Using a Auto 351 in an 86 Nautique

I know there are a lot of threads on "rotation"...so many that its confusing.
I believe my engine is a "reverse" engine (and called many other things in the threads I've read).

Is it possible to use a rebuilt (Built 'up' for a auto hot rod) Automobile 351w in my Ski Nautique that had a PCM 351w, if I just purchase a prop thats opposite of what I have now?

From what I understand, in order to rebuild an auto 351 to use in place of my PCM 351, I would have to buy a marine Crank, Cam, Distributor, and oil pump etc.. so it runs in reverse.

Will an auto standard rotation" even work with the original transmission? I would guess that original set up would have the reverse geared lower, and therefore a standard rotation engine would be go a lot slower.

Whats the bottom line about using an auto 351 in place of a marine 351 that is supposedly reverse?

Shoot me any ideas where I can get more information. I do plan on stopping in at a Marine shop to talk to a mechanic face to face when he has time later this month. I'd like to be able to ask him intelligent questions. (I'll report back later with his answers)

The whole thing confuses me.

Thanks in advance!

PS: I'll post a picture of the tag as soon as it stops raining and I can take a picture.

Any marine mechanic you talk to has a less than 50% chance of knowing what he is talking about on this subject. Safety wise you need a marine distributor, carb, fuel lines, alternator, and starter. Use of automotive parts in that regard will cause you to go boom. Your current distributor (or at least the gear), starter, and propeller would all need to be replaced to run a standard rotation engine.   If you buy new marine versions of those parts then you could use a standard rotation engine by flipping over your raw water pump and indexing the pump in your transmission (forward will still be forward and reverse will still be reverse so no worries about speed, you just have to change from a rh prop to a lh prop). Assuming the engine was built properly with appropriate internal clearances for continuous marine operation, and had the freeze plugs switched out for brass ones then all you would need to worry about is the fact that your boat will lean a bit more towards the drivers side than it does now and that you have negatively affected your resale value. There are a ton of threads here on these topics, more real info available than you will likely get from any mechanic, it is however hard to search try using google searches that include the name correctcraftfan, there are ways to do site specific searches on google as well but that is out of my pay grade, good luck.

Paul,
I agree with Gary on rebuilding but, you said " in my Ski Nautique that had a PCM 351w". The "had" makes me think you no longer have the engine?? If you still have it, what happened to it?

Welcome to CCfan. It's great you found us. Tell us more about the boat.

JoeinNY wrote: ....... There are a ton of threads here on these topics, more real info available than you will likely get from any mechanic, it is however hard to search try using google searches that include the name correctcraftfan, there are ways to do site specific searches on google as well but that is out of my pay grade, good luck.

Google search syntax for this site (or any site specific search).

site:www.correctcraftfan.com "whatever you want to search in quotes"

That will work a jillion times better than the search built into the site.

www.     is also not necessary

I do have the old engine. The boat was in my boat house along side the lake I live on. The flood of 2010 put the water OVER the top of my boat house. (10 feet above flood stage). So the boat was under water for a week. Then several more weeks until the water went down low enough for me to drain it and pull it out. I took it to a local marine shop (Huge mistake) and they said it was too rusted and too much damage to it to repair it. I assumed they were working on it right away but I'm guessing they let it sit for at least a week before they didn't even make an attempt to look at it.   I made the mistake of not immediately and flushing and filling it with some sort of kerosene oil, mixture to prevent the rusting.

Kinda maybe?   If you want to take an automotive engine and convert it to a reverse rotation engine so that you don't need a different prop, dist, etc then you will likely need either a new crankshaft or seal depending on whether the donor block has a one or two piece rear main seal, and a cam, and possibly switch your pistons around , etc but that is not what I thought you were asking to begin with.

Sorry JoeinNY...My original questions WAS if I could use a standard rotation. And I appreciate your information. Its just what I needed! I was reading other threads and confused your's with another thread. (Like I said there are a lot of threads on this)