Crate Motor

[Fogged Gullwing]

Also take a look at Bill mitchells hard core racing engines he was the first to offer a warranty Jegs and summit are also doing crates. I would shop around. People like reher morrison/ pat musi/ steve schmitt/ scott shaffiroff all have them also. Pick up a copy of national dragster and take a look!!!!
Hope this helps BK

[JDB]

All points and facts brought up from all the members are probably good points to consider, however, speaking from pure experience, I would but a crate motor with confidence and stab it right in your boat with NO modifications. My first boat, a 21 Daytona, I put in the crate 350/350 crate motor right out of the box.....ran the piss out of it and logged over 400 hours on the boat and NEVER had ONE problem! My second boat was a Shiada 21 River Cruiser, put in the 502/502....NO modifications and logged over 500 hours with ZERO problems!
Im SO confident in crate motors right out of the box that my current boat is a 25'7 Effect with a 540 blown motor.....I intentionally run the piss out of it hoping to one day blow the motor so I can install, you guessed it, the same crate motor your looking at.
Bottom line.....do the math.....say you put 500 hours on a motor and you "average" 40 miles per hour, that equates to "only" 20,000 miles....I would say that a motor is fairly fresh at 20,000 miles!
You will have many objections to my comments and probably rightfully so as far as sound mechicanical advice, however, I would stab a ctate motor in any boat that I owned with absolute confidance! Its nice to cruise down the river knwoing that your biggest worry is how much beer you have left!

[MudPumper]

I read somewhere that the reason Chevy says their crate motors arent for marine use is because of some agreement they have going with Mercury Marine and that apparently that agreement is approaching an end and Chevy will be advertising their motors for street and marine use. Maybe somebody else can confirm this. I think the article was in a recent issue of Hot Rod.
Also, wasn't their an article in Hot Boat not to long ago where they put twin stock crate ZZ572's in an offshore boat? Might have read that in another mag also.

[victorfb]

mudpumper. i believe you are correct. the deal GM has with mercruiser states they cannot sell the same motors as marine use so GM only advertises for automotive use.
i for one have a 502 crate motor in my jet boat but i first did the break in with the one ton duelly for about 5,000 miles. i even towed the 5th wheel a couple times on it to really give it a load. i then changed a few things like cam and such and installed it into the boat. woohooo. i dig it. if your going to put it straight into the boat, id take the advise and break it in slowly and for a while. dont get tempted and dont listen to your buddies saying "cmon man, lets get on it". good luck and have fun.

[Taylorman]

Good points. The Merlin im looking at is a Bill Mitchell Hardcore engine. JDB, your comments are what i was looking for. I guess im just looking for a little reasurance that crate motors will be ok in a boat. Ive heard others talk about how marine motors are different from street motors. I just dont want to drop eight grand on a street motor if its not going to work in a boat.
Everyone i check has the same price $7500. Anyone know of anywhere that may sell it cheaper? Summit is my dealer of choice as of right now, they are $7500 and $150 shipping.

[mud duck]

I would have to agree with the advice on a mild gradual break in period. I just dumped over 18 grand on a built 540 blower motor for my jet boat last summer, and only really heald it at WOT for a while in September (after months of crusing). I guess I was a little nervous and did not want to spend any more money on another engine, but I am confident she is well broken in now. In my eyes the self control was well worth the peace of mind. Now I should be set for many years of fun without any worries. If I were to do it all over again today, I believe I would go with a create motor. The quality, durability and horse power figures are fantastic. Recently I have been looking at an older Scarab, and have entertained the thought of dropping in two new create motors. I think you will be money a head to go with a create motor, even in a jet boat. Good luck & keep us posted this summer after installation.

[Taylorman]

I spoke to a guy at Bill Mitchell and he said that he would sell it to me but that he doesn't recommend it in a boat. I expected them to say that. Also, not surprising they said no warranty in a boat.

[flat broke]

Since they build em as they are ordered, and you actually have to call someone, okay the order etc. Why don't you just hit Infomaniac up for his desired clearances for a marine dealy, call the guys at Mitchell and say, "I'll order your xyz package, I understand there won't be a warranty, but can you please set her up with the following clearances?" Or just get Info's price on doing the same exact motor for ya?
Either way, you're doing what a lot of us have always thought would be a good solution. I'm sure you'll keep us up to speed on what happens.
Chris

[JDB]

Taylorman
As mentioned by a few memebrs, it is a fact that GM has an "agreement" with Mercury basically not to compete with thye marine industry. Look at Mercury packages......drastically OVER PRICED as aposed to what you can get with a crate motor. You cant tell me that the cost of "marineization" of a motor cost double of what you can get a crate motor for. The biggest thing that I have heard about marine vs street motors is that a marine motor likes to have stainless valves. If you look at most of the high horse crate motors you will notice that the absolutely have stainless valves.
The ONLY thing that I have ever done with my crate motors in a boat is change the mechicanical fuel pump to a marine fuel pump.....the street pump has a bleed off valve and the marine does not,,,,,you do NOT want to bleed fuel in your bilge for obvious reasons....second, install a good flame arrestor per coast guard spec.
SLAP IN YOUR CRATE MOTOR AND GO HAVE FUN!

[ZZ502]

I'm new to this board so hi to all. I have a ZZ502 in my 85 Miller, 20', open bow. The heads were worked over by Ed Hale out of San Diego. Cam was changed to around .560 lift and I added roller rockers. On the dyno, it achieved 540hp @ 5400 rpm and 600ft/pnd of torque @ 4100 rpm. With about 20 hrs. on it I wanted more power(naturally) and changed cam (approx. lift .613 and more duration), manifold to a dart single plane and added a 950 cfm BIGS built DB holley. I have not dyno'd it since then but MPH's went from 72 to 82+ or - on the GPS-hp is probably close to 600-625. I moved to AZ. and am selling the boat with a stock 454 and will sell the 502 seperately if you are interested $7,500. It has about 30 hours on it with no issues. It also comes with a Milodon 10 qt. pan which will fit in jet boats. The original pan is about an inch too tall. Let me know...