I bought this boat in 2009 when I was in Carson City NV for work....pulled it from Santa Cruz CA to Carson City....It hadnt run in 10 years. Did the normal stuff to get it running...tune up, battery, oil change, carb rebuilds, some wiring etc...enjoyed it out there a few times and pulled it back to Wisconsin and enjoyed it for a few years just putting fuel in it and changing oil. Super mild 460....turned a single A impeller 4800 RPM....so around 400 HP.

2013 it bent a couple pushrods and i did a compression check...low compression in a few cylinders...pulled heads....cracked heads as well...no money to fix it at the time.

Winter 2015...scored an ultra low buck 460 on craigslist because of a cracked block (leaked externally due to freezing)....fresh heads...roller rockers...speedpro flat top pistons, h beam rods, Comp xtreme energy 4x4 cam. I took the gamble and filled the crack with a special epoxy. Dropped the engine in spring of 2015 (along with the manifold, valve covers and a few other bits being polished and clear powdercoated) and have enjoyed it all summer with zero issues....makes about the same power as the previous one.

My plan is to low buck twin turbo this engine for 750 hp at 13 lbs on pump gas...use the old engine for mock up and build a spare as money allows...Im slowly buying parts used or for "deals"...planned combo is as follows:

-Present ~9:1 460
-present Dominator jet pump with an Aggressor AA bronze impeller-->acquired...should absorb 750 HP at about 5400 RPM
-used for mock up twin GT45 turbos --> on their way off racing junk
-wastegates have not be scored yet...if I cant find used I will buy new twin JGS 50's
-Water cooled center riser exhaust manifolds--> acquired...make an adapter pipe for wastegate and convert to turbo flange
-CX racing air/water intercooler, twin inlet single outlet, two cores--> acquired
-Microsquirt-->acquired
-LS coils-->need to grab from junkyard
- 80 lb injectors--> need yet
-twin 044 bosch pumps--> need yet

Convert present tunnel ram to EFI by putting spacers (with injector holes drilled) between the upper and lower parts. Using the present 450 holleys as throttle bodies...unsure what Im going to use for a bonnet or hat yet....the carbs are spaced 9 7/8" on center

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The new impeller will drop my cruise RPM

The turbos will quiet it down

The ability to run a wideband (no more water injected headers) will allow me to tune it for "low load" economy...lol

Should make the boat faster, more useable, and use less fuel if I keep my foot out of it.

I may put larger tanks in as well....2 10 gallon tanks dont cut it...lol

 

scored some truck coils, brackets, harnesses, and a few pigtails for $35 from the junkyard....Im going to make a bracket to mount them to the old motor mount holes on the side of the block so they are hidden under the waterjacketed manifolds.

Also scored a duraspark distributor that I am going to cut down for a simple oil pump drive...that way the dizzy housing isnt sitting up there like a sore wiener.

the turbos (twin GT45's) got delivered to the post office but the seller dicked me on shipping...had to pay about $75 to get them out of "jail".....currently trying to get him to paypal me back the shipping costs.....should have just bought new from a vendor here for the small amount of money I saved.

If anybody has some used non chinese wastegates for sale let me know....looking for 45 to 50 mm range.

 

I can't wait to ride in this monster next year bud! I'll help you over the winter!

 

cool project kinda looking for a jet boat to do the same thing with

i think the 460 engines would be more plentiful if a guy happened to wreck one (vs other big blocks)

 

This thing is AWESOME!!!!

 

thanks guys....hoping to get some work done on it when my employer is shut down between christmas and new years.

And I certainly agree with 460's being more plentiful (and CHEAPER!!!) than other big blocks......I should use a 440 sometime so I have the trifecta of turbo big blocks (I have a TT BBC as well)...lol

My wallet is trying to tell me to save $$ and go with chinese wastegates and use overboost protection in microsquirt....not sure yet....Previously Ive always used JGS units and never had a problem.

 

It'll totally look cool and sound awesome, I think it will be a cool project. But, I ran into a guy a couple of weeks ago, blown 540 chevy/jet in an 18 ft picklefork. I ran with him up to 95 mph, he stayed there for about 30 seconds, and then slowed down, I got a chance to talk to him, he was spinning it 6500 rpm, and was afraid to push it or hold it there any longer. I could've easily out accelerated him, and I was at least 15 mph faster in a 21 foot boat, let alone the fuel consumption, I get 3.5 mpg at 85 mph. My total engine weight is 520 lbs, including the gear case. Hard to compete with an outboard, and I run it 7200 rpm for minutes at a time. If you converted it to a v drive would be way faster, jets are inefficient, but do look and sound awesome. #ad
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cool set up...I love tunnels/cats..but my wallet cant afford one (I will have a total of about $5K in everything since I have owned the boat..including the purchase of the boat)..lol....agreed jets are inefficient.....but I run rivers ALOT and the convenience about not having to worry about underwater hazards is worth it......sounds like he needed a larger impeller as well.

