Engine Swaps

ok dumb ? but how do i know what i/o i can put in what boat? If i buy a boat with a mercuriser can i put a volvo motor in it? is there somewhere to look this kinda stuff up? I know with a car swap its easy if you want to make new motor mounts and custimuze your transmission hook ups. . .any help?

Re: Engine Swaps

imperial200 said:

ok dumb ? but how do i know what i/o i can put in what boat? If i buy a boat with a mercuriser can i put a volvo motor in it? is there somewhere to look this kinda stuff up? I know with a car swap its easy if you want to make new motor mounts and custimuze your transmission hook ups. . .any help?

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Putting a Volvo in where a Mercruiser was is simple, you need to replace everything that has black paint on it, to stuff with grey/silver paint. Pretty $imple actually.

Re: Engine Swaps

You can put any engine in any boat just like a car.If you want to work hard enough any spend the cash.Now you can put any 305 into a merc powered 305 boat.Engines are the same.Stay with the merc parts to make all the stuff in your boat work right.

Re: Engine Swaps

Ayuh,... You need to think in terms of Drivelines, vs. Motors....
About any Driveline can be put into about any hull....
But,...
You need to stick with Volvo motors for Volvo drives,+ Merc motors for Merc drives...

Re: Engine Swaps

so if i use the volvo engine and outdrive to replace the merc engine and outdrive is it as easy as just pull and replace? obvioulsy its not that easy but i mean is everything going to match up the same or am i going to have complications with the controlls and such? never pulled an engine on a boat but have swapped a million drivelines in cars thanks guys for any help

Re: Engine Swaps

imperial200 said:

so if i use the volvo engine and outdrive to replace the merc engine and outdrive is it as easy as just pull and replace? obvioulsy its not that easy but i mean is everything going to match up the same or am i going to have complications with the controlls and such? never pulled an engine on a boat but have swapped a million drivelines in cars thanks guys for any help

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You'll need to change everything on both sides of the transom. You might even need to modify the cutout in the transom, some. But maybe not.
I think you can leave the shifter handle and the steering wheel/cable alone, but their ends and attaching points will most likely be different.

Plain and simple, if you want a boat with a Mercruiser drive, buy a boat with one already installed. If you want a Volvo Penta drive, buy a boat with one already installed. To swap one out, you will practically be reengineering the whole boat.

Imagine taking a new Viper and installing a Corvette ZR-1 motor. Sure, you might get it to fit and hooked up, but is it really gonna work? Not without an engineer working full time!
In their defense, Mercruiser and VP engine packages are sort of "plug and play". If you can get the proper wiring to the big plug on the motor, then it will work. That's why it's so much easier to swap complete engines within the brand. Like, if you have a 5.0 Mercruiser that is blown up, you can buy a 383MAG MPI right from Mercruier, and it'll drop right in and start right up.


Also be aware that there are really 3 different Mercruiser drives. Alpha One (and Pre-alphas) made before 1992, Alpha One Gen 2s made 1992 to present. And Bravo series. Nothing will interchange between any of them.
As far as Volvo, I think they have about 5 different DuoProp drives, and the SX. Luckily, the SX and a DP are interchangeable.

Re: Engine Swaps

thanks for the info. . .guess i will have to pass on the boat with the blown motor this time

Re: Engine Swaps

imperial200 said:

thanks for the info. . .guess i will have to pass on the boat with the blown motor this time

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If all it has is a blown motor, all you would need to change is the motor. If it's a boat made in the last 20 years, the motor is going to be a GM. Both Volvo and Mercruiser have used GM engines exclusively for about 20 years. (Mercruiser has used GM for even longer then that.)

Why don't you post what specific boat/engine/drive you are talking about. You will get some very specific answers then.