Hi John, I think I have seen a write up on your boat on "Hughes engines"?
I have scanned the Internet for info on these boats and its been fun to see what people have done. Good tip on the manifolds, that was one part I did not plan to replace, but may pull it to take a look now. We are still waiting to get the boat to Fairbanks. Did your boat come with a Velvet Drive? Is it a straight drive? This is a budget project for now, if in the future we decide we really like and use this boat enough to justify more projects.........then we can start looking at some options. I am not so concerned with power, as these two motors are rated at 250 each and the original 318's that are in the boat were most likely 225 hp. I am more concerned with operating costs, I am hoping the additional power allows me to operate the boat in a more efficient power band. If money was no object I would repower with twin diesels......maybe some yanmars.....? I do not know what boat the two 360's came out of? They do not have wedges under the carbs, however when we ran them last week we had them sitting on their motor mounts and the motor sat at a 12 degree angle. I presume the motor mounts would bear directly on the stringers and am assuming this 12 degree attitude would be fairly indicative of how the motors would set in the boat..........sure hope they fit, they ran good and sounded good also. We rebuilt the carbs and found the float level (both drop and against the seat) is a fairly small range, at least compared to a automotive setting, this may help to deal with the angle at which the motor sets. Lots to learn......Thanks, John On Mon, Apr 9, 2012 at 10:06 AM, john hamilton <[email protected]> wrote: > John, > > I have a 27 Express Cruiser with a single small block in it. If you have > the Velvet Drive the shaft angle is such that in my case the Chrysler > intake manifold has a wedge built into it to keep the cargs level. When > I pulled it, I found that manifold has 318 ports in it. That will choke > off the power a lot more than the smaller valve sizes. You can go with an > aftermarket intake and a separate wedge (I got mine online) and it will > give a lot better power at planing speeds. > > John > *From:* "Bohn, Steve" <[email protected]> > *To:* "'[email protected]'" <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Monday, April 9, 2012 5:11 AM > > *Subject:* RE: [UnifliteWorld] 27" Express Cruiser motor trannie swap > > While engines are out change gas tanks ???? > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *e b > *Sent:* Friday, April 06, 2012 5:16 PM > *To:* UnifliteWorld > *Subject:* RE: [UnifliteWorld] 27" Express Cruiser motor trannie swap > > john, > > i had an express cruiser for many years, if they are straight drives the > swap should be pretty simple, i believe some 27's came with Vdrives, if > that is the case its no big deal but you will have to retain the original > transmissions. i would not worry about prop shafts, the stock is plenty > strong for gas engines, i ran mine with a cummins diesel and 20" prop and > never had a problem. > your existing mounts should be fine as well. > > eric > > Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2012 22:20:23 -0700 > > Subject: [UnifliteWorld] 27" Express Cruiser motor trannie swap > > From: [email protected] > > To: [email protected] > > > > In December I made a "commitment" to buy a 27" Express Cruiser, I say > > commitment because I have not seen the boat as it is buried under many > > feet of snow. It is being shoveled off but I cannot retrieve it until > > maybe May or more likely June. > > > > The price was right so unless the seller really misrepresented it, it > > should be OK. The boat has 318's with Paragon Gears. It has not run in > > a while and have been told that the motors do not trun over and need > > to be replaced. > > > > 2 weeks ago a pair of 360's with Velvet drives, manifolds, heat > > exchangers, etc showed up on CL. I bought the pair site unseen and > > spent last Saturday getting them started. I only ran them briefly as > > they were dry. I will need to move on the next step and get them ready > > to go in the boat. I will most likley remove everything except the > > intake, inspect reseal, repair rebuild as needed. > > So far the motors look pretty good, sound good, and had clean oil in > > both the motors and the trannies. > > > > I plan to set the motors up so I can run them for 1/2 hour or so and > > check temp, pump pressure on the Velvet drives and make sure they > > warrant further effort. > > > > I am really wondering how diffrent they will be from the Paragon > > setup, its driving me crazy not having the boat to figure some of this > > out...........I am new to the world of bigger boats and particuarly so > > with inboards with gears....... > > > > So, are the motor mounts the same for both? will I need to modify the > > propshaft? What am I getting into? > > > > I do not know anything about the boat, the 360's were removed to make > > hull repairs. They have the "log" style manifolds and have a closed > > cooling with sherwood raw water pumps and sendure heat exchangers. > > > > Thanks, John > > > > -- > > 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. > > > -- > 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. > -- > 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. > > > -- > 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. > -- ___________________________________________________ "Hang in There" "Dont be the guy in the station wagon......." -- 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.
