I am close to the purchase of a 184 Checkmate w/ a stock mercruiser 350 (260 hp). I know that the exhaust manifolds/risers need replaced. I was thinking Eddie marine's. My question is what other lower budget upgrades could be done to improve this engine. I was thinking Edelbrock air-gap intake and carb. Also cam and lifters. Would roller cam justify the outlay of cash? How about roller rockers. All help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!
The biggest bang for the buck is to get Lightning headers with the thru transom exhaust,any head,cam,or intake replacement will not make the gain you want with the thru hub stock restrictive exhaust. In most cases the exhaust is too restrictive for a stock 260 motor,remember that its the same as on a 305/188 motor too! The Lightnings will help the stock motor and magnify any other mods! Remember:free advice is worth what you paid for it!
P.S. roller rockers will gain you nothing!unless you go to a higher ratio, then you must check your pushrod to guide slot clearance too!Spend your money elsewhere.
Go with the powerflow manifolds and the edlebrock rpm heads with the rest of the stuff you were looking at
[ May 07, 2003, 08:39 PM: Message edited by: canuck1 ]
Thanks for the advice! I do have a question about the thru hull...another forum post here said that performance gains for a SBC were not worth the money. The other thing is to convert it would cost a pretty penny!!! anyone have experience with water-cooled SBC headers/manifolds? Thanks again!!
Replace your exhaust system if you have log style manifolds with center riser manifolds. Install the cast iron high rise marine intake manifold, Champion RV15YC4 spark plugs gapped at .045, set the timing to 34 degrees advance at 3500 rpm, use straight 30 weight engine oil and make sure your flame arrestor is of the larger size (most mercruisers have a small flame arrestor). "Through the prop" exhaust works fine for most engines below 300 horsepower. The next modification would be to install a larger camshaft.
Have fun!
Dennis Moore
GALVANIZED anchor chain!!! That's what I use on all my SBC's and it works great! wink
Mister 460, as in 460 FORD? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA... Funny Stuff! Your joking aren't you? A 460?
Dennis
On your list of things he could do to his sbc 350, why are you saying use a cast iron hi-rise intake instead of a Edelbrock alum. hi-rise, I was just wondering....
Dennis?
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