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Help me get more out of my 2008 VLX!


topherhill7

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I currently have a 2008 Malibu VLX w/ Indmar Monsoon 320 engine and a Acme 2079 prop.I live in Utah and ride at an elevation of 5,400ft (sucks). We are mostly wake boarding 20-23 mph 3 people tops in the boat, and run full 1250LB factory ballast + 450's in each locker and an 800 lbs up in the bow no wedge.

I want to be able to remove the rear hard tanks and put 750's in each locker, and possibly add another 200 up front.(which I have run that much weight at a lower elevation) I have pretty much maxed out my boat how it is, but I am just curious if there is anyway to squeeze out some more horse power out of the engine? would either a new exhaust system or Intake get the job done? Or any other suggestions that would be worth taking a look into.

Or at this point is it a lost cause and my only real options are 1. New Boat (not possible at this time) 2. New engine 3. Move to a lower elevation (not really possible either)

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What engine RPM are you running at wake boarding speeds? A different prop may be the best solution for now. At your altitude small changes like exhaust or an intake are not going to net much (they don't often net much at sea level).

Give OJ or Acme a call and get some input from them. I am sure you are not the first with this dilemma.

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Is it having a hard time planing off? You might try a different weight distribution. With the 2079 prop you should be good. You may benefit from the extra half inch of diameter on the 2315 if the elevation is really starving your engine.

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That and why would you want to remove the tanks in the rear. They should be below the floor and you should easily be able to fit 750's in there. I second the 2315 or even the 2313 which has even more cupping.

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What lake do you ride? I'm in the Logan area and often ride Bear Lake which is at that altitude. I had an 07 and now a 13 both with the Monsoon. I can't remember what the restrictions on the wedge are, maybe others can chime in, but maybe less weight and wait for the boat to pick up some speed and then deploy the wedge kind of like how the auto wedge works. I know having the auto wedge made a big difference for me and surfing/wakeboarding have been no problem at that elevation.

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I live in the Ogden area (grew up in Cache Valley and USU grad) and ride Willard mostly, when there's enough water in it, otherwise mostly Pineview. I'm not a fan of Bear Lake cause the water always sucks and I'm a cold water wimp. I have an 04 VLX with the 340 Monsoon. I run an ACME 1235 and I have no complaints but I'm far from an expert with props. I removed the hard tanks, they were above the floor for my year of boat, and have an 1100 pound bag in each locker. The remaining ballast is stock but I plan to add some bow weight soon. The 1100 is mostly for surfing. Wakeboarding, we pretty much always run 22 mph, locker tank full, each locker bag 1/3-1/2 full, and no wedge. The boat gets on plane very easily and the wake is actually pretty good. Every once in a while and just for the heck of it, we'll fill the bags completely and have 3 or 4 sit in the bow and we'll wakeboard that way. The wake is huge but doing that certainly affects the boat's ability to plane. It does get on plane, it just takes a little longer to get there. But like I said, we don't ride like that very often.

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I don't think the has an 08 VLX with a 320 Monsoon. First, the Monsoon is a 340 or 350 (someone chime in and help me here) in that year. Also it seems like the tanks on his boat are above the floor. The vRide had tanks above the floor VLX below. So, my guess is the OP has an 08 vRide with an LCR 320. Accurate info would be helpful.

Edited by Jimmypooh
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It's prob a 340 monsoon. The 320 LCR wasn't put in many of the Wakesetters. Either way it's 20hp I don't think you would be able to tell any difference. He probably just saw that people were removing hard tanks and assumed he had to even though he doesn't.

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Last Year I upgraded props from the Acme 1235 to the 2079 because thats what they recommended, but now have been looking at the 2313. I mostly ride deer creek and thats at 5500 ft about sea level. The reason I want to remove the hard tanks is because I rather just plumb from the factory pumps and hoses into bigger sacs (750's) and just have to buy new fittings instead of dealing with adding pumps and electrical. We never use the wedge.(I have a manual wedge) In my experience Malibu's + Lots of additional weight and no wedge makes a way better wake then Some additional weight + wedge. Sorry I was wrong it is a 340 Monsoon.

I have tried a couple different weight distributions. I have tried adding more weight to the front, more in the walk way, more in the cab, and a couple other ways. I can't really add more weight to the front without adding to the back right now also because I will go under. Is there a point when there is to much nose weight and can't plane because The boat is pushing to much nose weight?

For those who have any experience with the Acme 2313 can you provide your experience with it and how much of a difference would it actually provide? Right now I run 2950 lb including factory ballast. How much more weight should I be able to add with the 2313? Please add any other insights or thoughts.

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Sorry, no experience with either 2079 or 2313.

Have you checked your distributor/rotor? A new kit is a lot cheaper than a prop, and every little thing helps. The guys from OJ told me once you loose about 15 horses for every 1K of elevation.

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you can backpack the existing hard tanks into sacks without needing to run anything other than factory pumps. Will be easier than pulling the hard tanks. I've never hear of anyone pulling the hard tanks from a sub floor style boat unless the tank itself broke.

Check out Wake makers for some piggy back options.

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