What to do with my "original" 283 eng...

Author Message   Lori Styles New member Username: lstyles Post Number: 1 Registered: 04-2007 Posted on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - 12:42 am:    I bought a 1961 CC ski boat which I am diligently restoring to as original as possible. My headache comes in because the boat was converted to jet drive somewhere in the 60's with several mods to the structure and engine. The engine was supposed to be "original". I know very little about engines but plan on restoring this one as best I can. I am learning alot from books and sites like this one. From checking casting numbers it seems the block of my engine is from 1968 and is a 302/327/350. The heads are from early 60s (listed as 327) and intake manifold is likely original as are several other parts. The biggest problem is that the engine is flywheel aft but the 1961 ski boats had flywheel forward. I want to try to get the engine as original as possible (even numbers matching). Is it possible to take a flywheel aft engine and turn it around? Put another way, what part of the engine (block, heads, intake manifold etc) makes the engine flywheel forward or aft (and dont say flywheel!)? Should I even both with this block or should I try and find a flywheel forward 283 block and put my parts on it? Here is a photo of my engine. Any help would be appreciated and I apologize in advance for my ignorance, Lori   Eddie from Oregon Visitor Posted on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - 05:06 am:    Correction: 302/327/350 should be 305/327/350. 305 is a later version of the 283 and 350 is a later version of the 327. All are devived from the Chevy small block introduced in 1955 as a 265 cubic inch V-8. One good thing about the Chevy small blocks is the interchangeability over the years.   dogsharks38 Member Username: dogsharks38 Post Number: 41 Registered: 12-2005 Posted on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - 02:37 pm:    Hello and Congratulations on your wood boat project. I have several boat projects going at any given time, here is one I did a few years ago (I'm just an enthusiast, not in the boat business by the way). This is a 1956 Chris, old Hercules on the way out, and I installed a 283 from another Chris. You can still find the 283 setups on ebay, and in boat shops around. They are available on the used motor market, you can get a 283 and transmission, along with the manifolds, etc., but you may still have to rebuild the motor, which is a pretty easy task. If the transmission is bad, that's another $750 perhaps. Look on the net, in the back of Classic Boating Mag, etc., Here is a thread that will help you with your project. http://www.network54.com/Forum/503931/thread/1149537985/last-1149537985 Here is another one that will help you http://www.network54.com/Forum/424840/message/1172181250 I'm a big fan of putting period motors in period craft. The motor I installed was only a couple years off, so it didn't ruin the character of the boat. If I had installed a bran new Mercruiser, for instance, it would not have had the collector appreciation of a 283 at any boat show. Good luck, all the best, Paul   Lori Styles New member Username: lstyles Post Number: 2 Registered: 04-2007 Posted on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 - 03:53 pm:    Hi Paul, Thanks for links....I had already perused all your files for information. They are great and have helped me alot. I agree that a period engine is the way to go. What I am questioning is wether I can turn the engine around and put the flywheel forward as it is presently flywheel aft. Having the flyweheel aft will not really match the flywheel forward engine that this boat had. Obviously the crankshaft has to be in the right orientation for this but is it the block that determines which way the flywheel goes or can you switch it. I havent opened up my engine enough to see if these things can be switched. I just got it up on a motor stand this weekend. My 13yr old son and I are planning to start taking it apart. If I cant switch it then I will have to go out and buy at least a new 283 block. Do you know if the blocks can have their orientation switched like this? Also what makes an engine a Q engine. I know the difference between a standard 283 and 283F (flywheel position) but I am not familiar with the Q designation. thanks, Lori   Fastjeff Senior Member Username: fastjeff Post Number: 3346 Registered: 09-2003 Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 10:59 am:    If you live anywhere near Elkton, MD e-mail me direct and right away! I know where there's a complete Chris-Craft "assbackwards" Chevy motor with tranny that you can have for FREE! But you gotta move now. Jeff   dogsharks38 Member Username: dogsharks38 Post Number: 44 Registered: 12-2005 Posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 07:48 pm:    Hi Lori, You must be very deliberate and careful if you start swapping things around. They're never as simple as they appear. If you switch the motor around, then you'll need the proper carriage to hold the flywheel side of the motor in the forward position, and you'll need a bell housing assy and rear motor mounts, to hold the transmission and motor in the aft position. For instance: Standard automotive rotation is left hand. From sitting in the driver seat, the fan is spinning counterclockwise if you're looking into the open hood from the seat. Single engine inboards (Chris Craft) use a right hand motor in a single motor installation. If you take a flywheel forward motor that is running in a RH mode and turn it around, your prop will spin in the LH direction and the transmission will have to be suitably selected as well. Looking at your modified motor, I think you will be far better off taking the offer from FastJeff or some similar offer, and building from there. TO seek out all the parts individually, you'll be far over the budget of doing it the FastJeff or equivalent way. In order to obtain all of the pumps, bell housings front and rear mounts, the proper manifolds, and the transmission too, see if you can find a rebuildable complete marine setup. If the block is bad and your block is good, you can swap em, but you'll still get ALL of the stuff you need when you buy the complete old setup. Just my two and a half cents for the day. Regards, Paul   Lori Styles New member Username: lstyles Post Number: 3 Registered: 04-2007 Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 01:25 am:    Thanks for the comments Paul. You are exactly right about the turn around of the engine...I hadnt really thought about all that. Since your original post I have been looking around for a 283 from the right period of time (early 60's). Unfortunately I live in San Francisco Bay area so fastjeff's engine isnt close enough. I would love it if I could find something like that. I am going to go ahead and keep taking the engine I have apart and see what I really have...its very educational too. I will keep looking for the flywheel forward 283 though. Two questions for you: 1) How can I tell what rotation the engine I have now is? 2) Do you think it would be too out of "period" to leave it flywheel aft when it would have come flywheel forward? thanks again, Lori   Lori Styles Member Username: lstyles Post Number: 4 Registered: 04-2007 Posted on Friday, April 27, 2007 - 05:16 pm:    One more question...per your discussion of right handed boats vs left handed cars. It probably wouldnt be a good idea then to try and buy an old 283 out of a car as it would be the wrong rotation right? thanks, Lori   dogsharks38 Member Username: dogsharks38 Post Number: 45 Registered: 12-2005 Posted on Friday, April 27, 2007 - 07:13 pm:    You must be VERY careful about all of this, because when you start talking about flywheel forward, and flywheel aft motors, it would be very easy to make an expensive mistake. For instance. My 1956 CC speedboat now has a 283 setup (actually with a 327 block now) that came out of a CC Super Sport as best I know. It is a flywheel forward installation, and I am using the traditional RH prop on this motor. BY INSTALLATION it is considered a RH motor due to the fact that it has a RH rotation AS INSTALLED, with a RH prop. However, if you take the motor out of the boat and evaluate it on its own by just looking at the rotation of the flywheel, you would call it a LH motor. See what I mean? It is confusing for sure. A flywheel forward motor spinning a RH prop, would sure appear to be a standard automotive rotation motor, with the standard automotive components, but it is spinning a RH prop because it is installed backwards, and therefore they CALL it a RH motor installation. Now to be more confusing, there are two kinds of rotation called by another name too. Its referred to as "standard rotation" as in automotive standard LH rotation, and then there is the "opposite rotation" motor, which actually spins in the opposite direction and takes a special cam, special crank (they differ only in the wiping marks at the seals, but this is important to know so you don't have an oil leaker), and special distributor gear. Distributors all spin in the same direction, only the gear at the cam is different on the opposite rotation, etc. Now it would be interesting to see if CC would call a standard rotation motor (LH by some measure) a Right Hand installation, if the motor was turned around backwards to run a V drive. As I noted, your best and safest route is to get a complete 283 setup, with all the housings, mounts, manifolds, pumps, etc., and then you know what you have, and you'll know what is broken to