I had it tuned halfway.....it would get about 3 mpg doing about 35-40 (barely on plane).

I think 750 hp will get me high 80's low 90's with my heavy hull once dialed in (and am concerned about chine walk going any faster)....however that will likely require some bottom and intake (jet) work.

 

I've thought about putting a turbo sbc in the skater, or even putting a turbo on the outboard, turbos do make everything so much better. Your acceleration if you get into boost early enough would be sick!

 

Sweet boat. I like the paint, and interior colors. Didnt know much about Microsquirt, thats cool about the overboost protection.

 

thanks.... to oversimplify microsquirt is essentially a megasquirt 2 with a few less inputs and out puts...its assembled and cased with a "waterproof" connector....

A couple resistors have to be added to the board or harness to use a couple of the outputs as logic coil signal drivers on a V8 if running wasted spark...but should be easy to do and its covered in the microsquirt manual.

With the 8' harness it was only $343 from DIYautotune on the black friday 10% off

 

started messing around mocking up the manifolds and turbos....

I plan on making a flange that bolts to the manifold outlet...then drilling/tapping holes to get the water out of the manifold water jackets. The flange will also serve to make an extension pipe in so I can plumb in the wastegates and angle the turbine inlet flanges to align the center line of the turbos symmetric about the center of the engine...not real progress but Im starting to fart around with it...I didnt have much time this weekend.

Things that are great about these manifold:
-cheap
-compact and fit tight to the engine
-semipolished finish
-turbo pattern damn near bolted on....doesnt really matter...I cannot bolt the turbo to the manifold directly anyway
-watercooled so I dont fry everything around them....but also takes away some exhaust energy


Things I am concerned about with using these manifolds:
-only 1 bolt per exhaust port <---no real easy solution if sealing problems arise. I plan on surfacing them, torquing in center out sequence and gooping the shit out of the area with ultra copper RTV.

-only about 3/16" between the water jacket port and exhaust area for a leak path <---can weld ports/paths shut, surface, then drill and tap exterior of manifold to get water out

-5/16" studs for clamping on manifold exit <--- drill and tap for 3/8" if there is enough "meat"

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looking good keep up the good work!!!

 

glad you started on it. still pondering weather to mess with mine this year or enjoy it and build a better deal over the summer and winter for next year. gotta few other projects to finish first. I swear I saw those logs on craigslist and was gonna grab them.. keep at it, ill be watching..

 

Fordtechguru......where did you get the air filter housing for your boat and what material is it? Im looking for something to modify for a bonnet/hat

 

Little progress...some direct...some indirect.

1. Got my Grandfathers old South Bend bench top lathe working....not fancy but it makes chips...only three speeds...and the auto feed and thread cutting mechanism is not connected

2. Cut up an old duraspark distributor to make an oil pump drive...need to end drill the shaft so I can thread a bolt into it for a end stop from the top and shim it.

3. Got the manifold flanges waterjetted locally...way easier than me cutting 1/2" steel plate with a torch and grinding forever..was quite impressed with the price and turn around time (~$150 for 4 flanges and I simply dropped of the manifold for them to measure and a sketch of what i wanted...3 days turnaround)...had a spare set made in case I mess the first set up

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Finally getting back to this. My daily driver issues and winter toys had me distracted.

385 series BBF have a spacer that fits on the crank between the harmonic damper and timing chain crank sprocket. Later model (I think after ~1977) have a weight attached to this spacer to externally balance the engine vs. the internal balance earlier units.

I machined this spacer to accept the crank trigger wheel (36-1) I sourced from diyautotune.com....pictures will follow.

I also finished up the oil pump driveshaft...drilled and tapped a hole in the shaft for an end bolt provision so I can shim for end clearance. I also threaded the housing for 1" NPT male so I can thread on a cap.

Next will be a big turbo plumbing parts order so I can begin turbo fabrication.

 

Very cool project, I have a car hauler truck that I want to turbocharge the 460 in so I am watching.

 

Pics as promised

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