used boat motors.. are they gonna be worth it?

I have found 2 free engines... here's the catch. they are stuck inside a 32' chris craft. The boat is early 60's and has twin V8s so they are probably either 283s or 327s. The boat is trash apparently and all he wants off it is the steering wheel. I was gonna go look at it for gauges gauge panel etc and maybe the engines. I think in this boat the engines were just lake-water cooled, so will they be worthless now that is has been on land and hasn't run in years? I know alot depends on how it's been kept, but in general what usually happens to old boat engines as they sit for long periods.

 

One engine will most likely rotate CCW.

It probably doesn't get below freezing in Dallas, but if so, and the engines haven't been drained or filled with antifreeze, well you know.

But heck, free is FREE.

Rich

 

Aluminum flywheels. Neat valvecovers.

 

Spark arrestors too.....

 

My experience with marine engines, especially older ones, is that they can be great for extra parts but could be all sludged-up from running cold oil temps. Those without closed cooling systems always ran pretty cool.....hence, muck in the pan. Some of the other pieces from a boat are definitely cool though as others have mentioned.

 

yeah that's what I'm thinking.. there's probably enough neat parts aside from the engines that it's worth looking into anyway..

 

They'll never make 2 cycles illegal to have, but they've been restricting where you can run them.... killing any value other than cool parts.

 

My gas cap came froma Chris Craft Boat. I have no clue what year or model. There has got to be some cool parts to be had. Maybe even some odd ball stainless fasteners, who knows. Good Luck!

 

My experience with fresh water cooled engines is that when they sit around they develop a lot of scale / rust in the cooling jacket. So you'll most likely have to hot tank the blocks to be able to give them a good check over. But free is nice. I have a nice aluminum oil pan for my rod that came off a boat engine.

 

Some of the early ones had pretty cool window stanchons(sp) too.

 

Check out "classic boat parts" on e-bay. You should be able to make a good dime. Especially anything Chris Craft.

 

I found that a lot of boat engines have been severely overheated and have cracked blocks etc.

 

Wouldn't hurt to pull 'em!!!! Free is free! you might even find a use for misc trim and what not like seat frames or at least pads for a cool pattern to incorporate in to a new interior.

My only caution is if the boat has ever run in the ocean. Repeated ocean use has a tendency to cause cancer spots on the inside of the water passages.

cody

 

I hope so..I've saved two flathead six cyl. Mercruisers and a really cool little Italian made outboard water jet, no propeller

 

i guess you didn't realize we're talking about 4 cycle V8 auto engines used in boats.

 

I've been running a fresh water cooled early olds that was run in a displcement launch here in my Olds for about 8 years now, all I had to do was swap the sump from the marinised one and unfortunatly swap the heads as the salt in the hull had been sitting on them and rotted a hole around the exhaust on one.
Other then that its the best $400 I ever spent !!!!

 

the intakes are probably alum also....after you part out the boat, they make great bonefire parties! We used to do it often when I was in high school.....

 

If you want to build a side-by-side two-engine dragster you've got the combination already !

 

that would be awesome

 

This is my flattie that came out of a boat. I was always told that you rarely had to deal with an overheated/cracked block on boat motors due to the access to lake water cooling. This thing runs great and I have had no issues. The block was in great shape.

 

yeah, your right. I'm just slow today I guess

 

That's one clean boat motor!

Very nice.

Rich

 

My engine is a 330 horse Crusader 454 big block Chevy. It came out of a boat that had twin big blocks.The other motor threw a rod and then the boat sank.Imagine that.......no problems so far after I rebuilt it.

 

You didn't mention a trailer, but if one comes with the boat, it can easily be converted to a motorcycle trailer.

 

Note if the two engines are out of a twin engine boat, one of them will probably be reverse rotation. You will need to change the cam and starter on the one. Also alot of marine engines are 4 bolt mains, brass freeze plugs, explosion proof starters and altenators. If they are free I would grab them.

 

Get a hold of ( al schinnerer ) on this site he is a hamb er and he restors old boats ,and old parts he has a store in hunting beach cal. as for the engines i would get them and all the parts you can off that boat,cash in the bank,i have done alot of them,some of the iron wood is like gold. aka alley

 

O i forgot al schinnrer also has 2 of those GAA OHC engines in fair shap i was going to get them but they were to tall for what i wanted ,he is a nice guy ... aka alley

 

I did some work on a '62 Chriscraft around that size. The engines were twin 318s. Everything looked iron to me, judging by the rust. I have heard that the iron in marine engines was higher nickel.

Flatman

 

Most boats that large aren't readily trailerable. A 32' boat would require a huge trailer, way too big to pull behind a motorcycle.

 

My brothers Chris Craft got caught in a flood on the beaver river
near Pittsburgh a couple yrs. ago. Somebody found it down on the Ohio river and used it to tow others back up the beaver. Insurance
totaled it and its sat at a marina up on land ever since. Stuff has been
pilfered off of it quite a lot but there's still two REAL low time 454
mercs in the hull. Can't believe nobodies snagged them yet.