CDMA
06-16-2002, 10:24 PM
After a fun time with the starter I took Saturday and finished everything up. Went pretty well with no major problems. 2 scratches in the engine paint though... :mad: :mad: Where is my touch up gun...
So with a little hesitation Saturday night I fired her up. After a moronic slip that caused it not to start I would prefer not to admit she fired right up and I broke in the cam. She sounds great. Quiet a bit louder then last year and more aggressive. I love it. I was happy to see no leaks and everything was doing what it was supposed to. Only problem was my crank drive pump wobbleing. Figureing I could deal with that this morning I headed out to my dad's boat ( where I boat out of) and spent the night. First thing this morning I took off the pump and had a few fights with it. To make along story short a few spacers later we were set. Dropped her in the water and still no leaks...how could this be. I guess I am getting better at this stuff. So the next problem was when I put it in reverse and it went forward...note to self Bravo opposite of Alpha...
So we headed out for a test run. The bay was real choppy so we had to go hide in some cove and do some "sea trials". All I can say is WOW. The "350" has some balls. Tears the prop loose at low rpm basically on command. Spins the 25 mirage to 4500 easily and is still accelerating...hard. The Acceleration alone is heads and tails beyond last year. She runs smooth, hard and fast. The Bravo is everything I expected and more. Shifts so nice, turns the right direction, and inspires confidence. The only criticsm I have with it ( and this goes for the alpha too) is that I find the merc power steering too light. I wish it had some more weight to it. I may look into if I could change that or just save some $ and go for hydraulic. Well I take that back. The other criticism I have is that I dread having to deal with another alpha on the 14 ( sorry you alpha guys...just not a big fan)
Now I know you are all waiting for speed numbers but none exist yet. All I do know is that even with out going absolute wide open throttle and giving it time to accelerate I was spinning a 25 prop 4600 rpm and burying a 65 mph speedo. What a rush. I am so excited.
However there is always a downside. The only problem I have is an off idle stumble. If I floor it out of the hole no problem. It just roars away. However if I accelerate gradually there is a significant stumble. This also occurs coming off plane in the same rpm range ( 1500- 2500) or on a very slow plane. It feels like it is flooding out to me. I am thinking that it must be carberation problems. Either too rich or a stuck float. Any ideas guys? Carbs are not my strong point.
So all in all it was a sucess. Not perfect yet but well on the way. I am pleased so far and really thinking this is going to finally give me the results I was looking for.
Chris
Click here for my video of the engine running (http://www.donzi.net/photos/callardvid1.mov)
So with a little hesitation Saturday night I fired her up. After a moronic slip that caused it not to start I would prefer not to admit she fired right up and I broke in the cam. She sounds great. Quiet a bit louder then last year and more aggressive. I love it. I was happy to see no leaks and everything was doing what it was supposed to. Only problem was my crank drive pump wobbleing. Figureing I could deal with that this morning I headed out to my dad's boat ( where I boat out of) and spent the night. First thing this morning I took off the pump and had a few fights with it. To make along story short a few spacers later we were set. Dropped her in the water and still no leaks...how could this be. I guess I am getting better at this stuff. So the next problem was when I put it in reverse and it went forward...note to self Bravo opposite of Alpha...
So we headed out for a test run. The bay was real choppy so we had to go hide in some cove and do some "sea trials". All I can say is WOW. The "350" has some balls. Tears the prop loose at low rpm basically on command. Spins the 25 mirage to 4500 easily and is still accelerating...hard. The Acceleration alone is heads and tails beyond last year. She runs smooth, hard and fast. The Bravo is everything I expected and more. Shifts so nice, turns the right direction, and inspires confidence. The only criticsm I have with it ( and this goes for the alpha too) is that I find the merc power steering too light. I wish it had some more weight to it. I may look into if I could change that or just save some $ and go for hydraulic. Well I take that back. The other criticism I have is that I dread having to deal with another alpha on the 14 ( sorry you alpha guys...just not a big fan)
Now I know you are all waiting for speed numbers but none exist yet. All I do know is that even with out going absolute wide open throttle and giving it time to accelerate I was spinning a 25 prop 4600 rpm and burying a 65 mph speedo. What a rush. I am so excited.
However there is always a downside. The only problem I have is an off idle stumble. If I floor it out of the hole no problem. It just roars away. However if I accelerate gradually there is a significant stumble. This also occurs coming off plane in the same rpm range ( 1500- 2500) or on a very slow plane. It feels like it is flooding out to me. I am thinking that it must be carberation problems. Either too rich or a stuck float. Any ideas guys? Carbs are not my strong point.
So all in all it was a sucess. Not perfect yet but well on the way. I am pleased so far and really thinking this is going to finally give me the results I was looking for.
Chris
Click here for my video of the engine running (http://www.donzi.net/photos/callardvid1.mov)