Powers laser slide gains?

[David - WI]

i dont see how it can flow more ; the laser butterflys are still in use if the slide replaces the stock cover?? isnt the motor still feeding off the 2 stock sets of butterflies?? i dont get it, the butterflies are still behind the 6 slider holes?

That's not how it works. The stock Laser butterflies are on the "back" side of the intake... the air goes "in" where I drew the red arrows, then it hits the cover and reverses direction back into the motor (green arrows).




- Comes complete with everything needed to convert from a closed plenum to slide; including intake, bolts, ECU bracket, ECU rubber isolators, slide intake cam and linkages (retains stock rod from throttle arm).


It looks like the slides open after the butterflies are already wide open.

[LakeFever]

Exactly how it seems. You run the factory four barrel and when your wide open the front six holes also open allowing in insanely higher amounts of air and a straight shot too. I’m surprised this is tunable without grenading the motor. Makes me think echoes of RJ’s comments it’s more in the exhaust than the intake holding things back.

[skialot2]

I would think it's both intake and exhaust holding things back. Opening up the exhaust helps without opening the intake. Opening up the intake helps without opening the exhaust. But gains are better if you do both.

[JCSmile]

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16v2ubHNgP/

Powers has a series of videos with an ee block starting with stock 38cc heads, then going to 33cc heads, then billet 5 petal cages, then slide intake. Starts at 242hp, ends up at 267. Keep in mind this is a power head dyno so numbers will be inflated by 5% or so. It appears the slide makes 10-15hp, but note that just compression makes 9hp for cheaper. I have a slide intake and have liked it, running on a 7 pedal 200 and a 7 pedal 225 promax. It definitely sucks fuel above 6000 or so when it starts opening. Throttle linkage is a bit fussy in my opinion, there are a lot of moving parts with slider bushings and return springs that don't always seem to want to come back to the same place every time. Every few months during summer I have to readjust mine to get the butterflies and slide to hit WOT at the same time. The logic on the laser slide makes a lot of sense. When I open the slide I can stare directly at the reed cages, that is a straighter path than sucking through the reverse facing throttle blades

[JCSmile]

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16v2ubHNgP/

Powers has a series of videos with an ee block starting with stock 38cc heads, then going to 33cc heads, then billet 5 petal cages, then slide intake. Starts at 242hp, ends up at 267. Keep in mind this is a power head dyno so numbers will be inflated by 5% or so. It appears the slide makes 10-15hp, but note that just compression makes 9hp for cheaper. I have a slide intake and have liked it, running on a 7 pedal 200 and a 7 pedal 225 promax. It definitely sucks fuel above 6000 or so when it starts opening. Throttle linkage is a bit fussy in my opinion, there are a lot of moving parts with slider bushings and return springs that don't always seem to want to come back to the same place every time. Every few months during summer I have to readjust mine to get the butterflies and slide to hit WOT at the same time. The logic on the laser slide makes a lot of sense. When I open the slide I can stare directly at the reed cages, that is a straighter path than sucking through the reverse facing throttle blades

[KIRCHNER]

why would it use more fuel if your only introducing more air? w/ same injectors, same ecu as fact.stock. does your throttle cable need more travel for the slide?

[rjdubiel]

Yeah bass mid with the liner all stock. 200 tuner. I did port the adapter plate out to the big rectangle but that’s it. You think there’s gains in the mid? What do I do here drill the liner out and add reliefs?

I do have a smooth back I just didn’t bother with it for weight savings

I would think the bass mid and liner is about the same weight as the off shore mid, or close! Not sure you will get any gains from it, but could, just depends. I would say you can tune to more RPM with the offshore. If you swap you may have to dill out the three bolt holes in the back of the adapter plate as the offshore has a bigger bolt that goes through the back of the adapter plate into the mid. They are much much louder with the off shore mid, so hopefully you have the one with the block off plate that can close the snout of that offshore incase you do any tubing or recreational stuff!

[aj06bolt12r]

why would it use more fuel if your only introducing more air? w/ same injectors, same ecu as fact.stock. does your throttle cable need more travel for the slide?

The throttle cable does not need more travel with the slide. That stays the same. The linkage on the slide is set up so that the slide reaches full open at the same time as the factory laser butterflies.

It wouldn't use more fuel unless it allows you to turn more RPM which would obviously use more fuel.

But its not going to make more power with more air at any given RPM if you don't add more fuel... UNLESS it was too rich to start with and the added air brought the air fuel ratio into the range it was supposed to be in the first place.. I assume that most people who buy the Powers slide also buy the Powers ECU with appropriate tuning at the same time.. Or they already have a Brucato ECU and can add fuel manually on their own or maybe not add any fuel since Brucato ECUs seem to be a little rich on the factory setting anyway.

[KIRCHNER]

call me stupid, to see the reeds, looking thru the 6 slide holes, thru the butterfly venturis??

