X-Star Owners MCX vs. LY6

I know this has been discussed to some extent.

However, I would like to hear the opinion from real X-Star owners as to the pros and cons of MCX and LY6 configuration.

*re-sale
*fuel economy
*performance (sacked out/PWT)
*any other issues

FYI my X-45 has the MCX and I have driven identical X-stars w/MCX and LY6.

Dealer comments also welcomed!

Thanks,Mike

If your going to be running the PWT ballast system then the LY6 is a MUST.

Resale- better with LY6 because if your reselling it with the PWT ballast system nobody will want the MCX. (underpowered)

The new 09's will also have the Indmar catalytic converters and temp sensors on the LY6

It will be a fun boat to drive as well do to the torq and horse power compared to the MCX.

i have had two xstars. one with mcx and my newest with L18. the mcx was adequate at best with the stock 13.7 x 17.5. however, when i propped it down to the 14.25 x 14 it completely changed the boat. my newer xstar with the big block also came with the 13.7 x 17.5. it too was adequate. however, i propped it down to the
14.75 x 15.5 and it totally changed the boats pulling characteristics. i guess what i am saying is that the prop is far more important that i think people sometimes give it credit for. when you compare the two engines it is critical that you know what prop each has on it or your findings will be meaningless. my understanding is that the ly6 is the same small block as the mcx only bored out and tweaked out to generate 50 more hp.

I have had both several times. I currently have the LY6. The LY6 has a bit more juice if you are running it with the PWT set up. I kinda think the fuel consumption is comparable. I think you get a little better unweighted with the MCX and a little better weighted with the LY6, so I think it pretty much averages out. I honestly don't know anything about the resale, but I think they are identical as far as reliability. I put about 700 hours on my 07' with an MCX in it and Josh Palma has now and it is still running like a champ. I have about 650 on my current LY6 without an issue. I would go with the 14.25x14 on either boat.

So looking back at my response, I really didn't help you at all.

We've had two L18s and a LY6 in our Xstars. I rode behind a MCX Xstar a couple of times. The MCX just took longer to get on plane, but, like Star and Travis said, props are equally important.

If you sack the boat down super heavy, bigger is better. I would opt for the LY6. If you can find a 8.1, that's even better.

I have had L-18 and LY6's as well. IMO, LY6 is a better motor. I can sac the boat out much more and get on plane better with the LY6 than I could with the L-18. The L-18 uses much more fuel than the LY6.

I propped every boat accordingly and run the PWT system.

JS, somethings seems wrong there buddy. Not to question your experience, but we've had both boats also. Even by repropping both, the L18 is hands down far more powerfull. Not even a close comparison. We're able to run a lot more weight than we could in the LY6, ru it futher back for a steeper wake, and a bigger prop for more efficiency. Do you know exactly which prop you were running on the L18?

JS is just too busy blowing up his L18 motors!!
The Ronix team rocks the MCX up at Radar in their Xstar.
IMHO the LY6 is the better motor for resale, performance and it sounds good.

I've run both and would drive either in my boat though the LY6 is the one I would prefer. Propped right they both drive well. I would take the MCX over the LQ9 though which was the older generation of the 6.0L LY6.

Man I wish I had 700 hours on a boat! I will say Trav nailed it on the prop. We run the 14.25x14 on ours with the PWT ballast and its awesome. At a minimum I'd run the 14.25x14.5

CIE I agree with you for the fact that the L-18 has more power overall. But on the low-end whole shot IMO the LY6 has more kick. When the boat is slammed, getting it up and running is more important than overall.

The ru depends on the prop your running and the weight in the boat for and aft. Not the motor.

Darren the LY6 does sound sik. Anyone heard the big block with a fake a lake? Love to reconfigure that engine for my truck haha

Thanks D. I will bite my tongue on that. ca ca cough "past dealer" ca ca....

Thanks for the great feedback. It sounds like while a correctly propped MCX can get the job done, the LY6 is the way to go.

Wow, not my experience at all. Our LY6 hole shot is no where near as impressive as the 8.1. The LY6 won't even plane out with the kind of weight we run in the 8.1.

