302 Boat Motor

[fatboy]

Any Boat guys out there? I have a 88 Four Winns that has a 302 in it. Was thinking of pulling the motor if I can't sell the boat outright. Someone told me it is not a great motor for a car because of high rev but I figured that could be addressed with a cam change. Who can tell me about this motor?

 

[t.lay]

they're basically the same as a car motor with brass or stainless freeze plugs - although some are reverse rotation (think twin engine applications). Marine cams are mostly low-end with most power below 4500 rpm - high revs = cavitation. Other differences are in carbs and manifolds. Early cobra and lightning blocks were marine blocks.

 

[supermottl]

Yup, same same. I have a 302 in my 1994 seaswirl Striper. doesn't rev much over 4000, but it's got some balls. would be good for a truck motor I'd say.

 

[fatboy]

Single motor/outdrive so likely correct rotation? Change freeze plugs, different cam, intake and Carb and I am good to go? That would definately be a benifit if I can't peddle the boat.

 

[Scrapper_MV]

Was the 302 raw water cooled and was it run in salt water? If not then I think it would make a great Bronco engine.

 

[bryan66]

I have a 302 out of a boat in my 66 bronco. I think it is a great motor. I did not change anything on it, got it bolted it right in. Mine is really a 302 block with 351 heads,cam,intake,dist., and fire order.
bryan

 

[Broncobowsher]

Back in the early 80's ford needed a little help in the performance department. My old HR once worked at ford and was telling me the story about the original 5.0 HO engine (pre roller cam '82-'84). The fresh engineers didn't know what to do, all they had been working on for the past decade was emissions and nothing for performance. One ot the techs told them they already had the right part on the shelf. The marine cam. They stuck it in the 5.0 (with the marine firing order like the 351) and it ran great. The cheapest performance program ever run by Ford. And it spawned the start of the return of the muscle cars. The mustang/camero wars that lasted for another decade. All that from using a marine cam to wake up the old 302.

So the cam is good. But remember that the boat motor is basicly an industrial engine. It will run at full throttle for hundreds of hours flawlessly. Car engines don't like that. They usually don't like any full throttle other then short bursts, not sustained. Usually that means a lower compression ratio and conseritive ignition timing. Nothing wrong with that, not always dragstrip material, but it will run forever.

 

[fordtrucks4ever]

Probably have to change out to Duraspark ignition. That should still have a mechanical advance points distributor. Nothing else needs to be attended to.

 

[Wyldebill]

There many differences between auto and marine engines, it's just hard to see any of them as they are almost all internal. Swapping one for the other is easy to do and good for the Bronco bad for the boat. Most of the differences are for the purpose of resisting damage from operating in a high humidity environment, such as bronze guides, stainless steel valves and as mentioned, brass freeze plugs. The other things are designed to give the engine the ability to survive the abuse of hard acceleration and prolonged RPM's under load. This is much like a motor built for a race car. Things like forged steel cranks, drop forged pistons, titanium rockers and push rods. Like already mentioned the cams are built for lower tourque band and the intake runners and ports are usually smaller and flowed better to increase volocity and boost tourque, also in lower RPM's. This is why it costs two to three times the money to do a rebuild on a marine engine. In short, yea it would make a great Bronco engine

 

[fatboy]

Was the 302 raw water cooled and was it run in salt water? If not then I think it would make a great Bronco engine.

I was thinking about this last night. I have a hunch that this boeat has seen salt water at some point in time. The PO said no biggie as he always dropped it into a local pond and run it to flush it out. Not sure how you check the block out for that though other than pull freeze plugs and look at the water jacket. Anyone ave any ideas there? I have to imagine Salt water can be severly corrosive. I know the boat has hull paint on it which is purposefully for salt water applications

 

[fordguy]

well i have a 351 marine block but that is all i have from the engine. From what I have read I would love to have the whole engine. Oh well. I still have not decided what to do with the block. Sounds like a "marine cam" would work good in it. Does anybody have the specs on that cam. Which reminds me I owe somebody cam specs on my 302 truck cam, "somebody" please remind me and I will get that to you.

 

[MustangHowie]

I have a 429 SCJ engine in my garage that came out of a river boat. I haven't decided what to do with it yet. Picked it up for $300. I figured that the heads were worth more than that.

 

[broncosam]

I want second what some of the others said about the differences between marine and automotive engines . One thing I was always told is that marine engines are balanced more precisely and possibly blueprinted as well , so that they can run like they do at a sustained rpm for long periods of time.

 

[Scrapper_MV]

There are a few problems with raw water cooled engines, especially in salt water. I have owned three boats with small block Ford engines. My current boat is a 26' Shamrock with a 351W that has fresh water cooling system, I'll never go back to raw water cooling!

First there is the obvious corrosion that occurs in salt water, it can be minimized with frequent flushing. And flushing with products like Salt-Away really helps. If the boat has bottom paint I would assume that it has spent time in the ocean and did not make it onto the trailer for proper flush every time.

The second problem with raw H2O cooled engines is that most of them had very low temp thermostats in them, usually 120 degrees was used. This was done to minimize the crystallization of the salt in the water. The salt starts to crystallize around 140 and then gets trapped in the engine, which leads to even worse corrosion. But there is a trade off for that 120 degree thermostat. The engine never gets up to proper operating temp. Which leads to the cylinder bores wearing out very quickly. My first boat had a raw water cooled 302 that was very well maintained and flushed every time. The engine only had 600 hours on it but smoked a little. I bought the boat and ran it for a year. I was shocked at how much oil it burned. On a typical day of fishing the boat would run for 6-8 hours and would burn 3-4 quarts of oil! When I finally tore that engine down, I found a useless block, the cooling jackets were clogged with rust and the cylinders were wore out. The pistons were so loose that you could wiggle them back and forth in the bores. I have no idea how that little 302 was still running.

If you want more info on boat motors PM me, I could go on for hours.

Or visit my other favorite website,

http://www.fishtheclassic.net/home.php

I was thinking about this last night. I have a hunch that this boeat has seen salt water at some point in time. The PO said no biggie as he always dropped it into a local pond and run it to flush it out. Not sure how you check the block out for that though other than pull freeze plugs and look at the water jacket. Anyone ave any ideas there? I have to imagine Salt water can be severly corrosive. I know the boat has hull paint on it which is purposefully for salt water applications

 

[Darrellr]

302 Volvo penta engine in my 73

I have a 302 from what on the tag says volvo penta.. it is a beast.. big cam .. no oil burning and it rocks.. built from the previous owner.. sounds like a dragster at idle... tough... I love it... it appears to have the big spark plugs.. any way to tell if this is really a 351 because of the heads? Al the 302 I find have the small spark plugs.. it also has roller rockers and a double pumper 750..

 

[Broncobowsher]

I have a 302 from what on the tag says volvo penta.. it is a beast.. big cam .. no oil burning and it rocks.. built from the previous owner.. sounds like a dragster at idle... tough... I love it... it appears to have the big spark plugs.. any way to tell if this is really a 351 because of the heads? Al the 302 I find have the small spark plugs.. it also has roller rockers and a double pumper 750..

Ford changed spark plugs from the 18mm (old) to the 14mm (new) in '74. this is for both the 351 and the 302.

If you are trying to tell a 351 from a 302, measure the width of the intake. something like 8" is a 302 and 11" is a 351.

 

[blubuckaroo]

Seen a lot of them that would make a good boat anchor!