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Swappable engines?

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behattedllama

New member
I have two boats that I inherited. One is a 26' 1990 bayliner Ciera 2655. It has a 5.7 V8 alpha one and matching outdrive, but is suspected to have a cracked block.

The other is project that was started before my grandpa died-- it's a 79 glastrom that's been stripped of its deck and interior, but it had a complete engine failure after beaching (5 years ago or so?) and was swapped in by insurance with a rebuild. I'm told it's a Mercruiser Gen II 5.7 v8, but with a Mercruiser 260 exhaust, fuel, and ignition systems. It also has a matching outdrive.

Long story short, I want to move the Glastrom engine into the Bayliner and want to know what kind of trouble I should anticipate. I have two options-- pull the engine with all of its components attached from the Glastrom and drop it into the Bayliner (and swap the outdrives); or, if it would be beneficial and the components are compatible, I could pull them off of the Alpha One and replace the Mercruiser 260 components with the ones on the Alpha One.

Any advice is welcome, as this is my first engine swap.
 
fastjeff said:
Should be no problem.

Jeff
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Excellent, any thoughts on whether I'm better off keeping all of the engine components the same, or if there's any benefit to using the Alpha One components on the new engine? I assume from time/frustration/unforeseen costs I'd be best off taking the entire assembly from the donor boat and dropping it in, so essentially I'm asking if there are notable differences in power from using 260 mercruiser parts on a larger engine. Photos below.

118072263_4164401586363_1031518952737937683_o.jpg118159276_4166207671514_6970032792216051957_o.jpg
 
1. Swap old log exhaust manifolds for the Center riser newer ones and all hoses and the thermostat housing configuration that is with center riser manifolds. A MUST DO.

2. Check and confirm flywheel on Bayliner engine is the same as Glastron engine. (also if Bayliner flywheel has newer coupler, it may be worth the swap.

3. DO NOT swap outdrives unless you first confirm final ratio at prop shaft is the same. The Bay liner, as that boat is under powered with a small V8 for its length may have a 2:1 final ratio for the drive where as the Galstron may have a 1.50:1 ratio

4. both engines if in fact are 350 ci, and are the same, as the valve covers show they are 1990's One piece rear main seal blocks. The only difference would be one is later 1990's Gen II (+) vs early 1990's Gen I and that would be determined by the intake manifold bolt count. How many bolts in the intake manifold on each engine. If the same count then they are the same early 1990's, if different then the one with less intake bolts I believe is a Gen II.
Gen I 12 bolts Gen II (+) 8 bolts

Thats all I can think of right now..........
 
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I'd be inclined to get a new shift cable, gimbal bearing and new bellows while it is apart...

And you will need to find an alignment tool....
 
kghost said:
1. Swap old log exhaust manifolds for the Center riser newer ones and all hoses and the thermostat housing configuration that is with center riser manifolds. A MUST DO.

2. Check and confirm flywheel on Bayliner engine is the same as Glastron engine. (also if Bayliner flywheel has newer coupler, it may be worth the swap.

3. DO NOT swap outdrives unless you first confirm final ratio at prop shaft is the same. The Bay liner, as that boat is under powered with a small V8 for its length may have a 2:1 final ratio for the drive where as the Galstron may have a 1.50:1 ratio

4. both engines if in fact are 350 ci, and are the same, as the valve covers show they are 1990's One piece rear main seal blocks. The only difference would be one is later 1990's Gen II (+) vs early 1990's Gen I and that would be determined by the intake manifold bolt count. How many bolts in the intake manifold on each engine. If the same count then they are the same early 1990's, if different then the one with less intake bolts I believe is a Gen II.
Gen I 12 bolts Gen II (+) 8 bolts

Thats all I can think of right now..........
Click to expand...

Will the outdrive currently on the Bayliner (which is the original so we know it's correct) be compatible with the Glastron engine without any issues? My thought process was that it would be keeping the outboard with the motor I know it goes with to avoid incompatibilities, but if they are essentially interchangeable I'll keep the one we know is the correct ratio of course.
 
Outdrives.

Confirm what generation outdrives are on the boats.
Alpha gen 1 or gen 2.
Gen 1 outdrive has two nuts sunk into sides of drive. No other visible nuts or bolts like the Gen 2
Gen 2 has 4 nuts and bolts visible between upper and lower housing

As I said before. You must conform the outdrive final ratio before deciding which to use.

