New Shammy owner repower questions...

[fisherlady2]

When switching out an auto engine for marine use you need to be careful about sparks...alternator and starter should be marine grade.

 

[fourcs]

I say stick with the carb. Properly tuned, she will run just as smooth as a fuel injected motor. Best running boat I ever owned was a 20 open with a 302 with a 1409 eldebrock carb. I barely ever had to put gas in that boat.

Same for me I'm old school and like my 351 with carb.

 

[rustyhook]

I would choose carb over fuel injection. I wouldn't go for used fuel injection unless I knew the previous owner was using it without problems. Keep is simple.

 

[Gary S]

Probably a decent block to get but as far as using the EFI it would burn up a lot of your time and money trying to get it to work. When Ford designed their marine EFI they used an open loop system since O2 sensors don't like the moisture in a marine exhaust. Cars use the closed loop system. Find yourself an iron 4 bbl 289/302 intake and go that route. Oil pans and pickups were the type used on from '70's Bronco's . You also have to loose the serpentine belt system and this is where it gets tricky. Some time in the 80's Ford went to a cheaper method for them to externally balance the 302. Earlier they used a 28 oz imbalance,later ones with the serpentine used a 50 oz imbalance. The trick would be to find the correct or even just modify a crank v belt pulley. There are ways around all this,but don't expect to just bolt in the Explorer engine and go boating

 

[Gary S]

Another minor problem to address will be when you move the marine distributor to the newer engine. It will need a different gear than what is on it now since the newer engine has a roller camshaft which will eat up a flat tappet gear

 

[John Borer]

You guys are awesome! Thanks for all the advice. Very helpful.

It makes sense to keep it simple. Especially since that set up has been in the boat for a long time. I was excited about the extra horse power that the newer 302 w/gt40 heads gave me but it's probably not worth the work. While I have the original 302 out is there any modifications that I could do to give me some extra horsepower?

-jb

 

[Ship]

You can still go the GT40 heads. Also although you sound like you may go with the old. The fuel pump, the starter, the carburetor and the distributor all should be marine. The pump has a double diaphragm and a tube that goes to the vacuum port on the carb which has the extra vac port for the pump The starter and distrib have already been explained. The 4 barrel intake and carb. will boost your hp a little too.

 

[Gary S]

I would not bother with gt40 heads they have a bad habit of cracking. However if they truly are gt40's they are worth money to some car guys. Most likely they are gt40 p heads and those are good if you need to change them out anyway. Little bump in compression and flow the best of all stock iron Ford heads. Spark plugs are at a different angle which affect car use but pleasurecraft manifolds fit just fine.

 

[cw.abeljr]

It has already been brought up about different starters/alternators/ flame arrestors for spark purposes but if you are installing an auto engine also do yourself a favor and get a complete new "Brass" freeze plug kit for the engine. Do away with the old auto steel freeze plugs. They don't like salt water.

 

[Captain Starbucks]

And don't forget the marine camshaft.