Advise on 454bs

"I am hoping someone can give

"I am hoping someone can give me some advice here. I discovered a powerboat for sale which I am interested in buying. I am only interested in the hull as I would re-power it with a single diesel/v-drive configuration. The boat is configured with twin 454 engines with Bravo II outdrives. According to the owner, the boat has sat for over ten years. The owner informed me that the engines in the boat were new before the boat was mothballed. Both 454’s were rebuilt by a company call Enginetics, bored 60 over, which places it(I guess) at a 468, and have hi-perf cranks and lifters…? He states that they produce 500 hp each after balancing and blueprinting and were never started after installation. That was ten years ago. When I closely inspected the engines, I noticed both engines were not even bolted to the motor mounts and all intake and exhaust ports sealed. So I have two 468 engines w/ transmissions that were “new” when installed but sat for ten years. My questions or concerns are follows: having the engines sit for this extended period, would the engines be rendered useless and have to be overhauled all over? Is there any further assessment that I can do to ensure that they aren’t locked-up? I don’t want to spend any money on these engines as I am desiring a single diesel. How do I determine the motors worth? Any advise would be appreciated."

"Thomas...
You didn't men

"Thomas...
You didn't mention where the boat was sitting for all thouse years. Inside/outside/close to salt water. If the cyl walls were coated with some type of storage coating/oil, they MAY be in OK shape. Assy. lube should've been put on all parts during the rebuilds, but how do you know? I personally put a thick weight of motor oil on the cyl walls while I install pistons, but after 10 years of sitting, it would all run off. The only way to determine what kind of shape its in is to do a partial strip down. Pull one cyl head to see what shape the walls are in. Its a half an hour to do it. You can see if there is any white grease (from assy.) on the push rods, rocker arms, in the tops of the valve lifters. If the cyl walls are in good shape, you could maybe assume that the rest are in the same shape. If you have access to an automotive garage, see if you can use/rent a scope to go down the plug holes to look at the cyl walls. This will save having to pull the head off. You need to oil prime the whole engine before you start it. Seals should have been oil coated during assy. so they SHOULD be OK. Carb seals and gaskets may be all dried out though if there was gas in the carb. So carbs may need to be gone over.

Just thinking out loud
Wrench"

"Thomas...
Some guys will tel

"Thomas...
Some guys will tell you to put a socket and breaker bar on the front crank bolt and see if you can move the crank back and forth, but without knowing what shape the cyls walls are in, I wouldn't try to start it just because the crank moves. The pistons and rings will have to grind up and down on all that potential rust build up, and cost even more to repair in the long run by having to replace more parts.

Wrench"