SX 192 Mods

[SamCF]

I picked up a SX 192 a few weeks back. The wife was pushing for the 190, but I got my way. I wanted the SHO because I knew how much potential it had.

I was very disappointed at first. It seems that heat soak is a big problem with these boats in hot climates. The boat would go 50 mph for less than a minute, then start backing down rpms until speed was down around 42-44 mph. This takes me to the first mod.

To address the heat soak issue and prepare for future performance mods, I ordered an intercooler and parts from Frozen Boost. I used one of their air to air coolers for a cummins project a few years back, and I'm very happy with their products.

Parts List:
Type 14 intercooler
3- 1/2" NPT x 3/4" barbed elbow
4 - 1" hose clamps
2 - 3/4" to 5/8" barbed couplers
2' - 3/4" ID water hose
1 - 3"x3" 90 deg silicone coupler
1 - 3"x2.5" 90 deg silicone coupler
2 - 3"x3" 45 deg silicone coupler
1 - 3"x3" 45 deg aluminum piping
7 - 3" hose clamps
reused hose clamp on supercharger.

The install took about 2 hours. I didn't hard mount the intercooler or run upgraded cooling lines at first. I wanted to test the setup before committing to it. I wrapped the bottom and back of the cooler in pipe insulation and set it beside the motor mount hump. Turns out it is very secure there and doesn't move at all while boating. After initial testing, I went back and tapped my coolant strainer and added a 3/4" dedicated line to the intercooler. (haven't tested this yet). The results were excellent. Low and Mid range power were much improved and top speed was 50 mph hitting the rev limiter. I ran it between 40-50 mph for over 10 miles and at any time I could punch it and hit 50 mph. Heat soak is GONE.

Here is a short video running 0-50 mph. Factory speedo lags quite a bit. GPS speed is in lower left corner of Nav unit.

I'm interested in R3 ECU, C3 Wheel and other supporting mods. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

This is top view including a cold air intake I threw together with some extra parts I had laying around.



Intercooler to Throttle body.


Supercharger to intercooler



Tapped Strainer

 

[SamCF]

I'm interested in taking the boat to the FL Keys. This got me looking into GPS units. I ordered a Humminbird Helix 5 with Sonar, DI and GPS. Could have saved $50 and left off the DI because I don't need it. After seeing the included maps, I upgraded to Navionics+. Very detailed maps for the entire US with free map upgrades for 1 year.

I used the included mounting brackets for the head unit and transducer. A thru hull transducer would work better. I didn't see a spot on the transom that would be in clean water at speed. It works very good at 30 mph or less, but skips out a little at faster speeds.

Transducer



Head Unit

 

[njmr2fan]

nice work!

 

[skbishop90]

I have a AR192. Ive never had a heat soaking issue. Although, in your video I noticed at least 200-300RPM more than what mine runs. Ive gotten mine to just a hair above 50 on a calm morning. I wonder what it would run if I had some mods to bring the RPMs up.

 

[SamCF]

I think 50mph is close to max due to the Rev limiter. Fully loaded on a hot day I would be down to 42 mph. This morning full of fuel, 2 adults and 3 kids we could maintain 48mph without heating up and slowing down.

I think cooling mods, intercooler and ecu flash would make a huge difference.

 

[skbishop90]

Once my Y.E.S. is up, ill definitely be doing some mods. I see a lot of potential with these supercharged engines. Maybe itll save me from buying a 21ft haha.

 

[Pinhacker71]

Anyone tried the supercharger cooler with filter from r and d. Close to $900 at island racing. Looks like it would do the same thing. I'm only getting 7200 rpm also and would be interested if it would help.

