3 cyl Merc 40

[HGipson]

Well I finally got rid of the Etec and got my hands on a 04 Merc 40 to build up. Motor was in excellent shape and had 135 lbs compression on all three jugs. I'm getting alot of help from a few buddies and members on here on set up thank The Lord. My question is what degree are most of y'all runnin in timing ? This motor will be sent to Hydrotec this week for porting, honing, rings, intake, reeds, etc. I'm cutting the tuner and putting a bell in the end. Got all the parts I need on the way. Any info on the timing would be appreciated

[pdt]

You realy did not like the E-tec did you ?

if this motor has good compression and in good condition, why all the work like rings , honing, and porting etc..
reeds will not make much difference at all, and the high performance ones just break all the time.

Will you be using nitrous oxide to run the engine as well ?
I see the only reason that most of the 3 cylinder mercs are fast on here is due to the NOS being widely used to gain high performance.

[pdt]

Are you saying you don't use NOS to gain your high revs and speeds ?

[HGipson]

The Etec was a very good engine. It was reliable, and moderately fast. Very good for loads and pulling. But it had 2.67 gear ratio and weighed 250 lbs. For a duck boat being used in the woods that's not a good combo. I needed some more speed, lighter weight engine, that I can work on and one that doesn't have sensors all over it to go bad, or trip while I'm 5-10 miles out in the middle of the swamp. I'm not looking to race at all. I know that a few of these guys run 60 shots of NOS to hit 8000+ rpm but that wouldn't work well where Im at! Lol. Either way I've got buddies that have these engines ported and rigged out by Hydrotec marine, along with carbs, reeds, tuner work, etc that are running 60-65 mph on 15' duck boats and haven't had any issues at all with reed breakage, or engine malfunction. Tuned and ported like mine will be, these are very reliable engines from what I've seen and you get 10-15 mph gain over stock. That would have been impossible with the Etec.

[HGipson]

Don't know how I closed the thread the other day guess it was an accident. Back to the subject though. I've got my Merc power head sent to Hydrotec yest. Got the motor out back together and cleaned up ready for it when it's done. I've got an old style Mercury Vengeance prop I had on my old 4 cyl 50 I'm wanting to change the pitch and cupping a bit. Looking for a good prop guy to send it to. I can cup it myself but would rather someone balance it and get it right. Just wanted to throw out a big thanks to a few members and friends on here for the help and advice on this project!

[Riverrat001]

Are you saying you don't use NOS to gain your high revs and speeds ?

The nos doesn't add much to my top end it just helps it get there faster. I can run 70 without nos with my merc

[pdt]

Have any of these 70mph plus boats been officially ratified ?
what means do you use to calculate the speeds of 70 mph ?

[HGipson]

Old philjack done got a new name! PDT. Know I know who you are. Most of these guys boats will run between 60-85 mph w these 40 Merc on there. 59 cubic inches and turning 8000 rpm will do it. Not really posting this thread to gear a bunch of BS about these motors. I'm fixing to have one and I don't care how fast it goes I love a Mercury outboard. I posted this to learn from these guys cause they are the pioneers and experts on the subject. I like to know as much as they'll let me in case there's something I've missed or may have problems with in the future.

[pdt]

I like the mercury engines too, had a couple of the merc triples, had a 4 cylinder 80,a 4 cylinder 50, 125hp and still got a little 4hp too, but' that's a tohatsu just mercury badged.
if I had money to buy a brand new engine I would buy the mercury engine for sure, always liked them and easy to get spares in the uk
I got nothing against mercury and nothing against people going fast as they can, just asked if the speed has been verified and how they do it.
some guys use a gps, some use a radar gun and some use measured time and distance etc. maybe these guys have been timed at official races ? i don't know that's why i asked.
often wondered about using radar gun, must be better than a gps .

you seem to be very much on the offensive when a question is asked for some reason.

[HGipson]

I've seen GPS and I'm sure these guys have times laps and average speeds up and down. Not getting offensive just have heard alot of grief about these motors and even gave a little myself when I first heard of them. I didn't think it was possible to turn one of these motors into a monster but I've seen and heard em run and I can't wait till mine is going! I just remembered I'd talked to you before when I saw you use to have a diff username