LSX Motor In A Boat
 

Has anyone done this yet other than the tow boats? It seems like it would be a macth made in heaven as long as it used a closed cooling system. It would weigh less than a traditional small block with the HP of a big block. Not to mention with the LSX block and all of the aftermarket parts now available for these it would be easy to build a 600+ HP naturally aspirated 427-454 ci small block that would weight the same or less than a gen 1 small block.

Funny you should mention this. A few of us have been discussing this the last few weeks. It's fairly easy to make a 402 cu in aspirated LS2 type engine and make over 600hp on pump gas. Throw on a whipple and now your 900hp +. The beauty of the weight loss thrown in with how reasonably priced these can be built is awesome. Boat manufacturers may need to move the fuel tanks back a few inches to re-balance the boat but it IS the future. :) Watch for magazine articles soon. ;)

p.s. There's always the square 4.25 x 4.25 LSX 482 cu in combo too :D

Raylar has them

I thought about it over the winter but went the ole SBC route as I had alot of parts in the garage ready to assemble. I have an 02 LS1 Camaro SS with a heads and cam package that makes 420rwhp and 396rwtq with a small 224/224 hyd roller and 03 vintage stage 2 heads that flow 290cfm @ .600. Take away the drivetrain loss and that's around 475fwhp and 450fwtq. Very healthy for 346ci!

The LSX series is above the SBC's due to superior headflow and the 15* cylinder heads. They also have a much lighter valvetrain allowing higher rpms before experiencing valvefloat. The only bad thing is that marine exhaust would be custom and cost a pretty $$.

I'm still entertaining the idea for my Challenger. More power and less weight....... hmmmm

It's being done, just not by Merc...

http://www.boatstoreonline.com/mp6_0L.html

Hard to tell from that listing. The picture looks like an LS style motor, but the description almost sounds like a stroked older style Vortec headed motor.

Could just be a 6.0 LSx truck block, they are still putting "Vortec" labels on those motors in the trucks, could be the source of confusion there.

Shouldnt be too hard.

As for building the hell out of them, we just used one in a Mustang for my episode of Pinks. NA with stock cubes we put down 449 hp at the wheels thru a 8.8 axle and a Th400 trans. Figuring 15% parasitic loss that equates to 516 flywheel HP. That car ran low 9 second quarters.

Point is you dont need to get crazy to get big HP numbers from these motors. We ran good rods, bumped the compression with the pistons, and ran a stock forged truck crank. Biggest factor in these motors is the heads. ET Performance did a killer job of CNC on them and you can get them flowing over 340 no problem.

No confusion, that's exactly what it is:
http://www.gm.com/explore/technology...LY6_Marine.pdf

http://www.gm.com/explore/technology...ne_engines.jsp

A bunch of engine builders are using that base motor. But if you can do it with the 6.0, no reason you can't use any LSx derivation. About the only challenge is getting a good exhaust, and I thought I read somewhere that it wasn't that difficult to adapt Merc-style manifolds to the LS ports/bolt location. Don't know what the current builders are using for exhaust, or whether they'd sell (at a reasonable price) seperately.

I believe Raylar is working hard on developing an LS based marine package. He had one on display at the LA boat show. Maybe he'll chime in.