Conference vicki::boats

    Hmm... think they'd take a trade for an old 289, recently rebuilt?
    
    I may have to modify the motor mounts a little... and the motor
    box, and the struts, and ........   :-)
    
    					...Roger...

    There was a big article about this in I believe Car & Driver/Road
    & Track one of them, with it in the Corvette. I didn't get a chance
    to read the whole article but from what I did read it sounded like
    this motor would "Haul Ass". There was a special key in the Vette
    that would turn on this system, once it reached a certain RPM all
    Hell would break loose.
    
                                                     Guy

I've also read a couple of articles on the new Corvette LT5 motor.  It
looks like a great motor, but according to the articles it is better
suited to autmotive use where government emissions and mileage regulations
make it more practical.  For marine use, a large diplacement (i.e. Chevy
454, Ford 460 etc.) can make as much horsepower and more torque with
greater reliability, and for much less money.  Would you want to be 10
miles offshore when the LT5 decides to break a cam chain tensioner or
the computer goes on the blink?

From what I saw, the bottom line was that it may see some limited marine
use, but that it will probably never take the place of the big iron.


Rick W.

    Re: Rick
       
    Good point! They even say in the article quote:
    " From a consumer standpoint, however we are more interested in
    getting the maximum HP's performance for the minimum dollar. At
    the present time we suspect that this can be more easily obtained
    with more displacement rather than through high technology. In short
    we don't look for this new engine to replace the 454 magnums. In
    our opinion, the 454 is still capable of more HP's at a lower cost."
    
                         Excerpts <sp?> from Trailerboats  October Issue

    There was an article in a rag sheet (can't remember which one) recently
    that said Mercruiser had the contract to build the engines for GM.
    After one year of production, Merc could build a marine version
    for their own use.
    Now I remember---it was "Field and Stream".

    
    	Saw an article for a special one off using the the ZR-1 engine. 
    Looks kind of neat but from the sound of the article it is strictly a
    one off show boat.
    
    
    Forrest

    re .6
    
    Yes, Baja placed an LT-1 into one of their >25 footers. Hot looking boat! 
    The photo I saw showed the LT-1 equiped Baja, being towed by a ZR-1 Vette!
    
    								-mike-

    Its called the "WET VETTE" , this months Motor Trend has a little write
    up on it.

To be a little more specific "this month's" Motor Trend is the September 1991
issue. Lots of color photos on three pages. The boat is a Baja 223 Bandit that
has (naturally) been customized a bit. Including a red leather interior. The 
boat's top speed is reported at 76 MPH. The one thing that the car magazine
said is that as neat as the LT-5 motor is, the less expensive, but larger 454
block motors are better boat engines since they deliver more torque down low
than does the LT-5. But is is hard to argue that it sure does look pretty!

john

    Does anyone know what the new 500+ cubic inch and horsepower Mercruiser
    is?  Is it a punched out 454 or a custom design?  I would think that
    bigger is always better in a boat unless weight became a problem.
    Wayne

    
    That's the Chevy 502 you're referring to.  It is intended for
    "off-road" use i.e. marine or racing.  It is based on the 454,
    and accepts most standard big block Chevy parts.  As far as I 
    know the cylinder walls are cast a little thicker than standard 
    to allow for the bigger bore.  
    
    Also, initially it was not available as a complete motor, but
    only as a rough casting.  Cylinder walls and possibly other areas
    needed final machining, then the motor is hand assembled by
    Mercury or whoever is building the motor.  This is the reason 
    for the VERY high cost.  I don't know if they're available as 
    a complete motor now or not...
    
    Rick

You can buy 502 blocks on boats as new, so I'd say that they are available, at
least through one channel, as complete engines.