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Monsoon 350 Performance


Chad N.

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I have a Wakesetter 21' VLX with an Indmar 350 Monsoon. Just curious if anybody knows what the most cost effective way is to gain more power without dropping in the LS1. Is there any companies out there that offer and modifications specifically for this engine? Any words of wisdom/ advice?

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Wow, how much weight are u running?? My 340 Monsoon with a 1235 prop works awesome, even with my surf sacks full. I also have almost 450 lbs of stereo equipment/batteries on board. My guess is you have the stock prop, which isn't the greatest if you load up the boat.

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As the proverbial lawyer always says “It Depends”

When you say more power are you looking at Torque or Speed. Both can be achieved as suggested above with the correct prop.

If you mean POWER, well you already have a roller rocker system, supercharger- Turbo or NOS seems to come to mind.

  • Like 2
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Forget trying to upgrade monsoon. Prop should do the trick if it is pulling power and hole shot you are looking for, where as putting in an LS1 would be going backwards.

Yes, a newer motor and more power is going backwards, lol. Not worth the investment, but surely isn't going backwards.

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Yes, a newer motor and more power is going backwards, lol. Not worth the investment, but surely isn't going backwards.

I think less hole shot is indeed going backwards on a boat designed to pull. This is based off of driving an LS1 powered LXI vs. Monsoon powered LX with same pitch prop. Sometimes peak power does not = better boat motor. I think the LS1 would be a better choice for a speed boat, no doubt.

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I think less hole shot is indeed going backwards on a boat designed to pull. This is based off of driving an LS1 powered LXI vs. Monsoon powered LX with same pitch prop. Sometimes peak power does not = better boat motor. I think the LS1 would be a better choice for a speed boat, no doubt.

MC for years liked to put corvette engines in their boats.. Buddy I ski with has a 2000 197 prostar with the LS1...ya gotta have that thing running at 4,000+ rpm to pull a skier at 36 mph....the boat is screaming thru the course....sounds almost like a F1 car!!

In fact, one of my conversations with Blake...I I told him if I wanted to get drug 1/2 across the lake, I'd stay with my Bayliner!!

The same scenero with the LS3 in our LXI...to do over again, I'd go with the monsson...although with some dinking around with different props, I was able to improve the hole shot to where it no longer drags me 1/2 way across the lake!! But when you lift that engine cover and it says CORVETTE...even the little girls are in awe!!

Edited by jkendallmsce
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MC for years liked to put corvette engines in their boats.. Buddy I ski with has a 2000 197 prostar with the LS1...ya gotta have that thing running at 4,000+ rpm to pull a skier at 36 mph....the boat is screaming thru the course....sounds almost like a F1 car!!

In fact, one of my conversations with Blake...I I told him if I wanted to get drug 1/2 across the lake, I'd stay with my Bayliner!!

The same scenero with the LS3 in our LXI...to do over again, I'd go with the monsson...although with some dinking around with different props, I was able to improve the hole shot to where it no longer drags me 1/2 way across the lake!! But when you lift that engine cover and it says CORVETTE...even the little girls are in awe!!

That's a funny story. It's cool having all that plastic bling under the hood. :chevy: Best pulling boat I skied behind was an old ProStar with the Ford powered GT40 351. My old Rogers flat bottom would pull you up pretty fast as well. Just no neutral.

post-7583-0-21350900-1347980354_thumb.jp

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LOL, as someone who actually owns an LS1 powered boat, that's not my experience at all. WIth the stock 381, I'm asked to watch how hard I hit the throttle when pulling a skier...I never go WOT as it will just rip the rope out of the riders hands. Surfing (again, with the 381), I am very easy on the throttle getting up. For wakeboarding, the only time I ever went WOT was a heavy crew all in the back + full ballast and not enough in the nose...even then it didn't take that long to plane.

With a prop that properly matches the motor/hull (1939), I have to be even easier on the throttle. Baby the throttle when surfing, pulls much harder wakeboard and skiing as well. I have power to spare, never an issue with low end pulling power.

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I don't think that super high horsepower / torque is really the Monsoon's strong suit. It's good power in a wide range and it's ultra-reliable. It's Indmar / Malibu's most successful engine, made for the longest time, and has the least number of failures of any engine that Indmar / Malibu has ever sold. I had a pretty good conversation with Adam McCall one year at the boat show about it. I believe he's the VP of Product Development at Malibu now days.

