4cyl big block

Stuart Hastings stuart at hal.com
Mon Mar 15 23:07:38 GMT 1999


For help or historical info on the MerCruiser 470 stern drive, search for
it in Dejanews under "rec.boats".

For the EFI folks, as previously posted, this 4cyl has *one* cast-iron
head from a Ford 460, mated to a MerCruiser designed and cast aluminum
block. I would expect that MerCruiser used their own crank and camshaft; 
4cyl engines typically use "flat" cranks. IIRC, MerCruiser rated it at
~165HP.

The aluminum block made it lighter, and probably faster, than the
competitive Chevy 135Hp 3.0L 4cyl. Alas, it was more expensive to produce,
as it needed a heat exchanger and coolant due to the mixed metals (most
cast-iron block sterndrives are cooled with lake water for cost reasons
:-P ). Today, the Chevy 3.0L is still the definitive low-cost sterndrive
engine, available from MerCruiser or Volvo; I think they're all made with
carbs, probably due to cost. MerCruiser gave up on the '470 after a few
years, and in spite of its potential performance, it's considered obsolete
today. 

The '470 also had a unique alternator apparently adapted from an outboard; 
this alternator has been very troublesome and expensive to fix for many
people. There is an aftermarket kit available to replace it with a
standard belt-driven marine alternator.

I wouldn't know if this sterndrive would be worth the effort to add EFI.

Good Luck with whatever you decide,

stuart hastings
stuart at hastings.org







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