Fresh Water Cooling Conversion

[Manny A.]

Has anyone converted Merc V-drives from raw water to fresh water. I have a 2002 Sea Ray 320 with the twin 350 mag V-Drives that I would like to convert because we are moving the boat to Long Island Sound in the Spring. MarineMax quoted me $2,250 per engine. It feels a bit steep but at the same time I do not want to ruin my engines. Any feedback is appreciated.

Manny Almeida

NOR'EASTER II
Minnesota

 

[stevea661]

I did my single omc 5.7 when I rebuilt it. I did the work my self, complete kit through the manifolds from boat bandit.com cost nine something. If you have some mechanical skills it's not that hard, It should just bolt up and plumb in. I would check the manifolds and the risers while you are at it. The mfg of the system I installed is san juan engineering out of washington state. They were good about suppling info.

 

[tginz]

I converted my 2004 5.0 mpi several years ago. The complete system from Monitor in Brooksville, Fl was $1,295.00. Add another $100.00 in manifold gaskets from Mercruiser and I was in business. I HIGHLY recommend their system. Easy to follow instructions, more than happy to help on the phone, great service overall. Best of all I run perfect 160 temp on Smartcraft all the time. Even when running up the CT River when the water temp gets well into the 80's, my engine temp stays on the mark normal.

Monitor makes OEM cooling systems for Volvo, Westerbeke, etc. and makes some heat exchangers for Merc. Their system absolutely minicks the Mercruiser system which includes putting the everything including the risers blocks on freshwater. Raw water only hits the exhaust elbows!

I did alot of research before taking things apart and I'm thrilled with the Montior and highly recommend it. And no I don't work for Monitor.....although I wish I did - then I could live in southern Florida and boat all year....next life....

Best of luck with your project.

tginz

 

[tginz]

Manny A -

If you would like some pictures send me a private message.

What part of MN are you from? My in-laws live in Waite Park just NE of St. Cloud. My wife was born and raised in St. Cloud... We have spent quite a bit of time out there; you know....

tginz

 

[Nehalennia]

I added San Juan Engineering FWC to mine. Very high quality and I added hydronic heat at the same time. That's worth it's weight in gold.

 

[Manny A.]

I called San Juan and one of their engineers told me that they do not make a conversion kit for V-drives. Apparently the issue is the mounting of the heat exchanger.

 

[Manny A.]

I am in Chanhassen and boat on Lake Minnetonka. Its a great lake but very busy on weekends. My daughter goes to school in St. Cloud and loves it there. The only problem with Minnesota is December through March.

 

[stevea661]

I called San Juan and one of their engineers told me that they do not make a conversion kit for V-drives. Apparently the issue is the mounting of the heat exchanger.

They don't make one for my application either. I got the one for the 800 stringer. The problem also was mounting the heat exchanger. Instead of mounting it to the engine with the supplied brackets, I mounted it to two uprights between the engine and the gas tank. It placed it about 8" higher and 3" foward of the original mounting point. It works fine. I posted how I did it. If you search my posts you'll find it.

 

[Nehalennia]

I called San Juan and one of their engineers told me that they do not make a conversion kit for V-drives. Apparently the issue is the mounting of the heat exchanger.

Sorry about that. I knew they had several configurations but didn't know about the v-drive units. Good luck with the project.