This looks like it belongs in something with a long hood, like an older Jag or full size truck.
Thoughts?
This looks like it belongs in something with a long hood, like an older Jag or full size truck.
Thoughts?
How hard is it to convert a marine engine, with roots in cars, back to cars? Asking for a friend.
In reply to TIGMOTORSPORTS:
Cadillac my friend, Cadillac. 
SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: In reply to TIGMOTORSPORTS: Cadillac my friend, Cadillac.
Indeed. I now have a new dream engine for my dream '49 Caddy Sedanette resto-mod. 
mndsm wrote: How hard is it to convert a marine engine, with roots in cars, back to cars? Asking for a friend.
I'm not sure it's necessary to convert. FWIW, Google shows a few of these LS V16 (and V12) engines being developed. These seem to be made to order so if your friend wants one, I'm sure they'll build whatever specs are desired.
mndsm wrote: How hard is it to convert a marine engine, with roots in cars, back to cars? Asking for a friend.
As far as I know you bolt normal exhaust manifolds on it and go. Unless it spins backwards, then you need to swap out the reverse rotation parts.
BrokenYugo wrote:mndsm wrote: How hard is it to convert a marine engine, with roots in cars, back to cars? Asking for a friend.As far as I know you bolt normal exhaust manifolds on it and go. Unless it spins backwards, then you need to swap out the reverse rotation parts.
This is interrsting. In the land of power boats that I am....
I don't think there's anything super special or incompatible with road use about say, a mercruiser 350 SBC, it's just built to make good power at fairly low RPM and not blow up running at 4000 RPM all day long, basically a HD truck engine.
The only part that needs to be changed to make a reverse rotation engine rotate the right way is the cam drive.. at least with Chevy based engines..
Regarding the V16, Cadillac was only a couple of steps away from putting them in what would have been their flagship model about 15 years ago.. they built a running and driving show car that had 1000 horsepowers and 1000 torques..
lol. "If a customer said they wanted 800 horsepower we couldn't do that". It's cool, but probably not worth what it's going to cost.
water pumps.. Marine water pumps use a rubber impeller
mad_machine wrote: water pumps.. Marine water pumps use a rubber impeller
Is that a salt-water thing?
I'd imagine its the debris that they suck up. Bang it around and spit it out.
Doesn't "closed-cooled engine" mean it runs a regular coolant setup?
m4ff3w wrote: Doesn't "closed-cooled engine" mean it runs a regular coolant setup?
Yeah, it'll have normal coolant that gets pumped in to the heat exchanger where a second water pump will pull in seawater to run over the coolant pipes and then send the hot water out the exhaust sometimes passing it over the exhaust manifolds via water jackets.
Other than reversing the drive, the biggest thing with marine engines is the sealed alternator and starter. Gas fumes are heavy and like to hang out in bilges.
penultimeta wrote: lol. "If a customer said they wanted 800 horsepower we couldn't do that".
if i was in the engine manufacturing business that is the kind of attitude i would want to carry
I don't know if a sealed system means a regular waterpump or not. They are generally designed to be easy to service in the boat, far from land, that means a couple of bolts and a quick off and on of the rubber impeller. Being as this is a custom setup, I don't know what they did. To look at it, that engine does not use the Stock GM water pump set up
Every boat I've ever seen runs a standard water pump on the front. The rubber impeller pump is a second, separate pump (feeds raw water into the system on open cooling or through the heat exchanger on closed cooling). I've never seen one that didn't have a standard metal impeller pump on the front of the block.
Closed circuit marine cooling is pretty much the same functionally as automotive cooling. To make it car-compatible, remove the heat exchanger and replace with a radiator and remove the second water pump.
Why is it narrower than the V8?
mndsm wrote: How hard is it to convert a marine engine, with roots in cars, back to cars? Asking for a friend.
Since about 1978, there is almost no difference. The old reverse rotation thing is almost non-existent. The main reason for reverse rotation was to match to the thrust angle on the outdrive, or because the standard prop rotation on full inboard boats was opposite of what engines typically rotate. Since old-school boats used counter-rotating engines, many I/O manufacturers in the 50s and 60s developed their outdrives to take the thrust accordingly. But with the advent of the common, modern outdrives, they are all either designed to run either way (like a Bravo) or to take thrust in a normal CCW rotation. Most marine engines since then are straight up automotive crate longblocks. The main difference is that marine engines have bronze coated water passages in aluminum intakes, specific water pumps (that circulate more than pump), and spark-arrested electronics. Carbs are different for gas vapors in enclosed areas too.
But aside from superficial things, they are mostly interchangeable. For instance, a standard 260-hp SBC cam grind for Mercruiser is 204/212 duration on a 112 LSA, and ground 2 degrees advanced. That is pretty standard street-torque fare. In fact, I grabbed a bunch of Melling Mercruiser grinds at an auction and built a bunch of SBCs for street torque using them. They work great.
But the longblocks since about 1978 are identical in either application. It used to be that marine blocks always got 4 bolt mains and forged cranks, but with the improvements in casting technology, it is all good enough these days. I had a 2-bolt 350 in a Baja with a cast crank making 300 hp and it is still running today in the hands of its new owner.
rslifkin wrote: Every boat I've ever seen runs a standard water pump on the front. The rubber impeller pump is a second, separate pump (feeds raw water into the system on open cooling or through the heat exchanger on closed cooling). I've never seen one that didn't have a standard metal impeller pump on the front of the block. Closed circuit marine cooling is pretty much the same functionally as automotive cooling. To make it car-compatible, remove the heat exchanger and replace with a radiator and remove the second water pump.
They look like a normal pump but they're not. The impeller is designed to circulate water through the block while the rubber impeller in the outdrive does the actual pumping.
Marine pumps flow water slowly through the block via the thermostat housing, then the positive displacement of the outdrive's impeller pump pushes it up and out through the exhaust.
So a marine pump in a car wouldn't flow enough to cool it, and an automotive pump in a boat would move too much displacement to be effective.
Typical marine water circulator:
In reply to curtis73:
That style pump wouldn't be used on a closed-cooling marine engine though, as the block pump is the only thing moving the coolant in the loop. The impeller pump is only feeding water to the heat exchanger in that situation.
And yeah, reverse rotation died a long time ago. Counter-rotation for the props is almost always done in the trans at this point.
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