marine 5.7 sbc?

so I am collecting stuff to start on a rod... got an old ****ty boat here. always ran great just blew the outdrive.. 5000 hours on the engine it is a gm 5.7 260 hp mercruiser. can I use this in my rod? it has an alternator and power steering pump already. so just a new intake and carb and i can roll it? i have heard of reverse rotation marine engines. what about fitting a flex plate, bell housing etc? sorry for the dumb*** question but using it would save me some money

 

That's gonna be a tricky one. I seem to remember the heads may have a water tube on them, but maybe not. Disconnect the fuel line so it doesn't such up bad gas, drop in a battery and see if she'll turn over. Anyone else?

 

I'll bet if you took enough boat stuff of it the engine would look just like a 350 chivvy.

 

I basicly want to use the block/ rotating ***y if is any good. i have 54cc corvette heads and an intake, pan, water pump etc.engine has only been down for a year and ran strong before that. thanks for the help

 

i dont think your cam would be right for the street, boats run at lower rpms and need lots of lowend grunt. but thats no big deal.

 

Strip all the boat stuff off and you will have a high nickel block 350 chevy. All your **** will fit ,and it most likley will have 4 bolt mains also. I have personally done this swap before . the reverse rotation stuff was only used in twin engine boats on the left engine.

 

I have a 232/242 516/525 110 lobe sep hyd cam. lifters and roller timing set up for a 350 sbc

 

it will work fine there aint no fancy hi in the heads.. new intake new exhaust manifolds and id maybe replace the oil pan and oil pump pickup cause its prolly different. The cam may supprise you and be just fine.
Dave

 

And to make the reverse rotation work on the street you just changed the cam and possibly water pump and wired the distributor right and no problemo. I used to build marine engines.........
Dave

 

thanks bro do you think i could find specs on this particular somewhere? would mercruiser have detailed specs like cam specs, build specs, valves ,springs etc?

 

I have used many marine SBC's in cars. About 6 months ago, I used the exact same engine-260 hp 5.7 in my daily driver. Runs strong. The cam is comperable to an "RV" cam. Most marine engines come w/ flat top pistons. I think 9 or 9.5:1. The intake and carb will work if you don't mind 2 bbl. The only problems i've had in the past is overheating if the boats were run in muddy lakes-clogged holes. They usually clean themselves out after a while-gotta make sure the coolant stays clean.

 

the marine motors have 4-bolt blocks, most likely a steel crank, some even had forged pistons, the heads might have 3/8's stem sodium filled ex valves. put a good cam and heads on it and go.

 

Man, they are the same as the 260 horse crate motor. Externally they have stuff to keep them from throwin' sparks into an area that may or may not have addequate ventalation. When the engine is manufactured it is the same as the one on the street. The carb is different and so is the starter, and only then to protect them from water and sparks.
Pull it out and strip it of the boat stuff. Change the carb or don't if it will still work, and run it if it is not cracked from being stored wrong.

 

??? Your joking, right? What about the fact that it turns the wrong f*&^in' way. Does changing the water pump and cam make the trans and differential work with reverse rotation!?

I just noticed that you said wire the distributor right. I guess you're suggesting to make it a standard rotation? In that case you'd need to ditch the reverse rotation crankshaft as well as the cam.

 

the block is pretty much the same just a thicker casting for more cooling capacity. you may need to change the water pump, as well as the cam depending on the model, carb and the starter. everything else is the same though.

 

Why would you need to change the starter? It's explosion proof as is the alternator, but they still work, right?

Edit: If it's from a single engine boat it standard rotation. They used to paint the prop shaft red if it was a reverse rotator but I still believe the rev-rot is achieved in the low unit/outdrive and not because the motor turns backwards. Thats the way outboards are set up. There is no ***emble line that makes a motor that turns backwards, that I know of. I sold them for years but, what do I know.

 

it would only be reverse rotation if there were 2 engines in it, one would be standard and one would be reverse...if its a single engine boat, it isnt reverse rotation.