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looking for a small cruiser with chrysler engine?

D

dwade2777

Member
i love the sound and power of the Chrysler engines. Im a piano tuner and to me nothing sounds better than a Chrysler V8. 318, 340, 360, 440... Im looking for a small cruiser for my family. Two kids and wife. I want to be able to tow it so im thinking the largest I would want to go is around 26 feet down to 21'. An older boat from the 70's or 80's. I think Chrysler stopped production of marine engines around the late 80's. I know Trojan made the F26 with Chrysler engines and i think Silverton made a smaller cruiser with Chrysler engines. Looking for something fast enough to water ski with, sleep over night. dont need a fly bridge.
Would love to hear what you all think, any recamendations would be great!
 
Marinettes as well, but they're not towable (10 foot beam on 26 footers).

I have a video of TWO Mopar 360s planning off and running along on mine. I'll try to U-Tube it so you can listen.

Jeff
 
I saw on another thread a Welcraft sportsman 250. Looked fast and about the right size. I have a Sutphen 18' with a 340 in it. Too small for the family so im looking for something bigger.
 
dwade2777 said:
bump.
Click to expand...
Magnum Marine offered Chrysler power as well, I have a 27' Sedan that was originally powered by twin 340 SuperBee II motors. They were replaced by twin 360s before I bought it, I am going to build 2 408 Cu In 360 based stroker motors for it using Magnum blocks to afford me Roller cams and better flowing heads.





The 27' Magnum hull has a great race pedigree and is the same for the sport (No cabin to speak of), Maltese(Mini cabin), Starfire (no Cabin to speak of), and Sedan (decent size cabin for minimalistic overnighting)
 
murfman said:
I am going to build 2 408 Cu In 360 based stroker motors for it using Magnum blocks to afford me Roller cams and better flowing heads.

Click to expand...

Judging from the engines being close to the stern, and seeing a few familiar items......., is it safe to assume that these are Vovlo Penta stern drives?

If so, I'm going to suggest that your proposed 408's with single prop drives will not perform as well as your two good running 360s would with the Duo Prop drives. Expensive.... yes, but the performance gain is great!


I don't know enough about the 360's being stroked and/or what the pistons or connecting rod selections would be........, but typically the wrist pin location is moved upwards.
This is typically not condusive for Marine Cruiser use.

I'm open to learning more about the 360 Stroker.


.
 
The 408 is a square motor, 4" stroke and 4" bore (most likely 4.0 after bore cleanup) ICON makes a forged step dish piston that will net a 9.5 to 1 compression ratio with quench and a 1.465 compression height and a 6.125 rod. This is where Chrysler small blocks trump the Chevy. A taller deck height and the cam is higher in the block to allow ,more rod clearance with the 4" stroke. With mild roller cams and ported iron engine quest heads (aftermarket Mopar Magnum replacements with real nice ports as cast made in Australia) they will be torque monsters that should still make 425 HP and run all day at 4500 RPM.

As as for the out drives they were originally Chrysler badged Volvos (260s IIRC) that I'm swapping for SP-A drives and transom assys. I'm not against eventually putting DP lowers on my drives. I raised the X dimension 2" based on recommendations of some old school Magnum racers. Going to make hub adapters to run more modern Mercruiser props.
 
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Toonl said:
How in the world do you change the inboard spark plugs? She looks like a rocket sled on waves!!![/]
They were a pain as the exhaust risers were on the front of the motors and the exhaust hose ran back to the transom under the manifolds. They will be easier with my new center rise manifolds.

Click to expand...
 
Be REALLY careful installing the manifold with those SOB separate gaskets. The end ones go on several ways, only one of which is correct.

Jeff
 
Will you be able to use all your original accessories belts, pulley's, water pump etc. from the 360's?

