96 389 SE Question

[jbales]

I apologize in advance for the ton of questions!

I have recently acquired this boat with the Johnson FS 150 on it (same year), prop is 24P Raker II, and all looks to be bone stock setup. At full trim and wot, I am at 5100-5200 (assuming the tach is correct) and a max of 59-60mph (gps). The plugs are right ones, timing seems correct, compression is right at 90 for all cyls. Hole shot is fine as long as the live well is empty, when full it is bad. Not knowing anything about how it ran from the factory, does this sound right? RPM's high enough? Speed about right?

What could I add/change to see if I could get more out of this motor? Jackplate? Different prop? Blueprint the prop I have? So many options but I don't know where to start, or if I should try to change anything. If it's right I'm gonna leave it alone!

Thanks.

[lkhartwl]

howdy and welcome, where are you at in Ga? there are a good bit of stratos owners on the sc/ga border like me also there is a great Johnson mech in townville sc ( just off 85 near anderson sc).
Now as for your questions: 1 you are running a little slow on rpms, it should be 4500-5500 with most running in the higher end of the range. speed is fairly good but you did not say a jack plate or not. If not put one on it will help with speed and rpms to a degree.
as for the livewell question on holeshot just about every boat has a crummy holeshot when the live wells are full, you have just added a couple hundred pounds to the boat at least ( one gallon of water is what 8 lbs or more) so figure if you have 2- 35 gallon livewells you are talking 580 lbs extra weight, and in weight sensitive boats like bass boats it tends to bog down the boat. you can if going to run with the liveweels full a lot put a dol fin or some other sort of tail on the cavitation plate to help drop the nose quicker, you may just blow out a bit more then but that would be the trade off untill you learned the trimming difference.
Rpms, 90 is good on all cylinders, you may want to do a decarb on it but that would be about it, you may want to send the prop to Mark( he is a major prop guru on here ) looks under props on the top section of the web site and post there he will help you, he did wonders to a trophy I was running on a gambler for a really decent price., Yes get a 6 " jack plate ( get an on the water adjustable one manual) or a hydro if you can afford it the on the water adjustable manual will allow you to adjust and not have to pull the boat out everytime you adjust or stop and get wet adjusting it.
Livewells see if you can get away with only filling 1/2 way and then using them that will help some also.
with some prop work ( maybe) and a jsck plate you should see maybe 2-3 mph gain and probably 200 rpm more. good lick on the boat and if you get around lake russell give me a holler, Steve

[buzzjet]

I have a 98 model 389. Your RPMs are too low. I have a 175 on my 389 and I run two props. One is a 23p renegade that has been worked by DAH and the other is a stock 23p trophy. Neither of these props are very fast but the 389 loves the 4 blade prop. If you do not have a jackplate, you may want to add one. The 389 performs best with an 8" plate and I would suggest getting one with a hole shot plate (flat plate under the jackplate that prevents water from grabbing the jackplate during take-off). If you are trying to get speed out of your boat, you may want to find an old style 24 raker. Once the old style raker's are worked, they perform pretty well. If you want holeshot and overall handling, the 4 blade is the way to go on that hull.

[jbales]

Thanks for the info guys. There is a shop right next to the house here, he has a new 6" jp sitting on the shelf, we are going to try that on Wed. My hot foot cable was binding so I got a new one and we are going to put it on and make sure that it is opening all the way. He doesn't have a 4 blade that will work, so I may have to buy one to be able to try it. What is the best 4 blade to order? Should it be the same pitch as the 14 1/2 x 24 I have now?

The other problem with all this is that he has a 409 sitting up there I really like with a 225 Venom on it, makes spending money on this boat kind of tough!

lkhartwl: I live in Clermont. I was up on Hartwell on Memorial Day, didn't have much luck though (first time fishing it). My wife and I used to camp up at Bobby Brown SP and fish off the dam all time, I like both those lakes up there. There's just something about throwing topwater in those standing trees!

[lkhartwl]

if the HT foot cable was binding there is your 2-400 rpms right there. as for the jack plate go ahead. now as the 409 with a 225 on it yes it will be faster but also remember gas is what 2.89 a gallon and well 150 hp vs 225 hp means a lot more gas and also the 409 has a huge tank( probably 50 gallons or 2 -26 gallon ones) so you may think about that also ins on a 225 is more usually than a 150 due to speed and such and some ins companies will not insure any motor over 200 hp. KNow where clermont is nice little restricted lake called russell up there, not like my lake russell here where 200+ motors roar.
Hartwell is best before memorial day and after labor day as the idiots are not on it then for the most part. Russell is too long a drive for most but they are starting down here now with the jet skis and such tho no where near as bad as hartwell or the hill. shoot me a mail if you are down this way one weekend and we can hit felkel and the rocky river arm of russell.