Boat engine question

[willowbilly3]

A recent farm auction had an old (70s?) boat with an I/O. It was a Mercruiser 80. I was kind of hoping to find an old chevy2 engine but it was something I didn't recognize, had never seen one before so I was wondering if anyone knew what it was. It was an inline 4. Just curios.

[Itoldyouso]

If memory serves me correctly, these were the predecessors of the current outdrives, and an early attempt to mate an outboard with an I/O. I believe it used a regular 80 HP outboard motor that they modified to have the lower unit protrude through either the bottom or back of the boat. It's probably been 30 years since I have seen or heard of one, so I'm a little foggy on the exact details.

I can tell you that parts are non existent, and that they were a losing proposition when they were first made, which is why they disappeared so quickly. But it sure would make a nice conversation piece.

Don

[Big Tracks]

I had a similar question some time back and Don and some others came to my rescue.

Does this look like the engine you are interested in?

http://www.clubhotrod.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34807


Jim

[Matt167]

I'm pretty sure the 151's and 181's were the 100 and 140 hp models.. my dad had the 181/ 140 HP in his '73 Starcraft, used to push that rickidy aluminum boat to a top speed of 53-54 MPH, and it did it quite well... we have a fiberglass hull 23' Imperial. with the 488/ 3.7L and it does lower 40's planed out, but it's a smoother riding boat and takes the waves better

[willowbilly3]

No, it wasn't the chevy engine. It had more of a rounded off valve cover and wider, almost like some kind of foreign ohc but it didn't appear to have a front cover that would have a ohc drive under it. Maybe it was some kind of weird configuration like itoldyouso says but it was a pretty conventional looking out drive.

edit/update. After a futile search to satisfy my curiosity through google and yahoo, I tried jeeves and came up with one tiny blurb on a boat forum that it is a Renault engine. Le boat?

[pat mccarthy]

a photo would help a lot a out boad engine would not have a valve cover how about a merc engine was 1/2 a ford 460 i think it was called a 470and 224cid ? or some were around there cid engine use a 460 ford head and pistons rods and oil pump great engine bay liner did use a volvo penta

[Itoldyouso]

Ok, now that I am back in the marine business, I was able to do some digging for you. This is a Renault engine that Mercruiser used from about 65 to 68. It was mated to what they call an "O" drive. Evidently there are still some internet places to find the obsolete parts, but you won't find them at any of the normal Mercruiser dealer parts counters. They made a 60-80-90 hp version.

Hope this helps out, and here is a picture of your engine:


Don

[pat mccarthy]

boy that looks like fun never did one of them

[Itoldyouso]

Back in the '60's when all the boat builders and engine suppliers were starting to jump on the boating boom bandwagon, there were some VERY strange combinations concocted. This setup was one of them. I guess Mercruiser made some deal with Renault to use their engines in front of Mercruiser drive units.

I went to a boat auction one time at a going out of business dealership that had been in business since 1957. You should have seen some of the stuff that was in his inventory! There were boats with tailfins (one looked like the BatBoat) and some had engines that I had never seen or heard of. I bought about 50 bumper hitches that were for cars like 1956 Fords, 1950 Oldsmobiles, etc. I think I "won" them for something like $ 5 for the lot. I tried selling them, but it seems not many guys with old cars want hitches on their rides, so I ended up scrapping them all, except for a few I cut up for parts to make my own hitches.

Don

[pat mccarthy]

i work on a lot of stuff at brennans but not one of them .i did work on a gray marine V 8 ways like the look of them i think they were olds engines?? one of the yard guys wanted to sell me a ford flat head it was all there run like a top but at the time i wanted bbc and hemi s

[Itoldyouso]

Pat, there are still some boats out there with Chrysler Hemis in them and 427 Fords too. A lot of cruisers from the 60's and 70's ran these motors, but salt water and time have taken their toll on most of them.

Don