What's historically interesting is OMC/Evinrude/Johnson pioneered the now popular and common V6 engine in small boats. Looking back, now those I-6 stovebolt Chevy sixes that Mercrusier used sure wasted a lot of interior space!
On the recent subject on Buick V6's.........
I've been giving some thought to re-powering my 1966 Sportsman 150, 225 V6 and would welcome other's list members thoughts?
I'm fairly confident the OMC stringer bellhousing will accomodate either the Buick - Olds - Ponitac bellhousing or the Chevy-style bolt pattern.
This means the even-fire, counter-balanced, 90-degree Chevy 262 V6 should bolt in. A fresh Vortec 262 puts out 190 hp (carb) or 225 (efi). I think the biggest challenge will be routing the exhaust manifolds. I'm thinking I may route them thru the transom, rather than thru the sterndrive's underwater port.
A small-block Chevy V8 305 or 350 would also no-doubt be an easy technical bolt in, but would intrude forward into the boat another 4-inches and require extensive fiberglass mods to the engine "doghouse."
My other alternative is to take out the tired Buick 225 and rebuild the shortblock and heads or replace it with a 252 Buick even-fire V6. I'm not sure the exhaust manifold ports of the 225 match up with the 252's better flowing heads, anybody know?
I know the whole idea of re-powering sounds crazy, but I like the idea of more power and the turn-key reliability of EFI. The odd-fire Buick sounds cool, but at 6500 - 7500 feet above sea level, it struggles a bit, especially with 4 - 6 adults on board.
Any off-season, arm-chair captains, care to comment?
Lee Shuster
Salt Laker
Received on Tuesday, 25 January 2005
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