befu

Late 90's 350 block's redone. One piece mains, std cast internals, merc. roller cams, vortec heads, aluminum dual plane intakes, stock exhaust and the Quadrajets. Pretty much stock motors, just going to be pushing more than the 260HP when the boat was made. I guess 290 to 300? I left HP there going with the stock roller cams, but I know they work and I want very dependable power, plus I already had one. Hopefully I will run in the mid 60's with the 3 blade stainless props, high 50's with the four blade tubing props!

Brian

EMSDiver

Nice, cant wait to see it done.

I am looking to see what kind of boat I want. All I know so far is I want a formula lol.

befu

Too bad you didn't have $25k, Jiffy had a nice one for sale - now parting it out

Brian

EMSDiver

I saw that and it is really nice. I am up in the air on if I want a fas tech or a sun sport. I have 2 kids and I have a business so I want something that I can take the kids on for the day and also something to show clients how well the products I sell work in the engine and everything.

befu

Seat is back in and I put my big butt in it..... And it didn't fly off! Oh-yeah! I even made some motor boat sounds, bounced around some, leaned over towards the drivers seat and yelled "Gun it!!!" So I think it is pretty good with that extensive testing program.

Mechanic got the new starter in on the port motor also. It is helpful having a mechanic who is small enough to get in around the engines on a twin 27' boat!

Unfortunately, they sent me the wrong receiver for the suburban, so I can't hook it up and pull it up by the water source to try out the motors again. We will see what we can come up with....

Brian

Rebuilt seat installed


Mechanic

sprink58

The starboard starter is even worse...you run out of room due to the shape of the hull...trust me ...I know!!

I'm doing new starters before mine go in...and I'm going to run them!!

befu

Well, not so good again. Spent a lot of time cranking the motor on the port side trying to get it to spark and light off. Played with the wiring, finally got it to spark but still wouldn't go. Checked for fuel and there wasn't any! I am thinking the dang float, but the mechanic spotted the fuel pump wires. When he was down in the hull, he caught one and pulled the connector apart!

Well, once we had gas, it sparked and ran a few seconds and stalled. Tried to start again and the battery was too low. So we put it away and set the charger on it. I need to pick up a second battery now.....

And another tire to replace a questionable one. And a better trailer winch. And a .........

befu

You must be rather busy right now. I would have thought you ran those motors by now. At least you do not have an "end" to your boating season like we do. It might not be prime, but it is not frozen either!

Brian

sprink58

Brian...that's a big part of why I moved here 36 years ago...water temp never below 72*...no lay up anxiety due to winter...12 month boating. New Years Day at the beach is a tradition. Some of the best boating weather is sometimes in February.

Now every few years about this time we "suck up the seat covers" a bit with storms but...that's life in the tropics.

...and yes...I have been busy...lost my truck in a total loss accident...now I'm sportin a Escalade Bro....Cadillac Suburban!!

i'm back in the boat now so things are moving again. Wish we were closer...two ME's with fast boats...my God what a deal!!! I think we would have both of them up and on the water by now!! My boat buddy is a lot of help but he's pure outboard...if he gets in a bilge he gets claustrophobic...gets the shakes and everything. He means well ...but he doesn't always know what he means!!! He looked at the Bravo's and asked " Where's the rest of it?"

BTW...lookin good with the 272...real good!!

sprink58

I forgot to mention that I was reading about your power...I have an idea. Run those Vortecs up until you lay up for 'Ol man winter...get a performance baseline...then consider a cam/lifter change. The Merc cam is kind of flat...even in a roller. Since you are running Vortec heads anyway...with even a moderate cam upgrade you can put an extra 100~150 horsepower in the water with very little strain...giving you 650~700 total without spinning the bejeezus out of the 350's. Those Vortec heads are better than anything that Chevy ever imagined back in the day...big torque producers.

Looking at it from an engineering angle it makes a lot of sense. We don't have step hulls and we have some "Fat Bottom Girls" with the 255/272 hulls that need 750~800 ft.lbs to stay on par with these modern hulls running around us everywhere.

My boat was available with a twin Big Block TRS option that I have been told really got the job done...but with SBC's pushing 400 HP and 400+ TQ numbers reliably..BBC's in our boats gets a bit silly.

I'm getting really anxious to get mine going to see how it performs and focus it in.

Predictably...based on what I know twin 260's did in 272's in the '80's...your looking at a reliable 60~65 with 3 blade props...your "tubing prop" idea will let you plane down to below 25 mph with a top in the mid 50's. The '86 272 I had was equipped with twin 320 EFI TPI 350's with Alpha SS drives. With one aboard and light fuel it topped out at 75 Pitot Speedometer runnig 23" cleavers at 5800 RPM. It would run 65+ with regular 21" SS props at about 5500 and cruise 50 at 4000. Trying to figure the "delta" between old school speedometers and GPS is a guess at best but I would think it should be close to a 5% swing. I loved my 272. I would run twice a month from Ft. Lauderdale to Bimini and back with a bunch of guys running Stingers, Novas, Donzi's and 28' Cigarettes. We referred to our group as the 'Bimini for Lunch Bunch". In 2~4' seas we did it regularly in less than an hour. Coming back to Florida in the afternoon during the summer months it wasn't unusual to get caught in a squall line associated with thunderstorms and we would find ourselves dodging waterspouts. The Gulfstream would kick up to 5~6 footers in the storms and visibility was less than 100 feet. The 272 and the Cigarette could stay on plane in that mess and run 30~35 but we usually had to stop and wait on our other "Go Fast" buds. It wasn't that they couldn't run with us...they couldn't do it without stuff tearing up on their boats. The only thing that suffered on the 272 was the cabin door. Formula replaced 3: under warranty...after that they told me I owned the rest of them...I eventually took mine off and stowed it below so I wouldn't tear it off the hinges. I had a bit of trouble a few times with the refrigerator but I braced it well and put a hasp and pad lock on it to solve that problem. The 272 is an impressive rough water hull...well balanced and always landed at about a 30* angle after launching off a wave. The Alpha SS drives only gave me a problem if I ran solid hub props..broke the vertical shaft or twisted the splines. With "soft hub" props I would tear the rubber out and have to be replaced with a spare while in the water. Brian...I ran that 272 in water rough enough to break some lesser boats to pieces...part of the reason I have torn meniscus in both knees...but I never had any de-lamination, cracks or spider webs.

Anyway...enjoy your project...you are restoring a legend...a survivor of the "80's... that is still a head turner 25 years after it left the mold. Keep the updates coming...I always look forward to read how your project is progressing...I'll catch up soon.

John