Thread: ummmm cunfused...

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I pulled some numbers off my block and while I was doing this i noticed that the word "marine" was cast into the block....wtf???

It's from a boat.


Yeah, I know......3000 comedians out of work and here I am trying to be funny.

What kind of engine is it? The 350 Vortec in my T was originally from a boat. We repowered a guys boat at work and I kept his old engine because it was in good condition. I simply rebuilt it. There are no major differences in car vs marine engines except for gaskets which might be corrosion resistant, and brass freeze plugs. There are differences in the external parts like water pump, carb, alternator, etc.

Don

its a 427, when i got it it already had a holley 570 carb on it (yeah tiny i know) and so im not sure, it all looks the same as an automobile motor, the only thing weird is the alternator is rigged on there with a home-made bracket...

Someone has obviously swapped out the engine sometime in the life of your car and used an engine that was originally designated to go in a boat. GM and all the other guys take a certain number of engines coming down the assembly line and make a couple of small changes like copper head gaskets and freeze plugs and then sell them to people like Mercruiser, OMC, Volvo, etc for use in boats.

When I was in the business, Volvo and the others would tell you "oh, there are lots of heavy duty parts in the engine to make them hold up under high rpms" we found out that was crap just to keep you buying THEIR replacement parts. Everything inside the engine has GM's or Fords part number stamped all over them and are simply automotive parts.

The homemade bracket you mention is a giveaway too. Someone has had to jury rig something to make it work on your truck. No big deal in any event, my T engine still has the Volvo Penta tag on the side of the block because of it's marine origins, and it works fine in a car.

Don

BTW, does your Holley carb have J tubes when you look down the throat? These are J shaped round tubes that come up and curve down so that if a float sticks the excess fuel is dumped down the carb as opposed to all over the engine. Marine carbs have those to prevent an explosion.

I believe i know what you are talking about on the j-tubes, but its a street avenger carb which is aftermarket so im sure there aren't any j-tubes though i havn't looked. My dad is thoroughly convinced that the engine came out of a dump truck and is a piece of crap that gets 4mpg and was beat up. did GM EVER put marine stamped engines in trucks??

I guess anything is possible. Maybe the factory needed an engine that day and were low on car engines, so a marine engine was pulled to do the job. If it is either a truck or marine engine the cam grind will be more toward the torquey side as opposed to high rpms. That would be one major difference I forgot about.

Don

427 tall deck can say truck /marine on them under the timing cover and down by the oil filter