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Will a 318 motor from a car work in a boat.

Land and sea

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I have a 28 foot Land and sea. Can a 318 Motor from my car replace the one in the boat. And I would like to design a radiator system to install in the boat. It's only in freshwater not the ocean.
 
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Ayuh,.... What motor is in the boat now,..??

What year is yer car's 318,..??

A radiator is a dumb idea when the boat is surrounded by freshwater,....
Can't get enough air flow for a radiator anyways,...
 
Your best bet is to rebuild the engine you have if still serviceable. You may be able to swap parts to a car engine cam, distributor, heads but do not attempt to make it radiator cooled it will never work. Think of your car pulling a trailer full of rocks up a mountain pass whenever in forward gear. Our boat engines work hard you have go and stop and being a displacement hull that makes that little 318 work even harder you would be lucky to ever hit a good plane.
 
I have a 28 foot Land and sea. Can a 318 Motor from my car replace the one in the boat. And I would like to design a radiator system to install in the boat. It's only in freshwater not the ocean.

First off...... this would be an Engine, not a motor! (no offense..... my pet peeve!)

However, the short answer is yes...... it will work in a 28 foot boat for a rather short time only!

The automotive cylinder head gaskets will work for a short duration before raw water cooling causes corrosion that will eventually take it's tole on them.
Depending on the Automotive application, the Static Compression Ratio may be incorrect for Marine use...... especially in a 28 footer!
The Automotive ignition advance will be excessive and may cause issues...... and again, especially in a 28 footer!
The camshaft profile may offer excessive over-lap that could cause water reversion, eventually damaging exhaust valves.

As for engine cooling, the equivilant of an automotive radiator will be a Marine Heat Exchanger.
These use liquid as the much more efficient media for heat removal.
If a heat exchanger is used, the automotive cylinder head gaskets will work!


In the long run, you will do much better if you were to go with a specifically built Marine Engine..... better yet, the Chrysler 360 cu in engine.


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