XR6 150 Performance questions Don Weed, Jay Smith or others

Let's say I have $1000 to invest in increasing performance in a very clean stock 1996 Mercury XR6. How would you spend your first $1000.
Current setup: 1997 Ranger Sport R82, 150 XR6 turning about 5800 RPM with 59 GPS (56 with two people) with 24 Trophy Plus. Have run 25P Rapture near same speed with 200 lower RPMs. Mounted with no jackplate, second to last hole (about 3" below pad I'd guess).

I'm technical enough to pull carbs and replace water pump but not comfortable pulling powerhead. Target would be better low speed idle and hopefully 5MPH gain top end. I have a hard time when I try to load the boat the motor with the engine bogging down and shutting off.

So what is some rational expectations of the following improvements, or any I have not thought about:
- 6" jackplate
- change out the reeds (which ones are best)
- tuner
- heads (how muchdoes this change reliability)
- better ideas?
- 200 carbs?

1997 Ranger Sport R82
1996 Mercury 150 XR6 stock

put a 200 tuner or bobs tuner , tdr, chris carlson reeds , i run tdr reeds , shave heads , put jackplate on it 6" and run a razor 3 prop on it from mark on prop forum top of forum page youll be happy with it

What about disabling the ignition advance/retard module and manually setting the timing to 22-23degrees so it doesn't pull your peak timing back 6 degrees by 55-5600? I have heard this is a very nice gain. I have a 2000 XR6 that i would like to get some more HP out of as well. Anyone know how to do the timing modification and how much power its worth up top ??

Send you heads to Jay and let him cut them. This is a mod you will feel in the seat of your pants. You will have to run 91 octane though. No offense but, that Range is a heavy boat. Getting 5 mph increase with a XR-6 is gonna be very difficult if not impossible even with 200 tuner, timing modual disabled and timing reset, reeds and jack plate along with cut heads. Good luck in you venture. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/thumbsup2.gif

I'd recommend in the following order:

1. Remove idle stabilizer/advance module. Reset timing to 24 BTDC (WOT). This one would be "free".

2. Send heads to Jay Smith. Have him cut them for you.

3. Reeds. I like the CCR (Chris Carson) reeds.... or you could use TDR Reeds.

Most anything beyond this is going to set you over-budget (tuner, case mods, etc. etc.... Jay Smith can help you if you plan to proceed beyond the above).

I cut tons of heads a year and folks love em, I use Tony Doukas Reeds only on all my rebuilds , they're bullet proof..

Jay

I would add another freebe, the hood scoop mod. This alone will usually pick up a couple of MPH.

explain the hood scoop mod, does this work on a efi 200 merc im all ears!!!!

How much HP can be expected by the timing module delete and setting it at 23 degrees manually? I believe by 55-5600RPM the timing is pulled down to 17 degrees from 23 degrees at 5K due to the module. I would think it would be a noticeable gain "1-2mph?" Maybe 10HP or so? And then how much do the heads getting shaved down help would be my other question. Obviously this is a question that needs to be answered by those that have dyno tested or real world tested these modifications. Reliable information on this would be greatly appreciated as im looking to increase the power on my XR6 without spending a ton of cash to do so.

regardless your limited to these few unless you port the motor big bucks you can feel the dif in shaved heads low and mid maybe on top depends on setup , reeds , exhaust, pull modules it helps , i have searched or dyno info none most have porting block involved thats the difference between the 135 to 225 2.5 mercs is porting it takes 25 hp gain to gain 3 mph old school theory.depending on what your shooting for sell that motor and the extra grand buy a bigger one or do what you can with this one . reeds, tuner, shave heads, pull modules

if you pull your modules off dont just set timing to 24 on #1 i just retimed mine you need a dial indicator if it werent for jay telling me to dial all cylinders on mine #6 was 3 degrees more than #1 if i ran it like that jay said it would have burned a hole in #6 piston, buy a dial indicator from jay smith 75. + shipping can save you a big problem . my motor runs better than ever but make sure

If you do a search on here some have the pics. But basically, you use longer bolts & half inch spacers, to raise the scoop, and drill some holes in the back corners air tubes.

Older types had a rectangular hole underneath that you can cut down half an inch from the inside.

