Hi. I'm looking for a replacement engine for my 1988 twin engine 1988 Sea Ray. It has Merc 454 Inboards, Gen 4. I have found a couple nice Crusaders of the same era - 1988 also. I'm wondering how easily they drop in as replacements for the Mercs.
OK, I had a chance to check out the Crusader 454's and hear them run. All looks great. These are freshwater cooled Crusaders from a freshwater lake boat. My current Mercruisers were raw water cooled. Anyways, the Crusaders look in great shape, start great and have proper compression, so as best I can tell they check out. I have one more question though, regarding the exhaust manifolds, risers and hoses.
1. Can I use the Crusader as is and have some sort of adapter to the exhaust hoses? My current manifolds/risers do not appear to be in nearly the condition the Crusader ones are in so I'd much prefer to use the Crusader as-is. However, it doesn't look like they'd line up with my current exhaust hoses. If this boat had originally had Crusaders would the hoses have been lower to match up and no other changes? What are my options on this?
Thanks for any help on this. I plan to make the engine purchase by the end of the weekend and want to know what I'm doing.
Well, I'm still trying to iron down exactly how to use the Crusader 454 if the outlet from the exhaust elbow (has end for exhaust hose) doesn't line up with the hose. Can we just use an "S" shaped piece of some sort to match them up? The elbow on the Crusader is cooled so clearly I can' not have it in there. Does anyone know if it has to be a curved piece (downward "S" shape, which puts it too low) or if there's a straight piece I can have off the riser to the exhaust hose? Unlike my current mercruiser, it looks like the riser on the Crusader does not have a fitting to the exhaust hose - maybe I need to use a riser that goes direct to the hose like the Merc does. I did look at various risers/elbows for sale but haven't really seen for sure what I need.
Thanks for the help, btw, I'm getting there!
Thanks again Bondo and others. I've looked around a bit and have concluded I just have to wait until I can measure the two engines and my exhaust hose layout and see what's needed to make the Crusaders fit. I assume it will be a center riser manifold to a riser direct to the hose, which is what my Mercruisers have. I am hesitant to re-use the Merc manifolds/risers because the boat spent some time in brackish water and is raw water cooled (although I know these aren't original manifolds I don't know when they were last changed). I bought it from a freshwater lake but it clearly has seen salt at some point not too long ago, IMO.
My best guess is I'll be buying the center rise manifolds/risers (maybe OEM, maybe not) and maybe selling the ones that come with the engine on eBay or whatever. We'll see when I get the engines and have a look see.