- Joined
- Jul 27, 2001
- RO Number
- 5508
- Messages
- 1,243
Now that the first boat is done, and in theory running - while I wait another month for the rain to end and take her out, time to start on the ski boat - 1987 American Skier 19' Advance.
I picked up this boat with a seized small block indmar 350, and pulled the running yet old and bit rusty 350 mag (1990) out of my bowrider to use in the Skier. I've been back and forth on dropping in the Merc as is, and rewiring the boat to accommodate, or using the ignition, alt, etc from the Indmar. Which got me to thinking that beyond ignition I also should decide which intake and cooling setup to use.
The Merc has Thunderbolt 4, Rochester 4bbl Carb, one of those intake manifolds that is a bit taller, and belt driven raw water pump.
The Indmar had crank pulley mounted raw water pump, mallory electronic ignition, and an edelbrock carb sitting on a shorter intake manifold.
Blocks are identical, 638 casting pre-vortec. I believe heads are same as well. Merc stuff has more hours and looks worse for the wear, the indmar probably saw mostly fresh water use, but seized up after sitting for 5+ years. The Indmar exhaust looks relatively clean, and in addition to probably being wrong style for an inboard, the Merc stuff is about at end of life.
My primary selection criteria is reliability, but almost important is availability and low price of parts. Performance isn't that critical, as I'm pushing the limit of this running gear with the stock 260 hp motor.
I am probably going to use the Mallory distributor/ignition and wiring harness, because I am bitter about merc ignition parts and the replacement cost. But to be honest, I bought the Merc when it had 16 years on it, and then put 12 more trouble free years on it myself - so I know it works reliably. I think I remember someone here saying that Rochester's kick the crap out of Edelbrock, so probably leaving the manifold and carb as is.
No clue which water pump to use- the plastic merc belt driven, or the little sherwood type pump bolted to the crank shaft? Anybody have any preference between these two - or think I'm making a mistake with ignition or intake? thanks.
I picked up this boat with a seized small block indmar 350, and pulled the running yet old and bit rusty 350 mag (1990) out of my bowrider to use in the Skier. I've been back and forth on dropping in the Merc as is, and rewiring the boat to accommodate, or using the ignition, alt, etc from the Indmar. Which got me to thinking that beyond ignition I also should decide which intake and cooling setup to use.
The Merc has Thunderbolt 4, Rochester 4bbl Carb, one of those intake manifolds that is a bit taller, and belt driven raw water pump.
The Indmar had crank pulley mounted raw water pump, mallory electronic ignition, and an edelbrock carb sitting on a shorter intake manifold.
Blocks are identical, 638 casting pre-vortec. I believe heads are same as well. Merc stuff has more hours and looks worse for the wear, the indmar probably saw mostly fresh water use, but seized up after sitting for 5+ years. The Indmar exhaust looks relatively clean, and in addition to probably being wrong style for an inboard, the Merc stuff is about at end of life.
My primary selection criteria is reliability, but almost important is availability and low price of parts. Performance isn't that critical, as I'm pushing the limit of this running gear with the stock 260 hp motor.
I am probably going to use the Mallory distributor/ignition and wiring harness, because I am bitter about merc ignition parts and the replacement cost. But to be honest, I bought the Merc when it had 16 years on it, and then put 12 more trouble free years on it myself - so I know it works reliably. I think I remember someone here saying that Rochester's kick the crap out of Edelbrock, so probably leaving the manifold and carb as is.
No clue which water pump to use- the plastic merc belt driven, or the little sherwood type pump bolted to the crank shaft? Anybody have any preference between these two - or think I'm making a mistake with ignition or intake? thanks.
