Good Day to all. Having read all the postings about repower of boats to diesel engines and the qoutes about Detroit Diesels I would like to offer my opinion. Having built Detroit Diesel engines for about 30 years they are probably one of the best engines ever made for commercial and pleasure craft use. Yes they are thirsty for fuel versus a four stroke designed engine due to the fact of a power stroke for every stroke, you have to drive a blower for air injection which robs HP and they are not as emissions friendly as the newer engines on the market. As some have qouted they leak oil. If you build them correctly with the newer sealants available, the reduction in external leakage is quite amazing. As for repowering the cost is expensive as most boat owners can attest to. I have completed the installation and rebuild of twin Cummins 6bta 250 HP engines in my 34 SS boat and finalizing all the other issues that arise in re-engineering a boat. The only reason I installed these engines is because I bought them cheap and overhauled everything myself except the turbo and fuel pump as I am not equipped to handle these two items. Cummins are by far the cheapest engine to get hold of and rebuild as parts are not outrageous.As far as the other manufacturers the Detroit Diesel will outlast the other engine by far and check the parts prices before one buys an engine. They are all great new until it comes time to buy parts. I have built a lot of Cat 3406, Cummins 855 and N-14 and Detroit Diesels and sticker shock comes into play when you are purchasing parts. For those interested in repowering I will be glad to assist in their endeavour as I have learned a crap load of info an what to do and not to do. For repowering to 3-53's stay away as they are way too noisy for a boat unless you wish to add a ton on sound proofing material. Stick to a four stroke design engine for fuel efficiency and noise levels. As far as transmissions go, think about the speed of the shaft and wheel, then calculate what the shaft should turn coming out of the transmission with a gas engine, then figure out the ratio you should need for a diesel engine. I had 454's in the boat and adjusted the shaft output speed with a 1.5;1 ZF trans wich matches the output speed of the old transmissions of the gas engine. Fairly close in shaft speed as I turned the engines up to 2600rpm and maybe higher when I do the sea trials. The wheel is 17 x 17 cupped which makes an 18" and hopefully attain close to the performance of the gas engines. Yes gas engines are cheaper and for a lot of guys it will be easier to stay with the gas engine for financial reasons but I like the safety factor of diesel versus gas when I am cruising the coast of BC. Just some ideas for all you boat enthusiasts. Have a nice day Roger
On Apr 13, 5:35 pm, 31 SS <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello, I am considering converting my 71 33 SS from the standard 318s > to Detroit 353s. I am told that the 353s will bolt up to my paragon > transmissions. I wanted to know if anybody has converted one of these > boats to small diesels and what other modifications need to be done. I > think I would be fine with the 1 1/4 shafts as the engines are only > like 108HP ea. > > I have not bought the engines yet and I don't actually know what the > guy wants for them but I bought a complete 318 standard rotation > engine with transmission and V-drive with only 300 hours for $250.00 > from him about 4 months ago so I assume I can get the diesels for a > good price. They came out of an old cruzon running but most likely > need to be overhauled. The parts are reasonable for these engines so I > thought it may be a good way to go. > > Any thoughts? > > Thanks Ken --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "UnifliteWorld" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/UnifliteWorld?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