The glastron based on smaller length with a V8 most likely is 1.5:1 ratio.
There is a possibility that the Bayliners outdrive ratio is 2.0:1

You wont be able to get the correct prop if you use the 1.5 when the bayliner had a 2.0.
 
kghost said:
Outdrives.

Confirm what generation outdrives are on the boats.
Alpha gen 1 or gen 2.
Gen 1 outdrive has two nuts sunk into sides of drive. No other visible nuts or bolts like the Gen 2
Gen 2 has 4 nuts and bolts visible between upper and lower housing

As I said before. You must conform the outdrive final ratio before deciding which to use.

The glastron based on smaller length with a V8 most likely is 1.5:1 ratio.
There is a possibility that the Bayliners outdrive ratio is 2.0:1

You wont be able to get the correct prop if you use the 1.5 when the bayliner had a 2.0.
Click to expand...

Sounds good! I'm much less familiar with the outdrives so I'm going to post some pictures. This is my first major boat project so I'd rather ask too many questions than too few!

Bayliner:
image0(2).jpgimage2.jpg

Glastron:
image1.jpgimage3.jpg
 
Based on pictures,
Bayliner drive is Alpha One Gen I
Glastron drive is pre Alpha- Looks like a I or R drive

Use Alpha One Gen I drive if you can. No reason to go backwards

One other note:
Glastron has a point ignition, External resistor coil

Bayliner should have a Thunderbolt IV or V electronic ignition including Bayliner internal resister coil. You should use this ignition! The wire harness will also match up correctly currently in the Bayliner
 
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o2batsea said:
Glastron prolly the better hull, even tho damaged.
Click to expand...

The hull seems to be in very good shape, actually. It's essentially the entire interior/deck that's absolutely trashed. It's also taller and more spacious and would be my preference to keep but I'm not confident in my ability to restore it. For example here is the console 😬
bc2a17a2-28b4-4989-b9c7-3055ff0f3b06
 
o2batsea said:
Glastron prolly the better hull, even tho damaged.
Click to expand...

Here's the full picture. Thoughts on how daunting this task really is vs how it seems? It really comes down to which is going to be the bigger project-- pulling two engines and swapping them, or refurbishing the interior and deck of the objectively better boat to overcome a decade of neglect? There's not even an engine-compartment cover anymore, after all...

image0(1).jpgimage2.jpgimage3.jpgimage4.jpg
 
Yeh that's a wreck alright. Thing about boats like that is that you need to pretty much gut them and start from zero. Nothing savable in there.

If you decide to go ahead, what you'll need to start with is a good thorough power washing. It's gonna be a challenge to get into every nook and cranny but this is necessary to get rid of the mildew. Follow up with a garden sprayer filled with bleach solution and get it on there wet and give every square inch a good soak with the stuff. This'll prolly take a couple days solid work. Get up inside the compartments, between the deck and hull and any place that you can't reach cz the mildew's in there.
Once it's washed, you can determine if you need to paint everything while it's gutted. That engine bay looks like it could use it!
You'll need all new wiring and plumbing which includes the fuel system. Not a huge task as boat wiring is pretty much all the same and you might find some good used harness but don't use anything but certified marine wire. It'll have "marine" stamped on the case. All terminals are crimped ring. Go the extra step and use the heat shrink kind. No Idea if there's a water system but you should get all new. Highly recommend the Lectra Scan unit from Raritan, or get a Porta-Potty and just dump it after each time. For the engine cover 3/4 ply is all you need. The factory cover was just that with fiberglass over it. Or make something fancy.
Some things like cushions you'll prolly have to farm out unless you're good with sewing.
Plan on. this taking three times longer than you think it will, and costing three times what you think it will.
It's like anything else, one bite at a time and eventually you'll eat the elephant.
However, if you don't want to spend every free hour scrubbing mildew or running wires, then just get rid of all of it and start saving for a boat that's ready to go. Sometimes walking away from stuff is the smart choice. That itself is a difficult lesson to learn.
 
I've got to assume that the work that will go into salvaging the Glastron will be significantly more time consuming and expensive than swapping out the engines and getting the Bayliner working again. The Bayliner has a clean interior (like not pristine but also not with years of damp exposure!) and was really well maintained. The worst aspect of it is the benches and seats on the deck-- they are cracked and faded and badly in need of a reupholstry. There are things I'd love to *improve* about it but nothing that requires replacing to function except the engine that I assume has a cracked block (but don't know how to verify that's what the issue is and not another cause)...
 
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