I've recently purchased a bayliner Capri 1850 Ls I'm guessing it's a 2000 model give or take, it's been parted out. No engine there. I bought it with the view of doing a diesel conversion something I've always wanted to do. I've gotten hold of a fella who has a bmw straight six engine that has been fully marinised and has the coupler so it could fit on to a alpha 1 drive, question is am I being foolish ? Should I bother or should I just get hold of a v6 4.3 mercruiser engine ? Originally it had the 3litre mercruiser engine In it but I think it will be slightly underpowered with putting that back in advice and thoughts welcome
Howdy,
Welcome aboard!
What exactly does "Fully Marinized" mean? You have any pictures?
You don't have to worry about an ignition protected starter or alternator (& there IS no IGN).
Is it turbocharged? If it is(or not) , is there still a jacketed exhaust manifold and exhaust tube to go either through hull or to the exhaust down pipe (& out the prop) ?
Is there a transom plate and flywheel housing that will fit a Mercruiser Alpha?
if you're going to use an Alpha, how will you accomplish torque interruption? (with a spark ignited engine you briefly interrupt the ignition to get a dog-clutch drive OUT of gear)
It's a little harder with a diesel because you have to interrupt fuel at the fuel injection pump, with a (solenoid operated) fuel shutoff valve controlled by a switch in the shifting system...... Which may NOT move quickly enough to prevent killing the engine.
While it might work, unless Mercruiser did this with a BMW engine, finding those parts might be problematic and you'll have to "One-Off" make your own.
If you have your own machine shop, you might be able to make your own stuff. It'll be a LOT of work. Which might be ok, If you want to build a project MORE than you want to go boating.
And if you ever want to sell the boat, It'll never be worth what you have in it. OTOH, I think Mercury has off the shelf diesels for boats that size using the VW TDI family of engines. (which means you may be able to buy flywheel housings, transom plate exhaust components etc.....FOR BIG BUCKS though)
If it were me. I wouldn't bother. There are a LOT of Mercruiser 4.3L packages out there, They'll bolt right in and there's a LOT of new and used parts available!
That boat will perform GREAT with a stock 4.3L V-6. (You could also find yourself a 5.0/5.7L engine package and it would perform even better than great!)
Good luck,
Rick