JS,
Both are GREAT engines (the LY6 is so efficient it burns cleaner then most engines with catalytic converters) but the big block is bar none way stronger.
I have been in both boats for hundreds of hours and the facts are the facts The LY6 which is a GM GEN IV 6.0L Vortec 6000 and although it does have VVT (Variable Valve timing). The LY6 has 400 horses where as The 8.1 has 450. The cam in the 8.1 is specifically ground to give the big block more torque then even a normal 8.1L at low rpm would have which means it has a ton more then the LY6.

If you were to compare the stock auto versions of these engines you can see what I am talking about

L18 455ft/lbs @ 3200rpm
LY6 365ft/lbs @ 4000rpm

So you can see that the big block has like 100 more ft/lbs more torque then the small block at 800 less rpm's. I think that you may have your big block proped wrong because ours can pull a house over with our prop and the LY6 with the same prop can't get out of its own way, because it doesn't have the torque to turn the prop at such a low rpm.

Now if you want to talk about the Supercharged LY6 then you can talk about more torque then the big block, or at least darn close because of the VVT the engine will have the best of both worlds low end grunt with the top end efficiency. Should be interesting I can't wait to drive that boat.

I would say that anyone looking to buy an X-star the while the LY6 is a freaking spectacular engine the extra money for the L18 is worth every penny.

That's why I'm in the middle of putting a big block into my 66 Chevy pick-up low end grunt is fun, but not for the tires.

JS, I forget the prop that we have (one of teh guys will tell you) but if you haven't tried it you should and I bet you will change your opinion of the 8.1

No matter what engine you get Mastercrafts are the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will not argue with you on that.

AL

i haven,t had any problems with the LY6 getting out of the hole, i have 3600lbs in total incl people and a full tank.
J-Rod how much wieght would be the max for a LY6?
How about fuel consumption between the LY6 vs 8.1 with +/- 3500lbs?

Ben,
I would say you are close to max on the weight but it also depends on where you put your weight. If you run more in the back then it will take more power to get it up on plane.
I would say gas wise the 8.1 and the 6 are about the same at your weight but up above 4000 the 8.1 shines. One because the 6 takes longer to get up so the gas is wasted there and it spins faster keeping the boat on plane so more is wasted there. Our boat at ride speed of around 26 only spins 3800 rpms with over 4000lbs in it. where I think our 6 spun like 4300. But again the smaller motors are more efficient at a bit higher RMP then a big block.
Plus the Big Block I think is the Key to our wake, It weighs 300 pounds more then the small block and its set so low and back that it can't be duplicated with lead or water, WE TRIED!!!
J, do you agree, I could be wrong.

Al

Ben I see that you live in the Netherlands your fuel is better then ours so you might be getting better fuel efficiency then us. US gas is crap.

(Message edited by allen on October 16, 2008)

Not sure if people knew but 8.1's equipped with the stainless exhaust tips were seriuosly robbed of power. MC will swap those tips out with the newer style.

Most of the ones I saw had already blown the back end of the tips out so this is mostly already taken care of but it's worth checking.

you,ll bet our fuel is better it is 3 times more expensive.But my boat runs on lpg...lol.
The 8.1 sounds like a good choice....but i need to know some gas milage nrs.The LY6 gives us 6 sets on 35 gallons LPG.
The LY6 is very loud my 08 has no silent masters and when cruisin it revs pretty high.

I couldn't tell you LPG #'s, But I bet we get 6 rides out of 30 gallons of gas. But remember that's fully sacked, upper of 4750 lbs plus 3 people. We are going to ride tomorrow I will keep track of how much gas we use and will update you tomorrow night.

Al

New LY6 will have catalytic converters from Indmar for 09. From my understanding. Shouldnt be as loud. Personally I like the beefy noise

http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/showthread.php?t=19553&highlight=L-18

Enough said. I'll never get the 12k out of it in resale but like the CIE guys having spent 100's of hours in each i'll take the 8.1 in a Heartbeat!

Ly6 without a question.