blowed it up yesterday

dropped #5 intake.
Crap.

5.7 GM. left handed so no biggie.
Not sure whet happened yet. water in 5 and 7. Electrode is burned right off #5. All others look perfect.
Im thinking the head cracked and dropped the seat. Still pondering tearing the heads off or just ordering a long block. Not really sure yet. Too bad Im not ready to build that stroker.

Thats an idea. I have to run the cast iron intake and I can get the factory pump easy enough. That gets me 298 vs 280 horses as well. I would have to tear it down and change the head gaskets and casting plugs though. Think there is difference in cams?

I have helped swap a couple used 5.7 vortecs into open bow malibus on the lake in place of blown up factory 260hp mercs. Pulled the plugs and replaced with brass (although I am not sure but I think we ended up pulling brass plugs out of at least one of them. We didn't mess with the cam and both boats picked up 3-4 mph on the top end and are hotter on the pull than before the swap. I am sure there is likely a better cam option out there but I don't think I would bother. The first one has a solid 400 hours on it now and acts like a new motor. Definitely would have rather run a mechanical fuel pump over the not super reliable aftermarket electric options but it was a reasonable trade off – spending a little time to mount/wire and plumb up a carter electric with an easily replaceable relay and oil pressure switch that would last a few years and swap out relatively cheaply would probably be worth the effort.   Everything seems to be getting a bit harder to find these days, but one of the two was a 90k engine for 500 on craigslist, the other guy went the salvage yard route and it was more money but they did knock off a few hundred bucks because he was going to tear it down far enough that the salvage yard didn't have to offer a warranty.

I've done the same as Joe

New intake manifold for the Vortec head bolt pattern, same exhaust, electric pump and brass "plugs" whatever you want to call them.

Your carburetor and distributor and the rest of the bolt on parts and you have a good running engine with plenty of power.

Edit...........it may not be too easy to find a cast iron intake to fit since you run in that salty ocean water

Yeah Pete, Vortec is definitely GM.

what is the ford pu gas engine called, Damn things all sound alike . Etech vortech, v tech, bluetech whatevertech

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pretty ugly.   
wonder how long it had been leaking?   what is the composition of the build up above the valve? is that rust ? if so its been leaking for a while id say.

also is that the exhaust or intake, I cant tell from photo, if exhaust then do you have exhaust manifold crack or riser issue?

If this is vacuum leak induced it makes me want to do test on mine with wd40 to rule out leaks.   

How about the steam engine in Pete's Paddlewheel Nautique ? Was great for shallow water but the rope kept getting tangled....

TRBenj wrote: shierh wrote: also is that the exhaust or intake, I cant tell from photo exhaust valve is usually smaller than intake valve, no?

Likely,   it looks like water had been pooling from above, note the build up of rust where the top of the valve would have been? Think she sat for a period of time with water sitting in the port. I would   Say there is a riser and or manifold issue there.   

I have 281 000 miles on my 2004 Tahoe with the Vortec (326-328, not 327) motor. Those Vortec's are great. I know Joe gets over 300K before any of his stuff is broken in.

Donald80SN wrote: I have 281 000 miles on my 2004 Tahoe

That is a lot of trips to the Sugar Shack!

Maybe you can hook up the AFM on it too so that when you don't need all 8 you can save some gas

The 383 will really wake up your boat. " Can you say, Multiple deep water barefoot starts no problem"
It is hard to believe till you drive a 383 how much difference there is between a 350 and a 383.   Horsepower is not that big a difference but the torque a 383 makes as low as 2,000 RPM's make them feel much larger. than 383 cubic inches.
I hope yours has the longer 350 5.7 inch connecting rods, it makes the engine much more reliable.