Jack
 
Yes and no, I am going to run the later aluminum car water pump as the outlet is better for my heat exchangers on the starboard side of the motor. I have a set of aftermarket aluminum pulleys that are designed for the late model water pump (Its about 3/4" longer than the cast iron Marine 69 down automotive pump) But if you wanted to you could swap all the marine parts including the oil pan on a magnum 360 and be ready to go. The only other concerns are the Magnum camshaft is not machined for a mechanical fuel pump, but any cam company can make a roller cam with the fuel pump provision as that is what Mopar used in the non magnum 360 from 85 thru 88 when they went to TBI. and you have to redrill one of the bolt holes in the crankshaft pulley as it is offset, the other 5 bolt up fine it is just 1 that is off.
 
With stern drives, Especially Volvo's there is no need for reverse rotation. A simple switch in the shift cable reverses the drive. All the marine specific accessories will bolt to the magnum block if need be, if you need a reverse rotation motor.
 
Murfman...... if I may.

murfman said:
With stern drives, Especially Volvo's there is no need for reverse rotation engine.
True!

A simple switch in the shift cable reverses the drive.
Not exactly! Not with the SP-A drives and transom assys.
The shift cable remains the same for both drives.

Note: a shift into FWD gear is always a result of the shift cable extending at the gear yoke.... whether running a LH or RH prop.

Your Port side drive vertical linkage piece will remain on the Stbd side.
This means that it will rotate the eccentric piston CW for FWD engagement for a LH propeller, thus driving from the lower transmission "driven" gear.


On the Stbd side, you will be swapping the vertical linkage piece to the Port side.
This means that it will rotate the eccentric piston CCW for FWD engagement for a RH propeller, thus driving from the upper transmission "driven" gear.

(with Duo Prop drives.... both remain as though LH prop drives)

All the marine specific accessories will bolt to the magnum block if need be, if you need a reverse rotation motor.
As you know, the Volvo Penta SP-A will not work with a RH Reverse Rotation engine.
The reversed rotational direction of the gear cups will not allow for sliding sleeve engagement.
Click to expand...

A bit more info:

The SP-A transmission vertical shaft still incorporates the brass split ring keeper.
When a drive is spinning a LH prop, there is an up-lift force on the vertical shaft.
This split ring keeper "checks" this force.

When a drive is spinning a RH prop, there is a downward force on the vertical shaft.
The upper nut "checks" this force.


For a drive spinning a LH prop, over time this brass component may expand... (most of them will!)
If it was to expand excessively from the now much more horse power and torque, it will eventually let go.
When/if this part was to let go, the vertical shaft will pop out of the top cover. :mad:

It's not a pretty sight, nor is it an inexpensive repair.


Point being.... take a good look at this brass split ring keeper, and make sure that it is not showing any signs of expansion.
(you'll have the transmissions OFF anyway for the drive installations)

A bad or wearing out keeper will show signs of expansion by the sides no longer being parallel to one another.
A good keeper will be perfectly parallel from one side to the other.

Just say'n! ;)




 
..."Will you be able to use all your original accessories belts, pulley's, water pump etc. from the 360's? "

Careful! You CAN'T do that with a 318--it's internally balanced (unlike a 360 that's EXTERNALLY balanced). You can tell by eyeballing the damper pulleys and flywheels to see if they are obviously unbalanced.

Jeff
 
I'm just talking the brackets and stuff like that. I passed on a new in crate 'Industrial' Magnum awhile ago
because I didn't know if I would be able to mount the fresh water pump. I assumed the serpentine belt would have to go.

It would have had to have been the closest thing to a modern era Chrysler marine engine
 
fastjeff said:
..."Will you be able to use all your original accessories belts, pulley's, water pump etc. from the 360's? "

Careful! You CAN'T do that with a 318--it's internally balanced (unlike a 360 that's EXTERNALLY balanced). You can tell by eyeballing the damper pulleys and flywheels to see if they are obviously unbalanced.

Jeff
Click to expand...

Furthermore the magnum 360 is balanced differently as well
 
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