Cook book 454 rebuild and and h.p. increases ????

[JayZ]

Hey Guys,

I thought I might start a new thread here. Thanks to all those following and advising me on the seized engine and/or sterndrive thread.

I still haven't got to the bottom of that one yet. The motor will not turn yet ...why I do not know but I'll get to the bottom of it.

The engine is a 454OMC King Cobra '93 model showing 365 hours.


I'm going to pull the motor and drive anyway and go through them this winter. ...waiting for the manual on the drive hopfully no suprises with the drive.

I've got access to an awesome machine shop that I can pull the boat into lift the engine out lower on to my truck and then bring it over to a buddies shop where we will tear it down and figure out what we've got and then determine where we take it. +we can fabricate all kinds of cool stuff if we need anything made.

So I'll be doing the labor myself with the help of some friends and of course any of the tools and expertise from the machine shop.

I need to read all I can and figure out what the proven cook book recipes are to get this thing reliable and put a few more ponies into it.

I am thinking something over 400 h.p. and less than 500 h.p. ...needs to run good have great throttle response and sound awesome. Top speed ...not concerned for anything more than bragging but I suppose but something around 70 or a bit north of that would be nice. (and I also told my wife I wasn't buying an 80mph boat) I haven't ruled out a reman long block but not really sure it is necassary. I'd like to do this as efficiently dollar-wise as possible but absolutely make sure that it gets done right.

Anyone that can point me in the right direction? Good threads to read? Books? Experience? good and bad...

I'll keep at the seized engine for a bit and let ya'll know what I find out and if I can get it to light off but I still think the boat will be down for the winter but ready for the spring with a deep growl coming out the exhaust.

JZ

[Ghost]

I'm not the guy with the answers, but it seems to me there was a pretty extensive thread about this recently if you do some searching. As I recall, a lot of the answer (to hotrod your 454 or don't?) depended on what the internals were. In the Merc world, I think that basically correlated to:

IF low-tuned 310-330 horse, it probably has weaker internals you may not want to use, so consider selling it and start new.
IF 385 horse with good internals, you might want to keep it and start tweaking.

That's my best recollection of what people were saying. (If you find the thread, it may help to link it into a post here to save time for others who may share their expertise.)

Regards,

Mike

[gcarter]

I'm in the same predicament, and after corresponding w/Buizilla, a good solution might be a new GM Gen VI short block w/all forged internals. If you have large oval port, or rectangular port heads and the appropriate intake manifold, it might be an affordable proposition. But good heads will be important.
Or a new GM Gen VI long block.
Anyway, they are a lot more affordable than you might think.

[JayZ]

[ QUOTE=$originalposter]{$pagetext}[/QUOTE]

...yes seems to be tough decisions. I have no idea what I have at this point other than it is a 454 King Cobra OMC Spitfire ignition with a carb.

Like I said labor is not free because it does take time but I won't have to pay anyone other than beer... I've got myself and some pretty good hands to help me.

The Gen VI may be what I ultimatlely decide to do but need to weigh options. It seems some head work, new bearings, rings ...maybe a minor bump in compression and perhaps a cam with the correct specs should be easy cheap reliable horsepower.

[BUIZILLA]

a Gen VI 502-502 crate engine is a GOOD move..

in George's case, he has to use a cast deep 2 piece rear main oil pan setup

his is going to be a little harder to figure out, for a crate setup

[JayZ]

[ QUOTE=$originalposter]{$pagetext}[/QUOTE]

So If I want to simply do a reasonable rebuild with easy performance enhancements to the 454 what should I budget and where is the money wisely spent?

What should I plan on budgeting if I go with a 502 crate? The 454 that is in there is raw water cooled and I want to change that on this next go around no matter what I end up doing so I guess there are some extra expenses there too.

I am not new to boating just this side of it. ...spent lots of time (and money) playing with sailboats over the years (still do). ...so not going into this completely blind.

Thanks,

JZ

[BUIZILLA]

step 1 is to get it out and dissasembled first, inventory usuable parts, and what was there to begin with, for future compatibility

then the budget talks will come into better focus

[JayZ]

that sounds completely reasonable

[biggiefl]

If you are reusing the block make sure it was Tanked first and super clean before adding a FWC setup. If not the rust particles will clog your system.

[Ghost]

What is "having it tanked?" Some sort of galvanic treatment like they do with old cannon and such they restore from wrecks? To de-ionize?

[zelatore]

"hot tanked" is what we used to call it. Most machine shops do (did) it. Basically chemical cleaning by submerging the whole part in caustic cleaners. Hard to find places in CA that do it for enviro reasons; not sure about the rest of the country. Pretty much gives you back as close to a pristine part as you can get though. I used to do it all the time on old car blocks during rebuilds and they came back bare metal and ready to go. You do want to give it a decent bath with plain soap and water before painting it though just in case any chemicals are left over that might cause paint to not adhere well.

I have no idea what the actual chemicals are...but if CA doesn't like them, you know they're good.

[biggiefl]

Yes Hot Tank is what we call it formally. I thought you motorheads would be familiar with tanking your block & heads. They look like aluminum when you get them out of the tank(big dishwasher). Whatever you do, don't tank your hood hinges, can't get the grease back in them.

[silverghost]

I have had many engine blocks & heads "Hot Tanked" over the years.
It does a very good job of cleaning up the cast iron/steel parts~~~not Aluminum however.
This process may do severe harm to aluminum castings.
With aluminum you must keep the total cleaning time to a short time period.

It's best to let the cast iron/steel parts sit in the hot tank overnight if at all possible.

The "Hot Tank' does not de-ionize the salt/sodium chloride salts from the iron castings that were exposed to saltwater however.
They do this de-ionizing process with cannon & other iron/steel parts recovered from shipwrecks that have been exposed to salt/sodium chloride salts for decades/centuries.

De-ionizing takes many months or years; and you must pass a DC electric current through the cast iron/steel parts.
It works just like reverse electroplating with a cathode metal connected to one side and the iron/steel parts connected to the reverse DC polarity.

If you do hot-tank your block remove all water jacket core plugs & oil gallery plugs for best cleaning of these inside block passages.
Some small oil gallery plugs are almost impossible to remove at times.

Remember~~~
All your pressed -in camshaft bearings will be ruined by this caustic hot-tank , or engine washer cleaning solution.
Press-out your old cam bearings first~~~
Then hot-tank the block.
Press-in the new cam bearings after first rinsing & drying your cleaned engine block.

[JayZ]

anyone have a thought or two to share about a kit like this?
http://www.jegs.com/i/Scat/942/1-423...0002/-1?CT=999

Scat #942-1-42360BI 4340 Forged Rotating Assembly 489ci Pistons: Dome Bore: 4.280" Stroke: 4.250" H-Beam Rod: 6.385"
	$2,010.99

[biggiefl]

JayZ...be VERY carefull with automotive stuff and marine stuff. Even though it might say it's for a marine application, does not mean it is compatible with your exhaust, etc. When going exotic you need to find a great marine mechanic or buy a crate engine. There is a reason why a Merlin, Teague, or Mercruiser racing engines cost so friggin much compared to a car.