Ive been thinkin bout gettin a lil more power outta my 36 prodrive and been reading alot on this site mostly and i think ive come to the conclusion of doin heads and exhaust... Now my question is would i need to do anything with the carb if i do them 2 things or would the stock carb work fine?? I work on cars for a living so doin the work shouldnt be much of a problem except i dont know a whole lot when it comes to carb work/tuning?? Any info would be great thanx

Maybe cb will chime in. I think he has pipe, heads and maybe a cam (not positive) and runs a stock carb.

The carb will be fine.

I shaved heads 45thou and installed stainless valves and cleaned up the ports and installed a Marsh mellow muffler..

before the mods on a 17x54 pd hull, i got 28-29 tops...after the mods i get steady 30mph light..

the biggest diff is the torque it gives due to the stock valves leaking so bad...i went from 135psi compression to 185psi....

carries a load much better and jumps out the water way better...

with fishing hunting load my speeds in deepwater were averaging 24-25mph..after heads and exhaust i got steady 27-28mph...

put it this way,,,,after the mods i towed my podna's 18x56 center console prodrive boat in deep water back to the launch after he ran out of gas i could get him on step and run 18mph in deep water...

give a lot more torque.

So if i do the heads/exhaust first the stock carb should be fine for now is what im asking a carb somewhere in the future isnt outta the question....Just had a baby so funds are a lil tight and im wanting to do stuff a lil at a time and i like to do the stuff myself

You will be good with heads and exhaust....my stock carb works fine. The way i see it, you are increasing the torque more than h.p. It looks like the stock carb works fine up to the stock rev limiter. If reving higher i would agree the mikuni helps..

But for load carrying, you will be very impressed....easy to install, parts include gaskets, 4 valves, shims and aa little lapping compound to lap the valves in and if you want to clean up the ports a little...

I can get 4 on step in deep water fairly easy, and still turn up almost 4000...

In my eyes, its a must do simply cause the factory valves leak so bad! Carb is not needed,,,and i think its a very expensive mod for what you get...

I have the old marsh mellow single outlet, but my podna has the dual xx and it sounds better...get the one without baffles and it will sound real good..

On the heads, you have a couple choices, i dealt with calens in franklin and he seems to be a good guy, but not sure his recipe' on the heads...i shaved mines myself and went 45thou for reference and i got 185psi from that so i would say anywhere from 40-50 thou you good..

Also,,,there is SETX performance and i hear good things about their work to...

the cost is in how much you port them, but i dont see the need for a serious port job unless u planning to turn up above 4500 rpms which you are not so the most important is a minor cleanup and stainless valves lapped in so they seal..

If i would do it over again i wouldnt do anything diff to heads, but i would get the XX from marshmellow its not to loud but sounds good...mines is as quiet as stock just deeper tone.

I heads done 30 with the evt and different jets in the stock carb. Was running 30/31 when the prop was new.

My buddy has his head done 65thousanths with a gutted stock muffler and stock carb.

Is it possible to rebuild stock carb and get the performance the mikuni brings to the table?

Plug one of your nostrils in your nose and tape your mouth shut and go run around the block then you will find out what that factory carb is doing.

^ haha

On my old skiff I ran 35 with the stock carb and 36 with a mikuni!! That was with heads, cam and gutted exhaust

I would say the mikuni flows better and the accelorator pump is what makes the biggest diff...when you hit the gas no matter how fast you hit it WFO it dont sputter due to the spray of fuel it pumps down the throat..

A factory carb will stumble due to you losing vaccume as the throttle is opened fast and it will go lean all of sudden then catch up...if you are good with the throttle this is neglagable.

Now,,,,if these engines would turn 4500 or above...or should i say if you plan on turning 4500 or more, then a mikuni will have benefits.....

On head and exhust engine turning 4300=4500 you will be fine with stock carb, if you have 700 to blow then go for it...anything helps. I think for the price the performance aint there...

I drive a tiller and the throttle response for when you are maneuvering around and constantly twisting and untwisting the throttle is where the Mikuni shines in my book. I can't vouch for the top speed, hell I know the factory carb will eventually get its act together but the Mikuni is instant, it's a motorcycle carb, it's made for varying rpm where the factory is not.

BTW, I don't agree with the price neither, a Mikuni 42 straight up is less than $400, it's the adaptor and a few more odds and ends you pay for to get the Mikuni carb "kit" for these engines.

Mine idles just fine at around 1000 in neutral and 700 or so in gear. Been bouncing through cypress trees all week and it don't have any trouble getting the boat kicked around. Don't really have any issues coming off idle either, when I hammer the throttle, the fucker gets on step. I ain't paying 700+ to lose the governor and run just slightly better. Heads, cam, and exhaust does everything I need it to and I don't have to worry bout tearing my shit up when grinding out or another electronic piece that is known to have issues. Just my .02

GTR23 Heads, cam, mikuni carb, bps crossover muffler: went from 23-24mph 3500 rpms to 30mph at 4200 rpms. Hole shot and throttle response like night and day. Gator tail should make the Mikuni Carb a standard feature.

Dguidry,,,

you are comparing a 23 to a 35, its a big difference in off idle torque. Im thinking thats why you like the carb so much...

Not knocking it, but the bang for buck aint there thats all....

Trust me,,,i would love to have one, but i will do cam instead as i thinnk the cam is the kink in the hose all these peeps on here speak of....The 36 actually has fairly nice heads, and valve size..just hardly any valve lift or duration..

First mod I did on my 36 was carb and exhaust. Picked up 4 mph. Heads added a little too, but I feel lime the carb is a good addition. Like will said, the price is hard to accept for sure.