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Volvo penta 350 ..worth it?

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Txchevy18

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I have a chance to pick up a 5.7 volovo penta full roller motor with comp cam valvetrain with 90-100hrs on it for $600. The engine was a warranty replacement and the warranty company now doesnt wanna pay to have the old one shipped back. The engine blew a passenger side head gasket. I have acess to a friend with a machine shop to get the heads checked and re sufaced. My worry is will I be able to make this work with my tbi system with out major cash and modifications? he said it came off a boat with tbi but im not so sure considering it has from what info i can find a 9.4:1 ratio and its pushing 315hp. Im guessing learning to burn chips is goin to become nessacary... O ya its for an 88k5

Any insite into this would be greatly appreciated!
Thanx
Cory
 
If a stock TBI setup will handle it then tbichipsdotcom can burn the chip for you. For that kind of power I'm thinking some fuel system upgrades are in order. 454 injectors maybe. What really seems to upset TBIs are lumpy cams. If you go look in the EFI forum there is a lot of good info and links to other sites that are very well versed in efi mods
 
I thought there were other hurdles when swapping in a marine engine. I seem to remember something about some of them running in reverse rotation.
 
hmm thats a something i had heard of Ill have to do some more research on that one thanks ofr the heads up .. I wonder if the internals are setup diffrently than a road motor or if just in the belt and ingnition configuration.. hmm . alos anyone know if these motors came with vortec heads? I found a direct replace ment volvo penta on ebay that is a full roller motor and it says it has vortec heads.. That could be a serious roadblock then ..
 
It wont be a RR if it's FI...

Biggest questions is whether it was raw-water cooled and if run in salt....

It's a GM longblock.. swap a car intake, dizzy, etc, tune, etc... The cam should be managable, but it will need some chip/injector work...
 
Ok from what I have found that some motors do infact run backwards but, only when they are ran in pairs ie: one goes forwards and one back wards to keep the props roating opposite of each other and allow the boat to go straight. This engine came out of a single engine application so its does infact run in standard rotation.

Though I have found that motors designed to be run backwards have looser bearing tolorances for some reason ..hmm... I wonder why they dont just reverse the direction of the engine in the transom? I guess its just simpler this way..

Also It turns out that a engine running in reverse requires a special set of timing gears and disturbutor and depending on the builder possiblly a different cam..
 
RR? roller rocker? It does infact have a set of comp cam aluminum roller rockers. The guy who removed it swears up and down it had a tbi injection on it when he swapped em out.

I have been looking at some of the chip burning stuff and came across the megasquirt setup, Any opions or suggestion on this subject.

Ryoke- Also i love your wiring job on the k5 its deffinetly over the top. I am actually in process of making a complete stand alone system for all of my aftermarket electronics and came across ur threads a day or so a ago..

I would have to assume its was ran in saltwater considering the shop is right here on the gulf coast. Tho it could be a boat they only run on the lake but i highly doubt it. Is this a sign to just bail or can this be dealt with?
 
Ahhh ok that makes more sense I guess I slipped there.. Thanx
 
Txchevy18 said:
RR? roller rocker? It does infact have a set of comp cam aluminum roller rockers. The guy who removed it swears up and down it had a tbi injection on it when he swapped em out.

I have been looking at some of the chip burning stuff and came across the megasquirt setup, Any opions or suggestion on this subject.

Ryoke- Also i love your wiring job on the k5 its deffinetly over the top. I am actually in process of making a complete stand alone system for all of my aftermarket electronics and came across ur threads a day or so a ago..

I would have to assume its was ran in saltwater considering the shop is right here on the gulf coast. Tho it could be a boat they only run on the lake but i highly doubt it. Is this a sign to just bail or can this be dealt with?
Click to expand...

Yes, I did mean reverse rotation... It's a different grind cam, timing gears (no idler), yada, yada... It's a rarity they are produced anymore.. really since fuelies came out, we haven't seen any... And yes, they change em in the gearbox as necessary now.. You can still rebuild them, etc, but cams are pricey...

As for saltwater... It wont mean anything if the boat is freshwater cooled.. meaning it had a heat exchanger and the block is filled with antifreeze... raw water (salt or otherwise) is used to cool the af in the heat exchanger (think radiator cooled by water, not air) then dumped directly in the exhaust.. thus, no rust in the block.

Thanks on my project.. It's actually what I was working on today... :D
 
I should have put in the bad cooling system... If it is raw water cooled, no heatexchanger, raw water goes thru EVERYTHING. You are much likelier to see raw water cooled motors on I/O boats, as opposed to inboards... Yet, a raw water lake boat motor is usually salvagable...
 
ok .. Well I guess ill have to ask as to what kind of cooling system it had on it. I would assume a heat exchanger since it was ran in saltwater considering the closest lake is 50 plus miles from here.

Im guessing u mean inboard /out board fo I/O? I dont have a whole lot of knowlege on the marine side of things but Im doing my best to learn since I may end up workin for a repower shop while im going to school.

My biggest concern so far is what heads are on it. If its tbi heads then im in buisness from the start if its infact vortec heads Ill have to purchase the over priced gm intake to get it all setup and then try in figure out what im goin to do about egr and programming.

Right now im borrowing a company truck from my grandpa and am tryin to minimize my down time but, hes tellin me to go for it... and use the truck as long as I need it.. I guess its all just a matter of cash and time. Its almost to the point where I could of gotten a used 12v cumming for what I have into this project.. O well itll be worth it !
 
Most Boat engines have a high rpm cam put in them. They dont need torque so much and rpms. Most have free flowing heads and intakes so thats a plus.
 
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