[aj06bolt12r]

call me stupid, to see the reeds, looking thru the 6 slide holes, thru the butterfly venturis??

So.. The stock laser butterflys on the back side of the plenum just allow air to enter the plenum.. They are not lined up with the reeds.. They are in between the intake runners.. Below the intake runners for CLY 1 and 2 and above the intake runners for 5 and 6. So the air has to go through the butterflys, enter the plenum and then turn 180* corner and go the completely opposite direction to enter the intake runners and have access to the reeds. Think a throttle body on a car intake... Or the throttle body on a 3.0 merc. Accept there are 4 of them instead of one... The slide intake leaves the back side of the plenum alone, the 4 "throttle bodies" are still there and function exactly the same.. But the front side of the plenum, which is just a cover on a stock laser, is replaced with the slide assembly.. The slide openings are lined up directly in front of the intake runners. When the slide opens the you can see the reeds throught the slide openings.. Straight shot in..

[LakeFever]

I would think the bass mid and liner is about the same weight as the off shore mid, or close! Not sure you will get any gains from it, but could, just depends. I would say you can tune to more RPM with the offshore. If you swap you may have to dill out the three bolt holes in the back of the adapter plate as the offshore has a bigger bolt that goes through the back of the adapter plate into the mid. They are much much louder with the off shore mid, so hopefully you have the one with the block off plate that can close the snout of that offshore incase you do any tubing or recreational stuff!

Thankfully I did all the research on this before and have a good grasp on drilling the holes and whatnot. I was all set to use it on the initial rigging but we had that tuner thread with Bud ( rip heathen ) going and he said it wouldn’t make a blip more power just weigh more. I do have the block off plate style so I’m good there too.


This may be my first hotrod Merc but it’s far from the first motor I’ve built and all my instincts say it’s hitting the wall because it’s choking somewhere. Figuring out what the choke point is is never easy unless someone else has done it before you and can share the details. I did learn a ton on what mods were worth doing and what weren’t and this motor is great I’m really enjoying it. I just feel it needs to breathe more up top somehow and I don’t know if it’s the in or the out. Feels like an intake issue to me maybe the four petal holding it back. But I am more prone to four stroke thinking where it’s all about the intake side. Two strokes it’s not so cut and dry.


I’m going to stuff a 27p on it and see how high it will turn next time out. Great thread guys thanks. More info or thoughts welcome

[LakeFever]

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16v2ubHNgP/

Powers has a series of videos with an ee block starting with stock 38cc heads, then going to 33cc heads, then billet 5 petal cages, then slide intake. Starts at 242hp, ends up at 267. Keep in mind this is a power head dyno so numbers will be inflated by 5% or so. It appears the slide makes 10-15hp, but note that just compression makes 9hp for cheaper. I have a slide intake and have liked it, running on a 7 pedal 200 and a 7 pedal 225 promax. It definitely sucks fuel above 6000 or so when it starts opening. Throttle linkage is a bit fussy in my opinion, there are a lot of moving parts with slider bushings and return springs that don't always seem to want to come back to the same place every time. Every few months during summer I have to readjust mine to get the butterflies and slide to hit WOT at the same time. The logic on the laser slide makes a lot of sense. When I open the slide I can stare directly at the reed cages, that is a straighter path than sucking through the reverse facing throttle blades

this is exactly the kind of first hand review I was hoping for thank you

[KIRCHNER]

thinkin out loud, with all the added intake volume, velocity must go down,air approaching the reeds will be slower, not good for making torque, guessing the slide makes up son the big rpm end. in the automotive world, the engine would bog if you stomped on it with out a big shot of extra fuel. putting my 225 back together this week, 16a system,lite flywheel, 150 heads,,020 over. life is good...

[XstreamVking]

Yet, merc gets it done with the horn style intake.

[LakeFever]

thinkin out loud, with all the added intake volume, velocity must go down,air approaching the reeds will be slower, not good for making torque, guessing the slide makes up son the big rpm end. in the automotive world, the engine would bog if you stomped on it with out a big shot of extra fuel. putting my 225 back together this week, 16a system,lite flywheel, 150 heads,,020 over. life is good...

two strokes don’t have an interrupted column the same as a four stroke does. It’s easier to keep the air moving. Think of a four stroke like a faucet. The airflow gets turned on and off as if you turned the tap handle on and off. This is controlled by the cam and the intake valve. This is why overlap is such a big power maker because the hook and rope effect works as a scavenge to pull the air into the chamber much like a two stroke does with the expanding exhaust pulling the next charge in. The key difference of course being a two stroke is pulling every second stroke where a four stroke is only pulling every 4th stroke. Roughly speaking that’s the gyst of it. A well put together motor creates a column of air and keeps it moving towards combustion as much as you can with as little interruption as you can. Think siphon hose. Once it’s flowing it’s easy to fill a bucket. Starting and stopping is a pita.