 

[Eurocat]

@SamCF nice work.
Couple of questions
- do you have a pic with the placement of the intercooler in the engine bay? (it's hard to tell from the pics)
- The tapped strainer, what was the purpose?
- how close to the rear opening is your air intake? (this is actually what I'm considering on doing before adding an intercooler)
- in the first pic, you mention you added a CIA, u mean a CAI (cold air intake)?

an observation, normally an intercooler in a car is placed in the front where it will be exposed to cool air going thru the baffles. In the engine compartment of these boats there isn't any actual air movement, so in order to get the actual temp differential needed for the intercooler to be fully effective, how did you solve it? (I know the air inside the intercooler is hotter than in the engine compartment and that it does cool down a little just by going thru the baffles, but I don't see it as being enough, but maybe it is)

 

[SamCF]

I can't get a better pic of the intercooler. It's basically under where the stock intercooler mounted, in the floor just outside of the motor mount. The tapped strainer increases lake water flow to the intercooler, giving the intercooler more cooling capacity. The cold air intake sits in the fresh air vent at the rear of the engine compartment. The cold air piping goes right by the exhaust manifold, so I'm not sure how cold the air is when it gets to the supercharger.

Most cars have an air to air intercooler. These boats have a water to air intercooler. The lake water is circulated through the intercooler core to cool the air from the supercharger. The stock intercooler is pitiful at best.

Aside from the intercooler, the biggest problem with these boats is the lack of cold fresh air entering the engine compartment. I haven't figured out what to do about it yet. I don't like cutting holes in the boat, so I'm not sure where to go with it.

 

[Eurocat]

I see, so you just replaced it with a larger one and increased water flow to it.
so your cai is able to draw a little bit fresher air than the stock air box. i'll def try that to see how much of a dif it makes by itself.
I looked into bringing in air from under the seats perhaps, but can't see there being enough air movement to make a difference to justify making the wholes. maybe if the hose/duct went all the way into the area behind the passenger seat, the intake would stay fairly hidden there.

It's a shame we can't get full use of the supercharger until we do a bunch of mods.

 

[SamCF]

That's a really good idea to run the intake into a separate compartment. The vent behind the swim platform seat back could be opened up to add ventilation to the side compartment. I'll look at it tomorrow and maybe cut some holes.

 

[Eurocat]

let me know how it turns out. Biggest problem I see is fire containment, but I don't think a 3 inch whole will matter much if my engine is on fire...
Was looking thru a couple of sites. Island racing has a few things including charger wheels, water cooled supercharger...

Did you remove the flame arrester ribbon?

 

[Speedling]

Awesome!
If you are pinned on the limiter, go up a bit on impeller! Otherwise all the power in the world won't move more water. Get there quicker though!

 

[SamCF]

Yeah I removed the flame arrestor ribbon. That was my first mod. It got me to 49 mph from a previous high of 47 mph. That is when I realized how much performance dropped off as the engine got hot. I would drive a half a mile with a big smile on my face then look down and I'm down to 7200 rpm and 42mph.

 

[skbishop90]

Is there a thread on the flame arrestor mod? Ive heard of it and want to do it but again, I'll wait till my Y.E.S. is up.

 

[Julian]

The tapped strainer increases lake water flow to the intercooler, giving the intercooler more cooling capacity.

Any concerns that reducing cooling water pressure by tapping the strainer will in turn reduce cooling water to the engine? Are you connecting YDS to check on engine temp (don't even recall if YDS has an engine temp sensor)?

Nice work and thanks for sharing it!

 

[SamCF]

@skibishop90 This is a video of the ribbon removal.

I loosened the intake manifold just enough to gain access. I think someone said they did it without messing with the manifold. You could always put it back in for warranty work.


@Julian I don't have a way to check the engine temp. I was already kinda worried about that, but I didn't notice any difference in the flow out of the pisser coming from the oil cooler. I can choke back the intercooler pisser line if I need to. It looks like way more flow than I need. After a hard run yesterday I popped the hatch to look for leaks. I felt the piping after the intercooler and it was all cold to the touch. Even the intake manifold was cold.

 

[Julian]

Looks like YDS monitors both engine and intake temps...Here is what you can see....(this is from my boat....the newer models, and Supercharged ones may have different data)

 

[SamCF]

What do I need to be able to monitor or log that?

 

[skbishop90]

How big of a difference does it make without the flame arrestor? Looks simple enough for me to try.