Advice wanted diesel or not

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English-steve

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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
 

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Scott Danforth

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A maritized BMW would be harder to find parts for than an OMC Buick 301
 
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HT32BSX115

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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
 

Bondo

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Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,.... My guess is, yer not in North America,.....

Diesels for boats are fewer 'n further in-'tween here,....

I'd Love 1 in my barge, but it's gettin' a SBC instead,.....
 

Scott Danforth

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Prior to the VW offerings, the CMD offerings were just as expensive. Got to admit, the V8 VW diesel is a sweet little motor.....
 

HT32BSX115

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English-steve

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Thanks for all the input guys đź‘Ťđź‘Ť its made me look at things I hadn't considered. I think the 4.3 mercruiser set up is prob the right answer now it's trying to find a decent one for sale here in the uk !!
 

Bondo

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Ayuh,..... I've been a Diesel kinda guy, most of my life,...
Drive a diesel pickup,....
Unfortunately, diesels never took off in North America when the rest of the planet went diesel,...

I'd Love to drop in a 7.3l Navistar/ Merc into my boat,....
A Cummins BT-6 would work just fine too,....

I'll no doubt settle for a SBC when I get there though,...
Just the exhaust, 'n turbo for the 7.3l is the deal killer for me, ditto the cummins,...

You can buy, run, 'n throw away several gas motors to pay for a diesel,....
 

cooterdude

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im toying around with putting a 6.2l gm diesel out of a suburban in my 89 four winns 225 sundowner originally had a 5.7l omc unit only hurdle im having is the exhaust manifolds cheapest Ive seen are 600 bucks each gonna try to find someone to fab up some adapter plates to go between the diesel head and the sbc manifolds i already have
 

jbcurt00

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Its been 7mo cooterdude.

Closed

Start a topic about putting the 6.2L diesel in your 4Winns if you want to discuss it.
 
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