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Most will say what the hell is he talking about. But now those T850 OMC racers who have been building several powerheads and testing them will now realize what I am talking about. If you haven’t experienced it you don’t understand it.
My learning started when we joined APR Superleaque and raced SST 60. It was very competitive. The best boats in North America raced . There were over 20 entries every event. There were detailed inspections on the top 3 finishers and one random pick every event, plus every boat was safety inspected before it was allowed in the water.
It was an equal playing field for all competitors yet there was a vast difference in performance in the group. Everyone raced similar equipment yet there were 4 to 5 boats that were always at the top, then a group of 5 or 6 and then the rest of the field.
It was a challenge to be in the top 10 finishers. The Haraway “Hooters” sponsored ($25,000. a year) hadn’t lost a race in two years and was clearly superior to the rest of the boats.
It passed every inspection at every event and was legal.
Why the difference?? It’s a stock class with measured engine and boat specifications you must adhere to. They DQ’d cheaters. You know the performance of your boat by testing and you can see how competitive you are watching the race.
The key was the time trials where each boat ran the course by itself to see who could run the quickest lap time. You couldn’t see much difference in speed, but the sound was different with the top boats as they started the lap. We made videos of those time trials.
Then I got lucky. I purchased a top 5 finisher powerhead. We couldn’t believe the difference. It did everything better. Next race without any boat setup changes we finished 4th. At the next race in Pittsburgh we were running a strong second behind the Hooters boat. They’re powerhead failed in the last heat race and they ran the number two powerhead in the final. We won the final. The Hooters boat never was superior without their original powerhead.
I had all our test data from testing various powerheads with exactly the same setup. Very similar to what the Gordon Group has done on their videos. You get the best setup on the boat first then you try powerheads and props.
Inspecting our number one powerhead and comparing it to the others , you couldn’t see any differences. Yet it had better acceleration and was 4 mph faster top end with exactly the same props.
Developing the package:
Initially you can’t mess or change the internal parts of your number one motor. But you can switch the external parts ignition, fuel system etc. off it and try those parts on other powerheads to see if they make a difference. On one they did and on the other no difference. It was the CDI box that wasn’t as good, so I replaced it on that powerhead and put the other original parts back on.
Once you sort out the add on parts then you need to check the internal parts. Why did our number one powerhead turn 8100 rpm and the others 7600-7700 rpm? Best test is to put a smaller pitch prop on to see if the powerhead can turn 8000 plus. Neither our number 2 or 3 could. So it’s either the air flow characteristics or the crank.
Best test would be to try the crank out of the number one in the other two powerheads. But you don’t want to risk hurting number one.
I contacted another top racer and asked him who had a perfect crank they would sell. I managed to get one and installed it in the number 2 motor. It became our number one motor with that crank.
Now when I went back and watched the videos of the time trials I could see what those racers did. They took advantage af their higher rpm motor at the start of the lap by going to the farthest point on the course to get the longest run to the starting line so the motor was at its maximum speed. You listen to the motor and you can hear the higher rpm. The sound is different. Just like Eric heard with Chris testing.
The fact is some of these 56 powerheads are just better to begin with and those are the ones that make a difference in Racing. You don’t need to have the same type powerhead on a lake boat where your main concern is top speed and it doesn’t matter if it takes a few more seconds to reach that speed. Nor do you need to run 8000 rpm. You can run more pitch and get the same top speed at less rpm and that increases engine life.
So this is what you need in the package.
A complete lot of add on parts of tested components carbs, ignition, fuel system, flywheel .
You need a perfect crank.
If you remove the sleeves, do the port work, balance the rods and pistons.
You will build the best powerhead out of that assembly.
But remember just like Mike Wienandt would tell you when he built your motor. “ I will build the best motor I can from these parts.” With all his experience his results varied. Some powerheads are just better. Sam Haraway would say the same thing, as would Paul Hickey, Cam Morley ....
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