Awesome deal if the heads are decent. Now I want one.

For what you've got in the purchase, going aftermarket on the top-end should be plenty do-able.

Looks like darts iron eagle 308 head dne. Maybe the blocks don’t either. Sad, with that 10.236 dh and 4.625 bore you could make a 638.

lol... yeah ive already looked at that and did the Math.
The +.100 bore size and +.125 stroke of the PSI combo should be a great starting point for a healthy build that wont break the bank or trigger wifes radar.

That option is still on the table.
I will get these two engines apart to survey what is or isnt salvagable... then will focus on getting a shortblock built.
Im sure Larry Hofer will be getting money from me sooner or later.
Nice thing is... I can easily use aluminum heads on this build. I just (today) received my closed cooling kit from Orca Marine... so the block and heads will only ever see antifreeze.

Well... they arrived today and look fantastic.
I am reasonably certain they are/were both gasoline engines. The fuel rails smell like gasoline.

I hope there isn't a bunch of broken carnage inside.

One of the motors is only 2 years old. No sticker on the other one but it appears identical so I suspect it is also pretty new.

Both have the full length oil pan sumps. Im pretty sure this with fit the hull of my boat... but will need to come up with a windage screen and trap door setup.

Email me so we can exchange numbers, we can video chat also and i can show you what you have. GREAT find! [email protected]
you have the best oil pan ever made for the Gen 7. It is baffled and absolutely the best built.

Those appear to be lease return engines. My bet is they have next to no hours, crass hatch is crystal clear. If they have flat top pistons they are 10:1, the Rods were built by SCAT they are prostock I beams. the rod caps are cracked or they could be machined, they transitioned to cracked ones. They are bronze bushed with small ends tapered.
Fuel injectors are Bosch 89lb high imp injectors. very valuable and are sourced from the BMW M series platform.
The oil pan has two different baffles, they do fit any mercruiser installation.
The R block will also accept JP double row timing set with multi key.
The crankshaft is very likely a Kellog crankshaft. Kellog and Dr Gu no longer manufacture cranks for PSI but PSI purchased thousands of them from Kellog. Every single crankshaft i have seen in even the 2021 builds have kellog cranks.

Are those intake plenums bigger than the stock 8.1/496? They look a little bigger... The throat is 4 bolt rather than 3 as well, the TB hole looks bigger as well.

Awesome.

I just popped the valve covers off and one engine had a bunch off loose rockers on one side... so I tightened them down and did a little more digging. Now I can see there is also no head gasket on that side and two lower head bolts are missing. lol

Both engines rotate fine, so nothing broken, but the one missing a head gasket does feel like it binds every time that side has a piston at TDC... so zero deck clearence and carbon build-up is probably causing that or the valves are kissing pistons.

Im at work until 4pm and have limited time to fool with them... so heads may have to come off tomorrow.

Both engines do in fact have the LS style heads with trunnion mounted rockers... (see pics)

I *may* just do a fresh rebuild on one of them and toss a Raylar cam in it to see what happens. Might need to flycut pistons... but otherwise feel like I got a solid deal here. I'm really curious how well these newer LS heads will work.

Looking through the TB mount into the plenum, it looks massive inside. Pics do not convey this very well.

They look a lot bigger maybe Cerberus66 will chime in.

The stock aperture may have only been 90, might have even been 85

Wow. All great news.
You sound like you know a thing or two about these engines.

I'll shoot you an email.

[email protected]

Just as a point of comparison... anyone who turns wrenches is familiar with a can of CRC brakleen...

I could probably stuff 4 fullsize cans inside this plenum. Not exaggerating. It's like a compact, upside-down tunnel ram.

The intake is set up for LS TB, you can put on 103mm and even a 107mm TB

The intake tracks are 14 inches long The intake was designed by Arizona Speed and Marine Jim Shofner. The intake was designed so you can remove the bottom and tune the runners.

As for cam and springs, The springs on these motors measure 45lbs seat pressure and 95lbs open. They suck because they are designed for VERY small camshaft. You will see when you pull the cam, its very small.
The heads need bronze valve guides, They accept Pontiac type valves. Your head guy should be able to ID the proper ones. Keep the stems small as per the design.

The rocker arms are LS7 Exhaust rocker arms, PSI uses them on both intake and Exhaust. We are rebuilding the trunnions with CHE trunnion upgrades.

As for Raylar Cams on this head and engine combo......DO NOT TRY IT. you will be very disappointed. A custom ground cam is MUCH better.
The head flow and velocity totally change the cam dynamics required to make power. The closest thing i can say is to use cam specs or design like a lsxr454 etc. We are working on these heads now. We are trying different valves sizes and designs. Remember these heads are true 15 degree BBC heads. A very radical difference from what most shops know.
The flow and velocity of these heads changes everything BBC research has ever done.
We have produced 600hp x 600lbft motor on a very mild cam using stock items.
Those heads will flow about 420-430cfm. We will be publishing our results and offering CNC porting on them. We are going to a 900-1.00 lift cam with a LSA of 116 on our premier motor and shooting for 900-1000 hp NA.

Do these accept standard exhaust ? If no, does someone make them for marine and how much ?

Yeah I have to agree. Ive had Dart Big Chief heads on motors in the past... and these OEM iron heads look really neat. Ports look PLENTY big and chambers are shallow with flat valve angles.
I will absolutely be using these heads.

