Check it out: http://mrandmrsbayley.blogspot.com
Yes, I am still alive. I decided to “take a break” for about the last year. Losing two whole boating seasons because of other people’s incompetence was really starting to drain on me, both financially and mentally. I could only come on-line so many times and answer: “The motors are still screwed up, Jomar is a butt hole and we don’t know what’s wrong.”
Instead, I concentrated on enjoying life with my new girlfriend… who is now my wife! (check the link above if you haven’t done so already) I know some of the Michigan members have met her a few times as well as some of the Canadian members. Heck, I believe JeffJ met her last year down in Miami. It was at the Speedwake party though so I wouldn’t be surprised if we got lost in the sea of all the other members. I tried to re-introduce her to everyone at the Speedwake party this year, but we showed up too late and most of the people had already left.
Regardless, we still met up with Touchy Subject and he treated us to a few congratulatory beverages!
Motor Status
Welp, the old man just picked up the troubled engine from Tyler Crockett a few days ago while I was cruising in the Caribbean with my new wife. We dropped off the motor in late January explaining to Tyler that it didn’t seem to building any power beyond 3000 rpm. I swapped every single electrical sensor but nothing seemed to make any difference. The real puzzler was that the idle quality was great, throttle response was great, fuel pressure was strong and the timing seemed spot on. Why wouldn’t the motor make any power beyond 3000 rpm?
After setting up the engine on the dyno, Tyler confirmed that something was definitely not running right. After a few hours of troubleshooting, he diagnosed a BENT DISTRIBUTOR! Apparently, the bore hole in the 502 block (that was supposedly blue printed by Jomar Racing of Rochester Hills Michigan) for the distributor was waaay off causing the distributor to bend. Eventually, the bend would cause the distributor gear to bind and eventually chew itself up on the cam shaft. Tyler slapped a new distributor in the motor and we were back up to 600 hp (that’s funny, Jomar quoted me 650 hp… how bizarre)
Does this mean that the problem is solved and I will have years of happy boating ahead of me?
I’m not holding my breath.
What has happened is that a major problem was identified and repaired. Whether or not this was the only problem, has yet to be determined. We will have to wait until the spring sea trials to figure this out.
On a final closing note, I would like to comment about EFI vs. carburetors. I’ve had A LOT of people of comment on how I should just slap a carb on there and be done with it! Looking back on everything that has happened, this wouldn’t have solved a single thing. Every problem I came across has been the result of poor machining and block preparation. The induction and fuel delivery process, initially suspected as being flawed, had nothing to do with any of the failures.
The head gaskets blew out because of warped heads and block surfaces. The lack of power was from a bent distributor. In fact, the more I learn and play with EFI, the more I realize how forgiving and non-exact it really is. Most people would be very surprised to see how wide of a calibration range most EFI systems will actually operate in. 95% of tuning an EFI system is dialing in that last 5% of potential power and cleaning up the partial throttle cruising ranges.
The only part that still disgusts me is my lack of ability to change these calibration parameters. Currently, I am investigating alternative ECU’s that will give me FULL control over every aspect in the ECU. The current ECU I’m looking at is a build-it-yourself module that can be head for as cheap as $200. Granted, I still have to solder all the components and flash the source code myself, but this what I do everyday at work so it won’t be that far of a stretch. I plan on first converting my small block chevy motor over to EFI this summer and first testing this out to see if it even works. If it indeed does, then I’ll seriously consider switching the Merc EFI system over to this home-brew setup.
Yes, I am still alive. I decided to “take a break” for about the last year. Losing two whole boating seasons because of other people’s incompetence was really starting to drain on me, both financially and mentally. I could only come on-line so many times and answer: “The motors are still screwed up, Jomar is a butt hole and we don’t know what’s wrong.”
Instead, I concentrated on enjoying life with my new girlfriend… who is now my wife! (check the link above if you haven’t done so already) I know some of the Michigan members have met her a few times as well as some of the Canadian members. Heck, I believe JeffJ met her last year down in Miami. It was at the Speedwake party though so I wouldn’t be surprised if we got lost in the sea of all the other members. I tried to re-introduce her to everyone at the Speedwake party this year, but we showed up too late and most of the people had already left.
Regardless, we still met up with Touchy Subject and he treated us to a few congratulatory beverages! Motor Status
Welp, the old man just picked up the troubled engine from Tyler Crockett a few days ago while I was cruising in the Caribbean with my new wife. We dropped off the motor in late January explaining to Tyler that it didn’t seem to building any power beyond 3000 rpm. I swapped every single electrical sensor but nothing seemed to make any difference. The real puzzler was that the idle quality was great, throttle response was great, fuel pressure was strong and the timing seemed spot on. Why wouldn’t the motor make any power beyond 3000 rpm?
After setting up the engine on the dyno, Tyler confirmed that something was definitely not running right. After a few hours of troubleshooting, he diagnosed a BENT DISTRIBUTOR! Apparently, the bore hole in the 502 block (that was supposedly blue printed by Jomar Racing of Rochester Hills Michigan) for the distributor was waaay off causing the distributor to bend. Eventually, the bend would cause the distributor gear to bind and eventually chew itself up on the cam shaft. Tyler slapped a new distributor in the motor and we were back up to 600 hp (that’s funny, Jomar quoted me 650 hp… how bizarre)
Does this mean that the problem is solved and I will have years of happy boating ahead of me?
I’m not holding my breath.
What has happened is that a major problem was identified and repaired. Whether or not this was the only problem, has yet to be determined. We will have to wait until the spring sea trials to figure this out.
On a final closing note, I would like to comment about EFI vs. carburetors. I’ve had A LOT of people of comment on how I should just slap a carb on there and be done with it! Looking back on everything that has happened, this wouldn’t have solved a single thing. Every problem I came across has been the result of poor machining and block preparation. The induction and fuel delivery process, initially suspected as being flawed, had nothing to do with any of the failures.
The head gaskets blew out because of warped heads and block surfaces. The lack of power was from a bent distributor. In fact, the more I learn and play with EFI, the more I realize how forgiving and non-exact it really is. Most people would be very surprised to see how wide of a calibration range most EFI systems will actually operate in. 95% of tuning an EFI system is dialing in that last 5% of potential power and cleaning up the partial throttle cruising ranges.
The only part that still disgusts me is my lack of ability to change these calibration parameters. Currently, I am investigating alternative ECU’s that will give me FULL control over every aspect in the ECU. The current ECU I’m looking at is a build-it-yourself module that can be head for as cheap as $200. Granted, I still have to solder all the components and flash the source code myself, but this what I do everyday at work so it won’t be that far of a stretch. I plan on first converting my small block chevy motor over to EFI this summer and first testing this out to see if it even works. If it indeed does, then I’ll seriously consider switching the Merc EFI system over to this home-brew setup.
