I built one up in 78. Haskell Boats used to be in the Valley and I had them build me a hull to my specs. 18" shallow v that was really stable. I used a Panther drive
PANTHER JET with through the transom exhaust so it was really pretty quiet. Great hole shot from the Panther drive made it a good ski boat.
With a stock real LT1 and 780 double pumper, 95 at our altitude and kind of a gas guzzler. Dropping to a 650 with vacuum secondaries dropped the top speed to the 70's but cut consumption by two thirds.
Check out the Panther drives. As simple as it gets.