Keith

Rbake, welcome to the board, and congrats on the boat purchase, enjoy. Now let's get some etiquette and housekeeping things out of the way.

Nice of you to join and make your first post in February about how you've already been out on the lake a few times. However this could be easily misinterpreted by your fellow Scarabian owners to the North and Northeast as "rubbing it in". So, we'll need more pictures and details (ladies with bikinis) as penance. We will also require pictures of the bilge, dash and more ladies in bikinis to make it up to us. Given the average temp here was in the mid 20's the last 6 weeks, you have a lot of making up to do now.

Scarab3DMC

Welcome to the group.... whats up bro's??? and HELL YEAH!!!!...what Kieth said!!

RBake

I'm running it at 5800 rpm's, Is this too high. It's got a 22 pich 4 blader now. would a 24 be better? I don't care too much about top speed right now. Just don't want to blow the thing up. Oh yeah, went out again yesterday. It was in the upper 60's (Temp not speed). Can't talk anyone into a bikini yet. But trust me, this summer there's definately going to be some good pics.

Here's part of my dash (I just put in new guages and bezels, I custom made the top piece and moved 3 guages down to make the dash look better)

My not so impressed daughter

Keith

5800? Are you sure the tach is correct?

I've only run Merc 454Magnums and HP500's, both had factory WOT limits set at 5000. Unless I'm missing something here, 5800 on a stock 454 is bad. The boat may be way under propped, could cause some serious damage.

I was running a 23p 3 blade on my 28 Scarab (454Magnum). Just went from a pair of 23/3's to 24p 4 blades on my 34' (500's). Both boats pretty much were maxed at 4800-5000 but that's supposed to be the max as recommended by Merc.

RBake

It's a carbed motor so I don't think that there is a rev limiter. The Tach is brand new, but the old one ran the same rpm. I guess I'll put my timing light on it and check the tach. I think I'll step up to a 24P 4 blader.

puder

if it s 330hp 454 5800 is way too high!!!!!!

i spin my engien up to like 5300-5400 but it has all forged internals and so forth.

you you need a bigger prop! also check your tach some of them on eth back have a switch so it can be used on different engines if the wrong position is slected that might make it read out all screwwy

RBake

It says 365 HP on the title of the boat. How many rpm per pitch on the prop?? would a 26 maybe be too much pitch?? The engine appears stock. Seller was a consignment and didn't know too much about the boat. I only paid 24K for it with a 3 axel trailer so I wasn't too worried about the engine. I figure I could freshen it up for under 2K. The engine is painted a silver/grey color. Is this a stock color?? It has all the right stickers on it. The bilge is really clean, as the rest of the boat. No hour meter so I really have no idea.

Keith

You're definitely under propped and shouldn't be spinning more than 5000 without internal work like puder mentioned. A stock 454 Magnum was rated at 5000 WOT and was usually mated to a 23p 3-blade Mirage on that Scarab.

Trimmed out, I could get mine maxed out at 5000 which was perfect. For a 4 blade people recommended I step down in pitch, but I never got to that point and bought the 34'. The original Merc 454Mags were black from factory, sounds like you have a replacement engine.

You really would do well to try and track down the original owner. If it was documented, use the USCG website to find the info. If it was registered, send an inquiry to agency.

Without knowing more about the engine itself, you're going to have to experiment a little. Try a 24p 4 blade, the 26 will more than likely be too much unless that engine is really torqued up.

Oh yeah, throw an hour meter on it, always good to know when to change the oil and perform other maintenance once you've established your baseline at this stage.

RBake

K2

What was your top speed?? Is 50.9 normal for my boat?? It just seems slow. It was totally full of gas and there were 5 people on it but 50.9??? My bosses new bayliner with a V6 runs 49.

puder

seeing as the engine is kind of "unknown" you shouldn't be spinning it up to high like you have been. Hell you might (unlikley) but it is possible have cast internals in your engine. In which case sustained 5800 rpm running will kill it fairly quickly.

i;d say first off find the casting numbers on the heads and see what you have on there. If they are rect port the chances of it being a rebiult 454mag (forged internals) go up. Then get eth casting number off the block. If its a 4 bolt block its probably not a 330/454.

might be someother easy to get to clues as to exactly what combo you have. Hopefully itsa 454mag that was rebiult once (overbore pistons and new bearings) and they decieded to paint it a snazzy color.