Mercruisers

Anyone had any experience with the Chevvy II / Mercruiser engines?
I was wondering about a parts source for bearings, gaskets etc.
I know that they share the bolt pattern of the 283/ 327 block
But do pistons rods etc interchange?
I'm in New Zealand so the chev parts are'nt plentiful and Merc parts are dear.
Thankyou

 

I'm not sure but I believe the internal parts all interchange. My dad has a ChrisCraft 283 V8 with a Paragon transmission for his 52 Shepherd speedboat and that is basically a Chevy 283 with a special aircleaner/exhaust manifolds.

 

I think I can help here. I have rebuilt quite a few of these engines over the years. The 153 is basically a 230 6 cyl. minus 2 cyls..

Kanter has the parts you are looking for. follow the link below.

http://www.kanter.com/p18-chn.html

 

Do a search, Brother.

Major discussion on this beast!

 

Depends on which engine you got the 153 [3&7/8s bore] or the 181 [4 inch bore] 153 internals are same as the 230 six. 181 takes special pistons BUT you can do as I did and use flat top 327 ones and machine about .030 off the top which lets you work toward a squish chamber by getting closer to zero deck. Also later 181s have the bigger ,2.100 , rod journals- early are 2.000.