I think with a prop upgrade, the Monsoon is more than adequate for the 21' & smaller boats with stock ballast & average crew size. And I have 2 buddies with LSVs that run it just fine too. They do get bogged down a bit with a full tank of gas, full ballast & full of passengers. But it's pretty easy to reduce any one of those & do just fine.

BTW, I was at our local dealers a few days ago. There was a guy in there argueing with one of the sales guys. He has an 05 LSV with 800 hrs on it & the engine just took a dive. No clue on the details of what happened, but I did overhear that it was oil starvation. And it was a Hammerhead. Their strong engines. But you have to watch them closer than some of the other options.

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I don't think that super high horsepower / torque is really the Monsoon's strong suit. It's good power in a wide range and it's ultra-reliable. It's Indmar / Malibu's most successful engine, made for the longest time, and has the least number of failures of any engine that Indmar / Malibu has ever sold. I had a pretty good conversation with Adam McCall one year at the boat show about it. I believe he's the VP of Product Development at Malibu now days.

I think with a prop upgrade, the Monsoon is more than adequate for the 21' & smaller boats with stock ballast & average crew size. And I have 2 buddies with LSVs that run it just fine too. They do get bogged down a bit with a full tank of gas, full ballast & full of passengers. But it's pretty easy to reduce any one of those & do just fine.

BTW, I was at our local dealers a few days ago. There was a guy in there argueing with one of the sales guys. He has an 05 LSV with 800 hrs on it & the engine just took a dive. No clue on the details of what happened, but I did overhear that it was oil starvation. And it was a Hammerhead. Their strong engines. But you have to watch them closer than some of the other options.

I agree with all of the above...but gotta ask the question...what about the newer bigger boats?? the 247...when compared to say a LX at 20 ft, you are adding nearly 25% more boat, more drag, more everything.....so I gotta imagine that the engine (TQ and HP are gonna have to be upsized to handle the added drag, people, gas, etc.??

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I agree with all of the above...but gotta ask the question...what about the newer bigger boats?? the 247...when compared to say a LX at 20 ft, you are adding nearly 25% more boat, more drag, more everything.....so I gotta imagine that the engine (TQ and HP are gonna have to be upsized to handle the added drag, people, gas, etc.??

Good question. As I recall the 8 liter is no longer available, huh. Too bad.

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LOL, as someone who actually owns an LS1 powered boat, that's not my experience at all. WIth the stock 381, I'm asked to watch how hard I hit the throttle when pulling a skier...I never go WOT as it will just rip the rope out of the riders hands. Surfing (again, with the 381), I am very easy on the throttle getting up. For wakeboarding, the only time I ever went WOT was a heavy crew all in the back + full ballast and not enough in the nose...even then it didn't take that long to plane.

With a prop that properly matches the motor/hull (1939), I have to be even easier on the throttle. Baby the throttle when surfing, pulls much harder wakeboard and skiing as well. I have power to spare, never an issue with low end pulling power.

I gotta think my 230#+ will make it grunt...a tad??

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I gotta think my 230#+ will make it grunt...a tad??

Not like that poor little Capri grunts. :rofl:

My Monsoon doesn't grunt in the least..... with my 230 PLUS another 230 riding beside me.

Granted, we're not sacked out to the rub rails either. 900 lbs of ballast plus whatever gear.

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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I gotta think my 230#+ will make it grunt...a tad??

I'm 6'3", 220lbs...it has no issues ripping the rope out of my hands if you mash the throttle. I'm the heaviest person in my normal crew, more than enough power to pull me slalom on the stock prop. Hell, it had zero issues pulling me up slalom on the stock prop and a good 1700+lbs of crew/gear on crappy water (slalom wake was not ideal in that situation, obviously). I think I was closer to 230lbs at that time as well.

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You guys need to go on a diet. Then you will have no problem with the outdated Monsoon. :rofl:

Now this is tooo fat:

Attorneys for a condemned inmate who weighs 480 pounds argue he faces a torturous and lingering death if his execution is carried out early next year.

Ronald Post, who shot and killed a hotel clerk in northern Ohio almost 30 years ago, says his weight, vein access, scar tissue and other medical problems raise the likelihood of severe complications with an execution.

Lawyers for the 53-year-old, 6-foot-3-inch Post also said in their federal court filing Friday the inmate is so big the execution gurney might not hold him.

Now that would make any monsoon grunt!!!

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