any body know much about a 327 marine engine... good....bad

[Fatchuk]

I seen a couple of 327 chevy marine engines for sale at $300.00 apiece with 462 heads ...but I don't know much about them ...what do you think are these usable engines for use in a rod application...thanks for your help......fatchuk

[WZ JUNK]

A friend of mine ran into trouble replacing a marine engine once. It was set up to run in the opposite direction. It is something that is fixable however. I think the big difference was the camshaft and starter.

[nummnut]

The marine motors are built better. At one time I had 5 marine Ford 302's that I used to run in my race truck. That 327 will make a nice motor, a lot of low end tork. For $300, how many hours are on them? Take the valve covers off and look. I would buy one for $300.

[McGrath]

The water Jackets on some Marine Engines are partially filled with Concrete. Not overly common, but something to watch out for.

Friend of mine has a '68 Century with a 390 Ford. His is partially filled. I think they did it to keep the engine from running too cool from the constant flow of Cold Lake water, but I am not sure.

[Unkl Ian]

I would expect it will need a complete rebuild.But still not a bad price,as long as there is no serious damage inside.

[Fatchuk]

Unk. These are running engines suppos'udly..They are in Windsor the guy selling them says they run good,,,and he says he has a couple 350s ..I just have never had any experience or knowledge of a marine engine ..except I used to love the sound of some those old mahogany runabouts...I have an interest in these engines I just don't wanna get burned with some old boat anchors.......thanks for your help guys appreciate your advice and knowledge on my question...fatchuk

[201]

Years ago I took a small block to the machine shop at the auto parts store I worked at right after high school to have it boiled and new cam bearings installed. It came out of the tank with big splotches of white paint on it that the boil job did't affect.The shop forman told me it was a marine block and the paint was some kind of rust inhibitor coating.

[enjenjo]

Just be careful, not all marine 327 engines are chevys, there are a lot of AMC 327 marine engines out there, and nothing interchanges but the dirtibutor cap and rotor.

[Fatchuk]

Thankyou for that piece of information....that may be the catch in this thing...I never really asked that , I just assumed he was talking about chevys....the 462 heads makes me think chevy...is that possible they the "AMC" could have 462 heads...or....is he lying? I have only spoke to him on the phone and not really being sure what to ask.....I just assumed I will try to get a hold of him with that important question.....thankyou thankyou...fatchuk

[Jkustom]

we had a cruisader 307 in our boat... basically chevy... Marine engines are 4 bolt mains, a lot of times they have better oiling to the bottom end and cooling is better than a car engine. These motors are designed to be run at steady rpm's for long hours on end, so they have to be stout. Not like a car where your always all over the rmp range thougout the day... I dont know much about which ones run backwards...-J.

[BELLM]

Usually they are more high performance, heavy duty than car engines plus they have spark-proof starter & alternators.

[Fatchuk]

If they do run backwards ...what has to be changed...to correct that,,fatchuk

[Ayers Garage]

Camshaft and starter should do it (along with normal firing order).

[McGrath]

I wonder if the bearings cause any problems when rotation is reversed after running backwards for years?

[Rix2Six]

[ QUOTE ]
Camshaft and starter should do it (along with normal firing order).

[/ QUOTE ]

What about the distributor... wouldn't the helical cut gear on the end be going in the wrong direction too??

[Rocky]

The marine engines will have forged steel cranks. Prolly the same steel crank as any high performance and truck 327. The 327 blocks won't take much more than a 0.060 thousands overbore, so watch for a worn or previously bored block. Scratch off a piston top to check for overbore stampings.

[Deuce Roadster]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Camshaft and starter should do it (along with normal firing order).

[/ QUOTE ]

What about the distributor... wouldn't the helical cut gear on the end be going in the wrong direction too??

[/ QUOTE ]


They were different on the FE 427 Ford marine engines.

I have a couple of friends with SBC's in old ChrisCraft wooden boats and their SBCs are mounted backwards. The flywheel is at the front and the outdrives are hooked to the front snout or harmonic balancer.


http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[Model A Vette]

If this is a "matched" pair of engines one may be reversed rotation. The reverse rotation engines have a different/special cam and may have two timing gears without a chain. Usually the pistons have to be installed backwards i.e. the notches on the pistons face the back of the engine. This is done to reduce piston slap in the reversed engine. Sometimes the distributor has a special gear to match the cam.
One caution: don't buy a marine engine that ran lake water directly thru the cooling passages. I've heard that they rust the passages in that setup. Car engines run antifreeze/coolant to prevent such rust. The better setup for marine engines uses a radiator and "water cooled" exhaust manifolds.

[greasel]

this thread has long since retired and died but I'm bringing it back rather than starting a new one...

I'm looking for a vortec 305 long block for my car and I've been coming up with A LOT of marine engines as the mercruiser 305 was a very common fuel injected engine in smaller ski boats/run abouts.
other than standard/opposite rotation and outer anti-corrosion coating, do you guys know if there are different pistons/compression ratio or gaskets used? I know on the Cummins marine engines, there are higher quality pistons and head gaskets used, so when the competition guys build a 5.9L cummins for holding 50-70++ psi of boost they'll use a marine head gasket among other things.

anyway, I've emailed a few engine companies, if any of them reply I'll post up their feedback, just wanted to open this thread back up and see if anyone else knows anything not already covered in this archive thread...

[FNG]

I've worked on and owned a lot of boats over the years, Christ Craft was the major manufacturer that had opposite rotation motors. mainly because it was simple and cheap. It was done typically up til the mid 60's when a transmission was used to spin the prop the opposite way. The reason for this was so the boat would run true. If you had twin engines spinning in the same direction the boat would always want to go in a circle. Yes everything said about them typically being stronger and better is true but a few things you need to know. Usually you can not run the carbs, intake manifold and exhaust manifolds of course. The carbs and intakes usually have a wedge shaped flange or a block at the plenum chamber so the carb will sit level when the boat is up on plane. This is all typically useless as you more then likely will be running an after market manifold and carb. The BIG thing you need to look at is the cooling system. Inspect the engine very carefully and see if the guy knows where the engines came from. Was the boat running on a lake in fresh water or in the bay or ocean? There were very few boats with closed cooling systems and I have seen dozens of marine engines that were nothing more then a big hunk of scrap iron because the owners never flushed the cooling systems with fresh water. Have any idea how corrosive salt water can be to cast iron. Sounds like a good deal but spend a little time and look for signs of corrosion before you hand over your money.