I purchased an 85 Bayliner 2550 from an auction cheap. The boat is in great shape with only 320 hours on it. The problem is the previous owner did not know he needed to winterize it. The block is severely cracked with canyon sized gaps you can actually put your fingers in. It is a Volvo Penta 350.

I have a good running 1978 351 Windsor OMC engine in a boat I am going to part out and get rid of. My question is can I use this engine in my Bayliner and what I would expect to change on the Volvo set up to fit the ford engine.

The 351 is set up for salt water with the heat exchanger I would really like this set up as the 350 didn’t come with one.

Thanks

I was afraid that would be the case. Both engines are complete. In fact the 350 still runs good. It just floods the bilge very quickly. The manifolds appear to be fine. No water is leaking from them and I have found no cracks.

Do do you know if I can use the heat exchanger off the ford engine on a Chevy. Looking around those seem to be pretty universal. I will be using this boat in the Gulf of Mexico and would like to keep the salt water out of a new engine.

Personally I’d prefer a Mopar engine but they don’t seem to do marine stuff anymore. Ford would be my second choice but the Cheby stuff is cheaper so I’ll stick with what is there.. My friends and I have always joked about Mopar parts being expensive and hard to get where you can go to 7/11 and get anything for a 350.