fix. Otherwise, you're barking in the wind unless you have a good close friend who has one you can look at. Good luck, all the best, Regards, P   Lori Styles Member Username: lstyles Post Number: 5 Registered: 04-2007 Posted on Monday, April 30, 2007 - 01:51 pm:    Thanks Paul...it IS all very confusing but I do understand what your saying...its all in your perspective as to what is called right, left etc. Since my engine is out of the boat and I dont have a prop attached because it was converted to a jet drive I need to figure out what rotation enigne I have at least in relation to the engine itself. I dont know if this was originally a CC engine or what so I am going to assume nothing given what you say above. How do I figure out which rotation I have? thanks, Lori   dogsharks38 Member Username: dogsharks38 Post Number: 48 Registered: 12-2005 Posted on Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 02:46 am:    Hi Lori, Look at the motor from the flywheel end. See what direction the starter will rotate the motor when you spin it with the starter. If it spins clockwise you have a RH motor which is opposite from the standard automotive rotation. If it spins counter-clockwise, you have a LH motor which is also the standard automotive rotation. Hope this helps get you on the road to restoration in some way or another. Regards, Paul   Lori Styles Member Username: lstyles Post Number: 6 Registered: 04-2007 Posted on Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 12:01 pm:    Hi Paul, Thanks for the info. Unfortuanately I have already removed the flywheel and starter. I can put them back on though and check it out. Clockwise= RH= standard rotation Chris craft. Counterclockwise=LH= standard automotive right? Lori   dogsharks38 Member Username: dogsharks38 Post Number: 49 Registered: 12-2005 Posted on Tuesday, May 01, 2007 - 08:03 pm:    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v472/Dogsharks/Boating/283and327rotation.jpg Hi Lori, You have it almost right, but I don't like your choice of words. There is only one "Standard Rotation", and that designation refers to automotive. Standard Rotation = LH rotation = counter clockwise when viewing the flywheel (unless it's a flywheel forward motor, and then things change) RH = opposite rotation = clockwise rotation = the typical single engine installation in a chris craft WHEN VIEWED FROM THE AFT SECTION OF THE MOTOR. Sorry, I don't mean to be shouting, but this is so nuts with some applications. My speedboat motor with the flywheel forward installation is an example. If you pull the motor out and ask anyone what this motor is by itself, just the motor alone, they'll say it's a LH standard automotive rotation motor, however, because it's turned backwards with the flywheel forward, it takes a RH prop, and it's actually referred to as a RH motor due to the way it's installed. On your flywheel aft motor, you will be looking at the flywheel in the aft position, check the rotation, and whatever way it goes, that will be your call ON THAT MOTOR INSTALLATION. Sorry, I don't mean to be shouting   Lori Styles Member Username: lstyles Post Number: 7 Registered: 04-2007 Posted on Wednesday, May 02, 2007 - 01:54 pm:    Thanks Paul...I think I understand what you are saying about how it depends on the installation. I will check mine out this weekend and see what I have. Lori   Lori Styles Member Username: lstyles Post Number: 8 Registered: 04-2007 Posted on Friday, May 04, 2007 - 02:27 am:    Okay I couldnt put the flywheel in place because of the motor stand but I pulled out the starter and looking from the rear of the engine (flywheel aft) and the starter pointing at me in the position it was mounted on the engine, the sprocket thingy (sorry I dont know the name of this part) only turns clockwise which would mean that if it turns clockwise the flywheel would turn counterclockwise (or left hand which isnt the usual chris craft rotation for a flywheel aft single engine). I am also suspicious because when the sprocket turns clockwise, the spindle it is on doesnt turn when the sprocket turns so I am not sure that if this is really the way it would turn if running. I am thinking that the rotation of the starter sprocket is actually counterclockwise or how would that spindle turn the sprocket if its able to spin freely in the clockwise direction? What do you guys out there think? thanks, Lori PS Go Warriors!   William Bikash New member Username: beeper387 Post Number: 3 Registered: 06-2007 Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - 09:01 am:    Is the steering wheel on the port or stbd side? Steering wheel location has an affect due to the weight of the driver alone in the boat.Prop rotation direction has torque affect on a single engine boat.Let me know

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