I couldn't resist... and had to pop off the intake and cylinder head that was missing the head gasket. Not seeing any smoking gun or broken stuff... but there is alot of carbon and oil in the chambers. Im guessing the guides or seals are shot. Cam and lifters still look new.
Cylinder walls (as you mentioned earlier) still have cross hatch and zero ridge at the top of the cylinders. They will clean up real nicely with a quick hone.

And yeah... the beehive springs are terribly soft. I can easily push them open with the palm of my hand.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...78ade57fa.jpeg
your oil pans will look like this.

SCORE,

those are 9:1 pistons (Dished) you have to remember though. The head combustion chambers are much smaller than any 8.1 vortec head. A difference of 114cc to 78-83cc maybe even 87cc I forget exactly. But it is a big difference.

Yeah... I am actually happy with the 9-1 dished pistons... as this will be going in a 5500lb boat and will see a diet of 87 octane gas.

Thanks for the oil pan pics. I didnt feel like dropping the pan today too. lol

Oh my God, so bad azz I cant even stand it!

From my understanding and many long conversations with Ray (Raylar) many moons ago, the stock really wasnt that bad. I have the Raylar cool air Shoebox intake. But I am sure the PSI (intake above) Is a BEAST!. Wish I got my hands on that when I did my rebuilds. Really COOL piece! However, its still like the really hot girl at the gym that has a great body, great personality and an ugly face - Its not pretty to look at but it does some great things.

Dude, you have to drop the Raylar 206 cam (600 HO Cam) or better yet 213. You'd have to be in the 700 HP range.

Whats the bore and stroke of the PSI 8.8?

4.350 bore x 4.500 stroke.

These late production PSI engines sure do look nice. Its a shame they have teeny-tiny camshafts in them.
Ill bet a healthy cam and new comp beehive springs would really wake up this beast.

This is probably my biggest concern right now... picking the right cam, as it will need to be big enough to make good power, work well with the LS style heads... but not suck water through wet exhaust.

The rest of the build is pretty basic common-sense stuff...

I have no problem with running a big cam. I am all about the "go-big or go-home" mindset. lol I just need it to work in a wet exhaust environment... which is another big expense I will incur. My engine sits pretty low in the hull so there are 6" spacers between the manifolds and risers. Whatever exhaust I decide on will need to fit with the current thru-hull Corsa system and the factory Y-pipe.

Great talking with you yesterday Trey... I truly appreciate all the help and knowledge you shared.

When I get these engines busted apart and start buying parts... you will be my first phone call.

I am in the very early stages of building a 30x40 2-story garage at my place. Variance hearing is set for 12/6 and assuming both variances are approved, I should have a working shop by mid/end of January.
Once the shop is built, I will get the boat inside and both 8.8's torn down for the machine shop. Your phone will be ringing shortly after that. lol


Thanks !!!

????

The Raylar HO 600 (206) is more than adequate. I never had problems with reversion. Your only real cost effective choices IMO are CMI e-tops, Stainless Marine, or Dana Marine. Im not a fan of Dana anymore for salt water becasue I have seen rot. On the manifold style headers (Dana/Stainless) you can pay a little more and get longer risers.
I have the Dana's with long risers on 600 cams and never had a problem. Talk to Larry, but I am pretty sure the 600 wont revert even with standard Dana risers. With the extended risers, they are longer and have little anti water block ramps.

FWIW, to go this far and drop a small cam in to save $500-1000 on a cheap riser would be sacreligious.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...26876bfc29.jpg

I ran Stainless Marine on a previous small block mercruiser and really liked them. I may go that route... but have been looking at the CMI's pretty hard too.

The biggest problem for me is swallowing that big $$$ pill... for what (to me) amounts to nothing more than a set of $99 Blackjack boat headers.

My heart bleeds for you guys with TWO pairs of them. lol

You guys have me on ignore ? :lolhit::party-smiley-004::lolhit:

I saw your exhaust question... but wasnt sure what you were asking ? (valve/rocker/manifold related?)

Only thing im sure of is that the exhaust flange on the head is the same as any other BBC... so factory manifolds will bolt right on.

wondering about exhaust compatibility too. I’m sure it’s googleable on a 496/8.1 discussion though.

On an 8.1 the bolt pattern is the same but the threads are metric.

Very cool informative thread!

Agreed 100%... and knowing what I now know about these engines... baffles me why more guys haven't figured it out and adopted the platform. It is CLEARLY far superior to previous BBC generations in every way. This is partly why I bought two of them... I wanted to grab a spare before someone figures out the value and gobbles them all up.

"Two is one and one is none" lol

Also FYI to anyone considering one of these engines... make sure you have a transport stand that is tall enough to keep the drain plug off the floor. The oil pans are massive and deep. I had to add a 2" framework under mine this morning because I didn't trust flimsy castors or small jackbolts.

Just found the 4.750" crank for these engines... lol

This would make 565 cubic inches... but adds $1k+ add'l expense.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sca-481029

Outside of gas generators and the like, it looks like these have a good foothold in school bus fleets.

Personally, I would love one of these in my 2500 Suburban. Being a gas truck, converting wouldn't be too hard with exception of the oil pan.

In bold answers my question. The differences you mention of the psi head are so different - chamber - valve angles - etc etc - I figued good chance the exh port locations and etc could be different too, as most times they are with any if those changes.

Probably not hard to find if someone really looked.

Actually not much info out there. The drag racers don’t seem wise to these. They wrote the platform off long ago.