Multimedia Exchange - boosted 5.3 airboat pics and vids

i helped a buddy out with his airboat. he did most of the work but i did most of the turbo stuff and all of the wiring and tuning. it turned out very nice looking and runs hard.

specs are a cam only 5.3, 76mm billet wheel turbo, 66mm precision wg. it is running 10psi and the blades are pitched to hold it back to 5000rpm. it has a holly 1800hp pump, 114lb injectors and runs on e85. everything is sized for 1000+hp

here are some of the build pics > http://neufamily.org/images/airboatgallery/

http://neufamily.org/images/airboatgallery/images/IMG_5132.jpg

here is a video of us tuning it. there are also some nice shots of many of the parts on the boat > http://youtu.be/l_iXwqfA71Q

and a video from yesterday which was the first time it hit the river. it is kinda long. http://youtu.be/m4Cn9wGhaMg

the boat pushed the front end down too much when you hit it. today they are going to adjust the engine/blade angle compared to the hull. that is suppose to help keep the front up. if you go too much angle the front end bounces so you have to find the sweet spot.

the boat also had a wicked lean when you floored it. i think the really high hp boats have 2 sets of counter rotating props to stop this. maybe adjusting the engine angle and getting the front of the boat up a little will help? there is another 300+hp left in this thing so the lean might be a problem but right now it is just weird but you get used to it.

Thumbs up to that guy, that's sick!

Lee the owner has been researching the lean when we go wot. turns out we are making too much power for the blade combo he has.

we are running too much pitch on the blades but it is the pitch required to hold the engine back to 5000rpm.

he has to get another blade and a 4 blade hub and then we take some pitch out of the blades so more of the power goes toward pushing the boat rather than twisting the boat.

it is always exciting when you are "making too much power". they are telling him it will be a lot faster with the right blade set up.

this is not all that different than setting up a car. you can tune it to make a ton of power but then you have to figure out how to use the power. kinda neat.

THats a first for me! Nice