DoneRampin
New member
Hello all,
I'm new to this forum and to the Crusader engines. My wife and I purchased a cabin cruiser with twin 6.0s a couple of months ago. Of course we did everything we were supposed to do and had the boat and engines inspected. The port side engine had been rebuilt back in 2015 but was barely used (only had about 20 hours on it). This recent rebuild should have been a red flag, but I got a false sense of security from a good survey.
A couple weekends ago we had the boat on plane and the port engine shut down abruptly. After stumbling back to port I tried to start the motor but found that it was seized pretty good. I pulled the plugs and found that the #6 plug had been smashed in.
The heads have since been pulled and revealed catastrophic engine damage. The #6 piston is in pieces and lodged in the crankshaft. The cylinder walls are scored pretty bad.
In looking for a replacement long block, I've found that they are very difficult to come by. Standard marine rebuilders for the most part haven't heard of this engine, and the one place that has wants 6,900 + 2,500 core!
I've determined that this engine is built on a GM LQ4 engine block and have started looking at auto rebuilders for a reman long block.
My question to the forum is: what do you think about using an automotive reman long block for this application? Other than a possibly different cam shaft, water pump, and oil pan, does anybody know of other parts that Crusader swapped from the standard GM block?
Any advice would be appreciated! I want to make sure we have a reliable replacement, but can't afford the 16k+ that a complete engine from Crusader would run.
thanks in advance!!
-Dave
I'm new to this forum and to the Crusader engines. My wife and I purchased a cabin cruiser with twin 6.0s a couple of months ago. Of course we did everything we were supposed to do and had the boat and engines inspected. The port side engine had been rebuilt back in 2015 but was barely used (only had about 20 hours on it). This recent rebuild should have been a red flag, but I got a false sense of security from a good survey.
A couple weekends ago we had the boat on plane and the port engine shut down abruptly. After stumbling back to port I tried to start the motor but found that it was seized pretty good. I pulled the plugs and found that the #6 plug had been smashed in.
The heads have since been pulled and revealed catastrophic engine damage. The #6 piston is in pieces and lodged in the crankshaft. The cylinder walls are scored pretty bad.
In looking for a replacement long block, I've found that they are very difficult to come by. Standard marine rebuilders for the most part haven't heard of this engine, and the one place that has wants 6,900 + 2,500 core!
I've determined that this engine is built on a GM LQ4 engine block and have started looking at auto rebuilders for a reman long block.
My question to the forum is: what do you think about using an automotive reman long block for this application? Other than a possibly different cam shaft, water pump, and oil pan, does anybody know of other parts that Crusader swapped from the standard GM block?
Any advice would be appreciated! I want to make sure we have a reliable replacement, but can't afford the 16k+ that a complete engine from Crusader would run.
thanks in advance!!
-Dave