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engine compatibility1984 350

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2wind

Member
I have a spare block in the barn, Crusader 350 (#49020) best I can tell it is a 1984. Considering going through it for a spare as My current ship has a pair of crusader 350's, 1986 vintage, (#'s 57308& 9). other than the rear main seal Whats the difference and will they performthe same?
 
Re: engine compatibility

They should perform the same, as long as you build it in the same way.
However, you have an oportunity to get away from the Full Dished Pistons if you were to custom build one, of which also involves selecting the correct cylinder heads.

Use caution if by chance this donor block had been previously raw water cooled via salt water.
You're only a few boat dollars away from an automotive core!

Just my opinion!

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Re: engine compatibility

I'd suspect your current blocks are counter-rotating. That means to have a 'ready-to-go' spare, you really need two in the barn. Though most of the parts are interchangeable, they don't get assembled the same way and it isn't real easy to "switch" them if you need to make the engine spin the opposite way.

Rick's point about a previously raw water cooled block is keen. If that's the case, I'd not sink any money into it.
 
Its a fresh water block. I was under the impression the right hand motor was reversed with a gear at the timing chain
 
That's the "parts" difference.

The thing I was getting at is the pistons usually get installed "backwards" so their thrust faces are oriented properly. If you have one assembled and need to "reverse it", you'd have to disassemble it to do it correctly.
 
I don't believe that many are reverse gear timing the camshafts these days.
Chain driven RH rotation camshafts are pretty easy to order, just as a Standard LH rotation engine camshaft, but creates the need for the distributor reverse gear cut.
Distributors run the same direction...... Std LH, or Reverse RH.

Technically, the crankshaft seals are not the same for a RH engine either.
 
I think the majority of the "off-the-shelf" cams for the older (Mark IV BBC & pre-vortec SBC) chevy-based reverse rotation marine aps use the gear drive. Most any of the grinders will create any configuration you are willing to pay for.

Actually, the crank seals I used when we did the major overhaul are rotation independent. Pretty sure they were from Federal-Mogul....and that was a long time ago.
 
makomark said:
I think the majority of the "off-the-shelf" cams for the older (Mark IV BBC & pre-vortec SBC) chevy-based reverse rotation marine aps use the gear drive.
Click to expand...
There are/have been some issues with the Mallory distributors regarding the "down-load" thrust that the reverse drive/driven gear cut creates. While the distributor rotates in the same direction, this gear cut places a down load on the distributor shaft.
Apparently Mallory had a run of YLM 624 BV's that were given owner's some issues.

The double gear cam drive would keep camshaft rotation the same, and would eliminate that potential issue for use w/ any distributor.

Wow...... there's more than meets the eye when building a RH engine!

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