Jump to content

Welcome to TheMalibuCrew!

As a guest, you are welcome to poke around and view the majority of the content that we have to offer, but in order to post, search, contact members, and get full use out of the website you will need to Register for an Account. It's free and it's easy, so don't hesitate to join the TheMalibuCrew Family today!

1993 Echelon Engine Mods


rossmhill

Recommended Posts

I have a 1993 Echelon with a tower that we use for Skiing and Wakeboarding. I want increase the Horsepower but not exactly sure how far I want to go and I am reaching out to this group to find out what kind of mods people of done and what were the results and of course what were the costs. Thanks in advance

Link to comment

That engine can pull your arms out of the sockets if tuned correctly and has the right prop. How many hours on the engine? Any "symptoms" such as rough idle, poor hole shot, stalling/no start?

Link to comment

For starters, I would get a set of Vortec heads and a Performer intake.

What do you have for an exhaust/muffler system?

I agree with the above comments though. For wakeboarding the 265hp should be plenty, and it should pull great at 34mph for skiing. You could prop it "down" if you don't barefoot, maybe an Acme 525, and knock you top speed down to 40mph but that would get you more holeshot.

As an FYI - keep your stock carb (maybe rebuild it). I have the stock Weber on my 388 stroker and it did not do much less than a 750 or 850cfm carb (like 15hp/35ftlb less).

Link to comment

@rossmhill: your performance limiter as noted by MB above are the cylinder heads. Upgrade those and you will jump from 265 to 310 via getting some post 96 heads or an aftermarket set (I have the Fast Burn one's which flow a fair amount and have larger valves). Be a wary shopper for heads as I have seem old style heads being sold as Vortecs, which came out in '96 in GM pickup trucks. The Edelbrock Performer RPM is basically a copy of the GM marine intake so it should be just fine. If you want to go farther, a cam such as the ZZ4 or Hot Cam would be a decent choice, be careful not to go too far on that or your wakeboard performance will suffer. A better option would probably be 1.6 rockers with the cam you have. The next limiter will be the exhaust system, you will want a set of newer style or aftermarket exhaust manifolds. I also did a 4" exhaust + tips which works great. The pricey item will actually be the exhaust manifolds. For what I did the spark arrestor was air flow limiting so an upgrade might be required there, I made my own. Once you fire it up an hot the go knob, you might discover your current prop won't cut it, an Acme or OJ CNC prop is a great choice.

Link to comment

Just reading the stuff Woodski writes is entertaining all in of itself. Makes me wanna rebuild another engine and go drag racing.

  • Like 3
Link to comment

@rossmhill: your performance limiter as noted by MB above are the cylinder heads. Upgrade those and you will jump from 265 to 310 via getting some post 96 heads or an aftermarket set (I have the Fast Burn one's which flow a fair amount and have larger valves). Be a wary shopper for heads as I have seem old style heads being sold as Vortecs, which came out in '96 in GM pickup trucks. The Edelbrock Performer RPM is basically a copy of the GM marine intake so it should be just fine. If you want to go farther, a cam such as the ZZ4 or Hot Cam would be a decent choice, be careful not to go too far on that or your wakeboard performance will suffer. A better option would probably be 1.6 rockers with the cam you have. The next limiter will be the exhaust system, you will want a set of newer style or aftermarket exhaust manifolds. I also did a 4" exhaust + tips which works great. The pricey item will actually be the exhaust manifolds. For what I did the spark arrestor was air flow limiting so an upgrade might be required there, I made my own. Once you fire it up an hot the go knob, you might discover your current prop won't cut it, an Acme or OJ CNC prop is a great choice.

Do you have a link for the exhaust manifolds you talk about? I too was curious on what to replace those boat anchors with.

Link to comment

I got mine from Bakesonline. Having trouble putting the link up, maybe cuz my membership expired. They are like $525 each, but I got mine on a blowout sale, Black Friday maybe?

Here they are on my Merc block:

post-8942-0-97284100-1432298645_thumb.jp
post-8942-0-21824100-1431614312_thumb.jp
Link to comment

I got mine from Bakesonline. Having trouble putting the link up, maybe cuz my membership expired. They are like $525 each, but I got mine on a blowout sale, Black Friday maybe?

Here they are on my Merc block:

$525 each? Yeah, I'll pass! It looks sweet though!

Edited by Arick
Link to comment
Definitely not cheap. But, they were the cheapest alternative that I could find. Plus they save me around 70lbs or so. I ended up paying $945 to my door on sale. Plus I sold my old ones for $125 I think, so my net was $820. Pricey, but not too bad. I probably could have held out for $200 on my old ones, but I just wanted to move them. It's all about air flow.

What do you have for a silencer? One of these?

post-8942-0-90368000-1432037711_thumb.jp
Link to comment
Definitely not cheap. But, they were the cheapest alternative that I could find. Plus they save me around 70lbs or so. I ended up paying $945 to my door on sale. Plus I sold my old ones for $125 I think, so my net was $820. Pricey, but not too bad. I probably could have held out for $200 on my old ones, but I just wanted to move them. It's all about air flow.

What do you have for a silencer? One of these?

Not sure what you mean by silencer but I have the same setup after the manifolds. or atleast it LOOKS the same.

Link to comment
It's called an "Ultimate Silencer". It is pretty restrictive, actually reducing down to 2 7/8" or slightly less in the baffles and rear openings. I knocked my baffles out and glassed in 3.5" openings, and put in STE's at the transom. No difference in sound, but allows more air to flow. Not a very expensive mod. Here's some pics of what that silencer looks like:
post-8942-0-75547000-1389202605_thumb.jp
post-8942-0-01230100-1389202490_thumb.jp

And here it is with the baffles removed:

post-8942-0-51809400-1430138665_thumb.jp
post-8942-0-57268800-1430138850_thumb.jp
post-8942-0-34332100-1430138907_thumb.jp
With the help of the crew I had my engine redone, and the source of hp gains kept coming back to "get more air in and more air out of the engine". I'm not a mechanic, but went with a lot of advice from guys on this site that know their stuff.
Link to comment
It's called an "Ultimate Silencer". It is pretty restrictive, actually reducing down to 2 7/8" or slightly less in the baffles and rear openings. I knocked my baffles out and glassed in 3.5" openings, and put in STE's at the transom. No difference in sound, but allows more air to flow. Not a very expensive mod. Here's some pics of what that silencer looks like:

And here it is with the baffles removed:

With the help of the crew I had my engine redone, and the source of hp gains kept coming back to "get more air in and more air out of the engine". I'm not a mechanic, but went with a lot of advice from guys on this site that know their stuff.

ahhh, I didn't look that close! That would be a good mod for the winter.

Link to comment

@Arick: other options for aluminum exhaust manifolds include: Stainless Marine, Hardin, Imco along with M-B's suggestion. They are pricey but save a good chunk of weight. A cylinder head upgrade will require you to do some port matching at a minimum with your stock manifolds.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...