Re: cooling conversion
Depends. Is your drive an Alpha, bravo, volvo or what? Mine is an Alpha 1 and total investment is about $1100. 750 for the closed cooling system(manifolds and block) 40-50 in new hoses, 150 for a raw water pump, 200 for a sea water strainer, bronze thruhull, and associated plumbing. If your drive is an Alpha the water pick up is thru the outdrive and the 5/8 hose does not supply enough water to keep your engine cool above 3000 rpms. You'll need the additional raw water pump. The one Mercruiser sells will set you back about 500 by the time you buy the pump, pulley, belt, mounting bracket and hoses. I used a Volvo setup saved about 200 with the same amount of cooling. Only difficult time I had was finding a stamped steel crank pulley to mount the pump. Most new 5.7's have cast aluminum pulleys.
