Which engine?

the ford 351 windsor is just as powerful if not more than the chevy 350. and just as dependable. I own both. the 350 is probably cheaper to build and install because of parts availability. if it already has a ford in it ,I would find a roller 351 windsor motor. it comes with a roller cam set up. and it will bolt to the bell housing. the distributor is different and the y pipe probably will be different as well as the flywheel because of the different inbalance. or just find a good used gt40 302 they came in the ford explorers I think they are rated at 230 hp rated with the accessories, unlike marine motors that are rated without the accessories like pwr steering and alternator drag. and they are tough .
 
Yeah, can't wait to hear how this works out...I'm not hoping for a bad outcome, but based on the information provided, this is going to be an ongoing mess.
 
Ya, wow. Sounds like the potential for a mess. If it were me I would have put every effort into reteurning things to stock. Rebuild from Merc, let them tell you if your rebuild is a good match for your drive. I know on the 268s some people with 350s and most with 454s chew up there alpha drives.
I have learned that a bigger engine does not always mean more speed. The right prop, (pitch, material ect) using your trim and maybe a few slight modifications to your engine can gain much more than CU.
 
I notice most of replys dont have ford engines.Ive got one in my boat it sucks parts are hard to find and people that can work on them are even harder.I worked at a marina years ago as a machine operator it seemed every boat that had a ford motor was problematic esp if was an omc.If i can figure a way to take out ford and put in chevy im doing it
just read my post "wanna drill holes and let it sink" im in hell right now.
 
There is a great deal of confusion in this thread. Chevrolet and Ford make power plants for Mercruiser. Mercruiser makes them marine-ized and puts their flywheel, bell housings out drives in. A 302 or 351 is a ford engine, the 350 is GM...if you have all ford coupling to the Mercruiser drive then you have to change various parts to couple the drive to the Chevy engine. Outdrive gearing and prop size also need to be taken into consideration.

The point is that there is a right way to re-power and a wrong way to re-power. Switching to Chevy is fine, the 350 will provide more power than the 302. Just make sure EVERYHING is changed that is necessary to make your new engine run properly and last a long time.
 
The outcome of his engine swap will be the final answer i need on how hard it is to change from ford to chevy.I HOPE he posts more on what exactly they had to do cause if all they had to do change a bellhousing my ford 351 will be gone as fast as i can pull it out.Im looking for reliability and ease of getting parts which chevy has over ford 10fold.As i posted b4 i would think it would have been cost prohibative to have the transom plate differnt between ford and chevy when you could just make bellhousing the same were it mounts to plate.
 
Personally, I think the transom plate is the same. It's the flywheel, maybe the coupler and definitely the bell housing that would need to be swapped. The gear ratio in the drive should be checked as well and props are easy to change. Oh, and all the accessories, exhaust manifolds maybe risers, Y pipe...plumbing for raw water to circulating pump or fw cooling system. Etc.
 
Yeah it's doable, but there is a ton of work ahead of you. If you're going to keep the boat your certainly ahead swapping out to a Chevy/Merc.
 
1973240SRV said:
The outcome of his engine swap will be the final answer i need on how hard it is to change from ford to chevy.I HOPE he posts more on what exactly they had to do cause if all they had to do change a bellhousing my ford 351 will be gone as fast as i can pull it out.Im looking for reliability and ease of getting parts which chevy has over ford 10fold.As i posted b4 i would think it would have been cost prohibative to have the transom plate differnt between ford and chevy when you could just make bellhousing the same were it mounts to plate.
Click to expand...
Also, I don't know that this particular situation or swap should be the determining factor for what you decide is right for your boat and situation. If it's done right, it could be a great example of how to get it right the first time. If it's not, it could be a great lesson in what not to do.

Trust me, I JUST went down this road. Fortunately I had a 350 Merc/Alpha setup. But I failed to do a simple cam swap while my engine was out and it ended out summer on July 4th...I even listed the boat for sale because I was fed up with the whole situation. I finally decided to pay a very good Merc mechanic to get everything in order at no small expense and now the boat is a turn key classic. However, for the money I spent, I could have upgraded to a bigger engine which my boat really needs. So what I have is done right, but I'm sure I'll go back into it at some point and upgrade... = $$$ wasted.:smt013

When I built classic muscle cars we used to say, "If you can't afford the money to build it right the first time, how can you afford to fix it the second time?" I failed to follow that advice, and once again, it cost me.
FWIW-
 
Well the mercruiser 454 is great. So glad I switched. It really purrs and we are about to do a sea trial to determine the prop. I'm having all new switches retired on the dash so it's been gone a couple weeks. I decided to stay with the alpha one for now and then if the 454 chews it up ill replace it with the bravo drive. It's so crazy how spending money on my boat is so gratifying. Lol
 
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