Rebuilding 351W

Ahhhh The $250 crank is refurbished. That may be a BIG part of the price difference. If anyone has any words of wisdom on the subject, I would still love to hear them.

do you have a local crank grinder in your area? the parts store has to get them from somewhere and its usually locally, normally in the 150.00 range w/ bearings,and undersize, if you go straight to the source. no difference in marine except the price, i cant imagine that the rods survived, a good engine shop will have machine to repair rods, they grind the flats where they connect together and hone the bore to size.....

JHH wrote: Newbie here boat and message board. Just bought a 1980. I knew it needed an engine. After checking prices of marine parts to rebuild. I was shocked. Searched the web and found a great price on a rebuilt. I was very impressed good quality, timing chain is double roller chain. Saved me a lot of time Paid $1780 with shipping and core. I do not know if I can post the business name. If not just remove my post. sandjengines.com Thanks to everyone I am learning so much great information on this site.

hope you bought a reverse rotation engine for your application.

i'm a little confused though since he states it's including the 200 core that would be $1930.00 based upon the site's pricing and 1763.00 for the standard rotation which is the wrong motor for the year boat unless someone has changed the tranny or dump in the transmission.

JoeinNY wrote: Back to the original poster, here is no difference between the automotive and marine cranks in your application. I would say if you have now spun a bearing twice on your previous crank its probably messed up beyond being saved by a grind and set of oversized bearings but if you try make sure you get the crank magnafluxed before you invest any money in it.

And check the thrust bearing journal too.

and to clarify a little more there isn't any differnce on the cranks as long as they are both standard rotation, but in a reverse rotation application they can be different if the crank has machined wick lines for the rear seal.

Newbie I am getting great information on this site just too late. I am waiting for an e-mail from the PO. Boat has a new starter. Probably bought at an auto parts store. What I saw was standard rotation. I am glad I found out now before I progressed further. Again Thanks

And I thought I was pretty good at breaking an engine

I've been pricing long blocks over the internet for the last couple of days and thought I would share since it is a lot of calling around and leg work... I called 7 places...

sandjengines.com - $1,846 motor + $400 core + $175 shipping = $2,421
The core would cost me $175 to return and since it is damaged, there may be a penalty.

skidim.com - I work with skidim on everything, but all they sell is crate motors.

jasperengines.com - $2,946 motor + $365 core + $176 tax = $3,487.76 - By far the most expensive.

psengines.com - $2,019 total – no core – no shipping – do not need to return old core

Searchpartsengines.com - $1,838 total – no core – no shipping – $1,920.71 credit card price – Cash is $1,838.

usaboatmotor.com - $2,195 total – no core – no shipping – no taxes

Firstmatemarine.net recommended me to Atlandtic Engine Exchange. They want $1,995 for motor, no core, no taxes

Some places include the timing cover with the motor, some don't. All include the gaskets. The warantees are all different but for the most part are between 1 and 2 years.

I am going to pull the heads off the motor today and see if they were damaged when the rods let go. I figure there is a good chance one of the pistons got up high enough to do some serious damage to the heads. The problem is that I have GT40 heads right now which were rebuilt last year. I realized AFTER making these phone calls that the heads included with the long block prices quoted are not GT40s. They are the more generic head and will cut down my HP from 310 to about 245. I have called back 2 of the above places to ask them how much with GT40s and they both said they would have to call me back... waiting on those calls.
Does anyone know what I would feel different between 245 HP and 310 HP? Would the boat still plane out with 245? Could I still get up to 40 MPH? The only thing I pull around is a tube, not too worried about getting skiiers out of the hole. I imagine the boat will only go as fast as the tranny lets it go anyway right?

I agree completely with Gottaski here... you should be able to get a complete low milage (say 75k or less) pull out non roller 351w for around 500 or so relatively local. Look through www.car-part.com. If it is a roller engine you will be on the hook for new pushrods and a gear change on your distributor, so beware of that. You might have a bent valve or two on those heads but just get a local machine shop to check and replace them if necessary.

Everything else will bolt up and it will work, the pistons, etc are exactly the same.. there might be a cam difference but I wouldnt sweat it unless you want to get something special. Yes the piston to wall clearances and ring end gaps on the marine engine are typically larger, but if you are getting a truck engine and it has 50 to 75k miles on it already I wouldn't give it a second thought. You can replace the casting/expansion/freeze or whatever you want to call them plugs with brass if it would make you feel better. I did this last year when I broke my crank in half to build a backup engine, I was back in the water within a couple days.

Be a little careful with electronic parts, injectors, etc, you pull off and keep them as spares for your engine some of them should be the same.. .

I am changing out a loose timing chain on my 78 351W RH Commander, they big sprocket has red Nylon ? teeth.... The ones I got at Napa are steel teeth - whats the deal, should I replace just the chain?

egad, why?

abolton wrote: I am changing out a loose timing chain on my 78 351W RH Commander, they big sprocket has red Nylon ? teeth.... The ones I got at Napa are steel teeth - whats the deal, should I replace just the chain?

I'd say replace them as a set....a new chain with an old sprocket is not usually a good idea.

or go to your local engine builder, every town has one, and see if he has a rebuildable core laying around...use your heads, probably maybe just bent a valve??? easily a thousand dollar project, I just bought a set of sbf rollers from summit, 103.95 for the set, they are summit brand but made by Comp or to the likes, get a good cam, bottem end, slap on your heads....good to go. I see your mechanically inclined. you never know what you get when you mainstream, Tiawan pistons, no name bearings, and Seth assembling in the back forty...
I just assembled a BBC, swap over, the guy supplied the long block, greeeeeaaat deal, 995.00, (no warranty on my part)
I told him do you seriously think this engine will make it to the end of the summer? how can someone build a reliable engine for 995.00? easily, put 9.00 pistons in it, 12.00 rings and 6.00 bearings

Hey Eric.. I talked to 2 local guys.. no 351s.. I called 5 junk yards.. no 351s... They are getting hard to come by!! It makes me feel better about the place when there is no core charge because they say they won't reuse a boat block.. And they do give a decent 1 year warantee.

Wayner, I would value a boat with a dead 351 about $5,000 below what the boat would be if it was running. If they disagree, tell them to fix it first, then give them the cost on top of what they are asking.. It's a big hassle!

Try PAWthey have nice deals also on long block...