Reed cages. Another goofy quetion.

[vman]

I have read this forum for quite a while and not posted too much. I know you guys help out even dumb a&&es like me so here goes. One question about modifying reed cages. Is there a noticeable performance gain and who would you have do them? I have a 260 with the back drag cut and rod slots done . It's pretty much stock other than a 1" spacer. Thanks
vman

[steve]

We have 5 petal billet cages with teflon coating that flows more then the other cages out there. They also stuff the crankcase more and have air straightening supports inside. They come with brand new carbon fiber reeds. Or you can get the Merc 5 petal rubber coated cages. Don't flow as much and dont stuff the case, but they seal a little better and come with glass reeds which we also have carbon fiber for. Mercs are about $320 and ours are $390 shipped. Carbon reed set is $150 and glass set is $120. Both are much better then the little gain you'll get by weakening your present cages and possibly having them crack . Photos available and ours are 100% money back if you don't like em. :D

[Raceman]

I think you'd have to look long and hard at what you're gonna do with the boat and make a decision from there. If you're doing some kind of organized racing and every zillionth of a horsepower is worth spending mega bucks on, then maybe they're worth foolin' with. If it's a typical lake hotrod, with an anywhere near stock motor, I doubt that you'll see any meaningful increase, or at least not enough to justify the cost and time involved for the switch.

[stvhelm]

http://home.insightbb.com/~mercuryracing/wsb/media/280206/site1090.jpg

http://home.insightbb.com/~mercuryracing/wsb/media/280206/site1089.jpg

http://home.insightbb.com/~mercuryracing/wsb/media/280206/site1088.jpg

[stvhelm]

cool stuff. how bout you send me a set so we can do an article:D

[steve]

I think we can arrange something. How many styles do you want to demo? Call me tomorrow morning and I'll line all of them up. You have a PCU too. Cool . Very cool. :D

[diskvalve]

Will those cages fit a regular 200 h.p. 2.5 litre fishing motor ? They look like they will and I must say they look very good. --- mike

[T-REX]

raceman hit tha nail on tha head!!!...Tha deel'inz Iv'e had wit carbon fiber reeds only dun one thang...cost mo money!!!...and even know a few 300dragz that lost top end!!!....

Reeds, and reed cages are kinna like tuners...Ya alwayz heer about how good they are, but when it git's down to tha nitty gritty, ain't much ta be had unless ya fool'in wit an alout race motor!!!...Tha rubber coated cages do allow better air/fuel flow(did ya pick up on that ALLOW!!!)...Other than a better seel and smoother bottom and crisper bottom end, tha change to rubber cages won't show U any HP increase...They WILL flow better than std alum. cages on a flow bench, but juss to change them in a stock motor ain't gunna sho a HP gain...well, at leest not for me anyway...REX:cool:

[steve]

on the reed thickness and layup as well. We do like the CF . Personal preference I guess. There are several manufacturers making carbon fiber sheets. The Merc 280 style material is one style of course. Many of the dirt bikes, jet skis, snowmobiles and other 2 strokes are running CF in their programs as well. Same goes with glass, there are different quality, different thickness, different resin, etc. Some are better then others. At least thats what I found. The main benefit in going to glass and CF is in the safety margin if the reed breaks. Steel makes a mess. We prefer single stage most of the time also.
As mentioned, we have glass reeds and CF and the CF are avail in 3 thicknesses. It just all depends as they say. As was also mentioned, you won't likely pick up a ton of rpm on reeds alone, but in combination they can make a noticable difference for good or bad. Motors with other bolt ons, or modified motors will make the most of the extra flow.

diskvalve: the reeds pictured fit the 7 petal opening not the 5 petal like you have. The best reeds for the 5 petal opening is the 4 petal rubber coated set. They are $255 a set shipped including brand new CF reeds. The openings are much larger, screws are shorter and the cages are coated. If you want glass reeds they are $15 cheaper. Personally I like the med. thickness carbon fiber on the fishing motors. We have either .

[stvhelm]

steve, how would compare the life expectency between your cf reeds and mercury's yellow high perf. reeds?

[steve]

in every situation. The ones we run now are much different then the ones from 3 or 4 years ago and seem to run very comparable in our drag motor except for better topend. A performance dealer in Wisconsin made these sets several years ago before he died. The original plastic reeds he had made for them were not the best material and didn't seem to hold up very well. In fact although they made more power and worked well for drag racing, we replaced several sets of Jamies early cages and reeds with stock reeds in motors we'd built back then to eliminate any problems ,until we found what was wrong with his design. We found the petals were too short and they slapped the tips hard when they closed. This led to chipping and eventual breakage or leakage. Although the material was not the best available, it was actually the cut on the reeds that led to the real problems. They didn't have enough area to settle down on flat. We replaced several sets of Jamies reeds and cages a few years back when this was a problem. In fact there was a guy in Canada north of NY that we sent a set of stock reeds and we paid to have his local dealer replace them . The cages would actually wear right at the tips from the reed being sucked into the opening when they closed. So in recent years , we have had several different materials to experiment with as well as allowed others to try them. These reeds are longer and slightly wider and are made from better material as well. They have a larger area to land on , just like the factory sets, but they have a much higher air flow. The 3 petal are ONLY recommended for drag, kilo racing and short term use at high rpm . They are not for running 9,500rpm across a 20 mile lake. In fact most reeds aren't. Harmonics seem to kill a lot of them. The 3petal cage has such a large opening that we feel the reeds are flexing too much for sustained high rpm use. They are race only and they do flow better but won't last as long as the 5 petal. The 5 petal are excellent for race or lake use and we have had good success with them these past 2 seasons with the longer reeds, better material and teflon coating. We also have some that are made specifically for an SVS as they have longer dividers to direct airflow better. In comparison to the Merc 2 stage , these chip equal to or less then the stock 7 petal cages we were running with yellow 2 stage reeds. Those would be the ones for what you are doing. Do you check your reeds every season or more then once a season? :cool:

[diskvalve]

Thanks Steve, is that price for 6 cages and reeds with screws assembled, ready to install ? I have a few buddies with 2.5 s that are interested as well. --- mike

[steve]

Thats the price for all the pcs. We will generally let you assemble them. I can assemble them as well if you prefer. The newest set I have gotten to test have slots for the screws so that the reeds can be lengthened or shortened on the cage as well. We have found the glass reeds to be slightly more responsive from idle thru lower midrange and the carbon fiber to be slightly better at topend and midrange. Many of the top finishers in ProFuel and ProGas this past year were running CF , some were running rubber coated cages, some were not. Currently we are looking for a company to vulcanize these cages, but the teflon is the next best thing and the rubber mainly helps bottom end a little. The ones Chopper city made in 4 petal are similar but again , I believe the 3 and 4 petal just leave the reed flopping around too much for constant use. They are more race only cages. :cool: