I just bought a 18hp Vanguard surface drive and a 1548 alweld. I haven't had a chance to run it yet or even put the motor on the boat for that matter but while I have some free time im asking my questions now. I have seen a lot of talk about govenors is it worth it to adjust the govenor and are there any issues associated with it? I know some people will say just leave it alone and run my motor and this is my first one to own but im by far not new to running mud motors and I just want to get max performance out of it without really tearing into the engine.

nothing?? lol

I'd run it first an see hoe it does but you may need to bend the tab on it to give u a lil more throttle when u squeeze it to give u some more Rpms other than that there's not a whole lot of adjustments that can be done on these stock carbs

Ok...it has a tiny tach on it what would be the safe maximum rpm range it should be running in??

Man I'm not exactly sure for an 18hp but I know a 23hp Max is about 4300-4400

Set it at 4000 out of the water to start then dont go past 4350.The bad thing when ya bend that tab it makes your idle go up as well.Mine is set at 4000 and i idle around 1700 which is to high.Cant aford a carb just yet so i deal with it.Good luck

Ok. I talked to the guy I got it from and apparently somebody has already adjusted it he said that it would run 4200 out of water and 3800 in water.

^^ the in the water rpm gonna pend on yer boat.

dont mess with it. there is not a whole lot to be done for performance without really breakin in to it. a free flowing air filter and exhaust would be a start. higher performance spark plugs. shimming the plugs with washers to get the gap facing the exhaust valve. you wont see much out of this but maybe a little more snap. go onto some go kart racing sites. they do all kinds of simple and not so simple mods to small engines.