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View Full Version : Engine make preference in the Donzi world?



RW2003
06-16-2009, 06:20 PM
In know this is sort of a ridiculous question but here goes...

In the car world, many folks are divided by make... Chevy vs Ford vs Mopar, etc. And in most cases, if you have a Chevy car your going to have a Chevy motor in there as well. I know there are always exceptions, especially when it comes to Hot Rods but that's another story.

When looking through all the Donzis for sale, past and present, I notice that while Chevy engines are popular there are many with Fords as well. Not many Mopar powered Donzis!

Is there a preferred combination? What determines which engine the factory installs/installed when the boat was built? Are swaps from Chevy to Ford or vice versa common? Or do you usually stay with what the boat was set up with from the factory?

Anyone dropping the new style LSx or Ford Modular engines into their Donzis?

MOP
06-16-2009, 06:35 PM
Mopar started to leave the marine scene in the late 70's, since then GM and Ford have gone back and forth. You can not go to far wrong with either of the two, Ford has one leg up in their small blocks having blind head bolt holes. IMO I feel it makes for a little better marinizing, but if building for performance the GM blocks are hard to beat unless you delve into the exotic's.

BUIZILLA
06-16-2009, 06:42 PM
a B1 500" Mopar would be kinda cool...

mattyboy
06-16-2009, 06:48 PM
i think the ilmor 700 indy would be a great combo

mopar back in the game

BigGrizzly
06-17-2009, 09:49 AM
I like the Ford sound in my Corsican. It is the original combination but with a 290 drive instead of 270. Is it faster, yes and no some chevys are slower ans some are faster, but none sound as good.:yes: BTW that was not a stupid question. it was probably one of the best to be asked.

Carl C
06-17-2009, 09:52 AM
Big block Chevys, small block Fords. The Ilmors are proving to be contenders. The 5.4 Ford makes huge power for cars but does it have the durability to make that power consistantly in a boat? I doubt it.

mrfixxall
06-17-2009, 09:54 AM
I like the Ford sound in my Corsican. It is the original combination but with a 290 drive instead of 270. Is it faster, yes and no some chevys are slower ans some are faster, but none sound as good.:yes: BTW that was not a stupid question. it was probably one of the best to be asked.


Post a video! i wanna hear it :)

BigGrizzly
06-17-2009, 10:02 AM
Brad has the video from the Dust off with a fly by. Turn your volume up and you can hear the difference. As for the 5.4 they are out there with closed cooling systems in some ski boats. Problem is the marine market is slow to receive them and speed parts are rare in the marine area. However the blower thing is there and going strong.

BUIZILLA
06-17-2009, 10:30 AM
Big block Chevys, small block Fords. The Ilmors are proving to be contenders. The 5.4 Ford makes huge power for cars but does it have the durability to make that power consistantly in a boat? I doubt it. the 5.4 would make a great boat engine.... if you can keep spark plugs in it... :nilly:

Tony
06-17-2009, 11:35 AM
The 302 Ford in my old Ski Sporter sounded very bad-azz.
At an early AOTH MadPoodle said so, and I figure he's got a pretty good ear.

:beer:

Ghost
06-17-2009, 11:48 AM
Since drives came up in this thread already, I'll make my usual tip of the hat to anything with a duoprop drive. From what I've read here, it has a LOT of benefits for the Classic hulls, from steering to overall control at speed, getting rid of lots of single prop torque effects. I have heard the engines you are most likely to find with one probably have fewer hot-rodding options than some of the other engine/drive packages, so it would likely depend on whether you were planning to play with the motor a lot.

Mike

Barry Eller
06-17-2009, 12:57 PM
Brad has the video from the Dust off with a fly by. Turn your volume up and you can hear the difference. As for the 5.4 they are out there with closed cooling systems in some ski boats. Problem is the marine market is slow to receive them and speed parts are rare in the marine area. However the blower thing is there and going strong.

Randy, where is the link to the video? Denise and I hope to see you and Barbara in
September at the Hometown Rally in Ft.Walton/Destin. I don't know what my new job with Camping World will have as my schedule that far in advance.

Meanwhile...I'm getting the 502 back together. I hope to get the engine painted this week.

Donziweasel
06-17-2009, 02:56 PM
Last company to heavily utilize Ford's in I/O config was OMC. Ended around 1994.

Personally, I always thought the OMC Ford packages looked asthetically better than any Merc package. Coupled to a King Cobra, it was a pretty nice package.

Ghost, don't know about Volvo, but the Bravo III is not rated to take much HP. They are coming out with a Bravo III XR I have heard though..........

mattyboy
06-17-2009, 03:15 PM
the volvo duo is based on their single and is good just about to 600 hp, fords have a much different tone with all the other blue motors out there on the lake at the dustoff you could tell grizzly just by the sound. there was one other ford powered classic there a 5.8 omc king setup volvo used the 5.8 til the mid 90's too

my 351 still is running strong even under the duress the new owner puts it under

there is not really any combo I would stay away from except a high hp sb or a bb alpha combo