Alexi Sahagian of Boostpower USA

Gale Banks Marine engines are legends in their own right, winning many championship boat races and having the reputation for not only being extremely powerful but also incredibly reliable. There are still engines and kits used today all over the world, and the marine side of Banks hasn’t been a working part of Banks since the late ’80s. One such place that actively services them is Boost Power in Newberry Park, California. Owner Alexi Sahagian is a longtime fan of Banks having had an ’89 Camaro in his youth that just happened to have a Banks twin-turbo small block. “That’s where it all started for me,” said Alexi. “I later took the carburetor off and converted it to fuel injection. I really liked the setup!”

So Alexi went from his car to boats, and had been servicing marine engines and building custom one-off powerplants. The Gale Banks Marine Engines, twin-turbo 350 small block, and 454 big block remain some of his most well-liked builds that he’s dealt with. “We’ve been working with the Banks marine kits for going on 34 years now. So, when we do them, we take off the old Rayjays and swap them with 60-1 turbos. That’s if we update them, otherwise, we have some old Rayjays here if they can’t be reconditioned. There’s a handful here.

We also have some of the old intercoolers, too. We also make a port injection manifold as part of our recondition and updating. Now we can play with trimming cylinders, play with timing, tweak coils. We have even taken the old carburetors off and replaced them with Holley Snippers, which actually works really well! We have the maps for those. With all of the updates we’ve made 1,300 – 1,400 horsepower out of them with the bigger turbos and the port injection.”