350 MPI engine replacement

[mathews_hunter]

I have a Baha 277 gle that has a 350 MPI  300 hp rated in it.   It’s under powered for the boat.  I was curious to get some opinions for repowering the boat.  It seems like the cost of repowering newer fuel injection boat is much greater than carb motors.  Is there any shops that any specialize in newer fuel injected motor packages?

[sherman brown]

have you tried going to a lower pitch 4 or 5 blade prop? I had a 21' cobia glass boat with a 350 315 HP and a 19p 3 blade that had a problem getting up when loaded for Erie. I tried a 19p high five 5 blade which was awesome getting up. then I got a great buy on a 17p high 5 and it was a dream prop. we now have a 26' sylvan with a 350 280 HP with an elephant ear prop but not sure about the pitch but I think it is maybe a 16p. if you message me I will check the pitch and let you know.

 

but if you try going 2 pitches lower than what you have now with a high 5 it will give you so much more power on bottom end that it will just amaze you. when I switched to the 19p high 5 it was like I went to another boat.

 

all my props were bought on eBay used for less than half of what a new one cost. but both these boats had Mercruiser outdrives.

 

do you have outdrives or is yours an inboard? if you have an inboard the only thing that may help is trying a lower pitch prop. the only other thing is to check and see if the 5.7 can be replaced with a larger stronger engine. but I would check on having the 5.7 built with a lot more power.

 

[mathews_hunter]

It’s an inboard.  I have gone from a 3 blade to a 4 blade 18” Acme prop. 

[Bozeman Bob]

MichiganMotorz , buy a 502 , everything should mate up without having to upgrade drive shaft or tranny .  Changing props isn't going to do anything, all your doing is robbing from one end ( example, top speed ), and giving it to the other ( hole shot ) . You need HP and matching torque numbers , not a 350 turned into a 383 stroker for example. That setup will show more HP but torque numbers down a bit and you have that block tweaked out to the maximum,think longevity. Vs a 502 that's just purring along with big ass pistons providing all the torque numbers you need . 

Edited May 18, 2023 by Bozeman Bob

[TrophySeeker]

On 5/14/2023 at 10:13 AM, mathews_hunter said:

I have a Baha 277 gle that has a 350 MPI  300 hp rated in it.   It’s under powered for the boat.  I was curious to get some opinions for repowering the boat.  It seems like the cost of repowering newer fuel injection boat is much greater than carb motors.  Is there any shops that any specialize in newer fuel injected motor packages?

So I have the 6.2L MPI version in my 277 GLE. It's not that much more motor. I'm curios what kind of power/speed you are looking for? I run about 25mph at 4300 RPM in calm waters. I have no idea of top speed as I don't like revving much higher than that.