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by EuropeanAM &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">I'd recommend in the following order:

1. Remove idle stabilizer/advance module. Reset timing to 24 BTDC (WOT). This one would be "free".

2. Send heads to Jay Smith. Have him cut them for you.

3. Reeds. I like the CCR (Chris Carson) reeds.... or you could use TDR Reeds.

Most anything beyond this is going to set you over-budget (tuner, case mods, etc. etc.... Jay Smith can help you if you plan to proceed beyond the above).

</td></tr></table>

What will removing the idle stabilizer/advance module do for performance?

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by 71bambam &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">if you pull your modules off dont just set timing to 24 on #1 i just retimed mine you need a dial indicator if it werent for jay telling me to dial all cylinders on mine #6 was 3 degrees more than #1 if i ran it like that jay said it would have burned a hole in #6 piston, buy a dial indicator from jay smith 75. + shipping can save you a big problem . my motor runs better than ever but make sure</td></tr></table>

+100 http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/thumbsup2.gif

We find that many of these modules (by this point in their lives) are inconsistent at best. Some have deteriorated harnesses, some internal problems, and all altered timing in one fashion or another.

Removing the module allows timing to be set in a fashion that results in CONSISTENT engine timing (and I'll add "dependably consistent"). http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/wink.gif

Loving the great replies so far. Planing to start looking for parts soon and begin work in October when tourney season is done.

Keep posting your thoughts for others on XR6 improvements. I love these threads.

I have a 1995 mariner efi 200. If I remove these modules how do I set the timing to what it should be?

call jay smith racing he has the index gauge you must have it . index #1 cylinder set to 24 then index all the others mark flywheel one will more than likely be more advanced than #1 set it to 24 timing mark at wot to the most advanced cylinder sound hard but the second time you do it to check yourself its a breeze index means top dead center to the thousands once its set your done. hang on.

How much of a gain did you get off the timing mod alone?

i cant honestly tell you they were off when i bought motor ,rebuilt motor ran it but new something was wrong, doggy , timing without module was 13 needs to be 24 when i set to 24 its a whole new animal, i have to go up 2 prop sizes now , i never ran it with them on . this is a consistant timing set not a module that will go bad in time

This is an interesting post. What would cause one of the cylinders to show a timing of a few more degrees than #1?? I would want to know if it were an electrical part going bad or something??

I bought one of Jays gauges to set my "0" mark but have not done the indexing of each cylinder. And I have not been able to figure out how to do the counterclockwise thing to set 25* either. I should call Jay on that one.

i indexed #1 set to 24 then index all cyl. mark flywheel as there will be no marks once you do them all hit them with the timing light i actually had 2 that were more than #1 but #6 was the highest so set to #6 there is no electric part for that jay said 90%+ of motors he rebuilds one of the other cyl. are more advanced than #1 and if 3 or 4 degrees and you set to #1 only and run it you will burn a hole in the higher advanced piston . set the index gauge in #1 turn motor over by hand till you hit top dead center ,reset guauge to 0 turn it counter till you go 1/4 past .425 on mine then come back to .425 on the gauge then your timing pin should line up if not it needs to be set thats all its for to set timing pin the rest is just find and mark top dead center

Hope the thread continues to discuss mods. As for my motor.....it's not gonna happen. Number 4 rod through the side of the block yesterday. Boo hoo.

I have the same boat and year with a Merc 150 EFI, mine has a 6in hydraulic jack plate. After playing around with props to get my WOT rps up to 5400 which is the max for that engine, I finally settled in with this. Trophy plus 23 pitch prop with the black plugs in and the weed guard or whatever they call it pressed on the front hub of the prop to reduce blowout. The motor 6in set back with the height of the prop shaft 3.5 in below the pad, regular gas. I know the original owner had the reeds changed. The final outcome was this, 62mph 1 person, and 60mph 2 people with a fabulous hole shot and great handling at all speeds. I might be able to get even a little more out of it if I had a little more time to play around with the jack plate. These were GPS speeds at 5400 rpm WOT. Question? with my motor and a 24 trophy plus, I couldn't turn over 5000 rpms and was worried about lugging the motor, what is the max RPMS for your motor.