well i'm still debating whether to swap the 400 into my car, or save myself the headache involved in an engine swap and just buy another camaro with a bigger engine already in it.

my question is....i'm looking to buy this car, and the guy selling it recently bought a 2001 vortec 350 marine motor to put in it. he'd sell me the car as is, or he would include the 350, uninstalled, for a little more. it's pushing 300+ hp. what is different about a marine engine than a car engine? i know the the oil pan is different, but i'm not quite sure how. but it seems like there would be alot more differences than that. any ideas??

 

the biggest difference between the two is the exhaust manifolds, the marine versions have jacketed manifolds to run water through. if it has accessories already on it they will be different than the automobile version, they have to be sealed to be exlosion proof for the boat. there may also be some differences in the intakes as well.

 

If it's the one I've been seeing lately in new boats, it's a port-injected version, not TBI like a truck motor; with a vertical-draft TB on top of a dual-plane looking intake (I haven't seen the inside of one yet).

Marins motors usually have different cams than car motors, designed for high horsepower and not so much low-end torque, but at the same time, relatively gentle ramps so as not to beat the valve train to death during extended high-RPM operation like a boat motor sees. Other than that, they're not too much different internally.

I wouldn't mind getting my hands on that particular model of motor, with its injection intact; seems like it should be able to be hooked up to any S/D computer, and not too hard to program.

 

the guy i might buy it from said the current cam is for low-end torque, cause that's where the boat needs the most power - staring up. He's gonna include an LT1 cam and valve springs for it (the current valve springs are too short for a road application.) i'm gonna post this seperately, cause i dont know how many people will read this, but i was wondering how hard it is to install a cam and valve springs. is it basically just swap in the new parts and go? or do some configuration have to take place for it to work right? if i decide to get the marine engine, i won't have enough money left over to take it to a shop if hard-core configuration needs to be done.

 

I dunno if its the same as SBCs but some BBCs are reverse rotation

Daz