once. He ran 5.50 lbs. 94 octane all the good rotating parts, 850 holley, msd etc. 95 gps mph. I got it off of him for 5 hundred. It had a satin finish. I sent it dowm to holley to get polished out. They stated that for them to polish it they take it apart just to polish the housing. The polishing would cost $350. They replaced the TEFLON TIPS, NEW GEARS, SEALS. AND DYNO'D IT FOR $400. So for me to get it polished it cost me $750! That price included the intake to get polished also! approximent price pending your blowers' surface finish condition. Hope that'll help you man in your teflon question!! Later !!