1998 FF build

[blackmaxonly]

I have a blown front half of a '99 FF blocks if you want that paperweight too

[Merc 2.5]

Well I think my plan for this to be a budget build has gone out the window. I just picked up a 7 petal front half from a 2.5 240 HP Sport jet. Should bolt right on my FF block. The only real difference I see is there is 1 less bleed fitting on the 7 petal front. The way the EFI bleed system is routed, it wont matter if I bypass it. Or I could drill it and install the fitting. Just got to make sure the crankshaft sealing rings don't bind. The 5 petal front has a little more wear then the 7 petal. The guy said there was some damage on it. So I negotiated pretty hard with him. I thought I was going to have to repair it. Didn't realize the damage was already fixed. Not perfect, but good enough to be used the way it is.

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I was just talking to my machinist about promax block and it had sealing ring land broke off and tore up , said it could be fixed but will take alot of work ( welding and re cutting etc) just make sure the repair is done right

[skialot2]

I obviously misunderstood what the guy was saying about this 7 petal front. I thought it still needed repair. Apparently he meant it was repaired a long time ago. This is not a new repair. it is old. It has been used in a rebuilt motor already. The crankshaft sealing ring fits perfectly.

[skialot2]

I spoke to Chris the other day. He said he should be sending my block back to me next week. All the hard parts I sent him will cover 5/6 of the bill. Now that I am using a 7 petal front, I am getting the pistons with thin rings. 1.5mm vs 2mm. I should be able to spin this motor up pretty high without a problem.

[skialot2]

I have a blown front half of a '99 FF blocks if you want that paperweight too

I have a front half from a 1996 150 you can have. It has the same casting number as my 1998 FF front half.

[skialot2]

I picked up a 7 petal reed manifold to go with my 7 petal front. It came with 5 out of 6 reed blocks. So I bought 1 new block. Now comparing them, they are different. Looks like someone milled down the 5 blocks. They squared off the ports to make them flow better. I am going to have to try to match them by hand.

[rjdubiel]

early teardrop cage. The bigger one is the later HP cages.

[skialot2]

early teardrop cage. The bigger one is the later HP cages.

I wish that was the case. The 7 petal teardrop cages are correct by part number for a 2000 240 Sportjet. I can not find any factory squared off 7 petal reed blocks. These look like someone milled them down. There is a squared off high performance 5 petal reed used on the later 240 Sportjets. But no factory squared off 7 petal reeds that I can find. But if you can find me a block that matches the other five, I would be interested in it.

[LakeFever]

Thats interesting. The seven petal adds a lot of power at high RPM. I wonder how much more those ported cages make?

[tlwjkw]

they are actually really "BIG" 5 petals...

1 Mercury Outboard Sportjet Seadoo 240 EFI M2 2.5 Reed Valve Cage Reed Block Oem | eBay

[skialot2]

Thats interesting. The seven petal adds a lot of power at high RPM. I wonder how much more those ported cages make?

I am wondering that myself.

[skialot2]

they are actually really "BIG" 5 petals...

1 Mercury Outboard Sportjet Seadoo 240 EFI M2 2.5 Reed Valve Cage Reed Block Oem | eBay

Yes they are big. I believe they are 7 petal size in a 5 petal configuration. I wonder if they are interchangeable like the 4/5 petal reeds?

[tlwjkw]

yeah.. same as tha seven... they were and as for what i know, still tha most desired for tha big boy hot rods..... think they were only for a coupla years then they got really scarce.. we hoarded them like back yard squirrels................

[LakeFever]

If I faced your situation I’d try and rig up a fixture for my die grinder and port the new one to match. I’d make the fixture so it would rest the cutter at the exact same height and angle as the ported ones. I’d mount the cage to a flat surface. Something smooth so it would slide easy then make stops to limit side-side travel the width of the desired port cut. Essentially creating a fixture for the die grinder and the cage so the only place movement can happen is in the desired cut area. I don’t have a mill so I have to get crafty now and the with farmer tech

[skialot2]

Chris called today. My block is done. Everything came out good. He said it a real good thing I changed the sleeve. there was so much carbon in between the sleeve and the block casting a .020 oversize sleeve was still too small. He also said I did a real good job closing up the oil injection hole. Too bad he destroyed it when he heated the block to 450 degrees to install the sleeve. I am going to have to redo it. I should have used J-B weld. Its good for 500 degrees. But Marine-Tex is only good for 250. I got two tracking numbers. 1 for the block. The other for all the parts I ordered from him. UPS has the packages. They will be here Monday. I still don't know how much I owe him on top of the crapload of used parts I sent him.

Chris strongly suggests I stick with the original 4 petal reed front. He said unless I am planning to rev it up over 8K, It will have a better holeshot and pull harder thru the midrange with the 4 petal front. I have no plans to rev this thing to 8k and beyond. So, I am going to take his advice and stick with the original 4 petal front. I am getting his reeds and stuffers along with most of the rest of the parts I need to build it.