So i have an 89 scarab 21 excel with a crate 350 mercruiser in it. It is a 1 piece rear main seal motor that has around 300 or so hours on the new motor. I run only in fresh water and the local lakes are sadly not that big. I use the boat to cruise the lake and have fun with the family. I’m not looking to run 70 to 80 with the boat, I just want some more fun out of it. I’m not one to leave well enough alone sadly… I am trying to decide to either A build the 350 mag in it into a vortec motor using a performer RPM intake, nice cam, and a set of CMI headers. B 383 stroker motor with same or similar top end. Or C shove a late model LS 5.3 or 6.0 motor into it. We take the boat out every weekend and have a blast in it. I think it’s a great sized boat for a family of 4 just to have fun it. I don’t plan on selling this boat any time in the foreseeable future as I think it’s a great little bottle rocket. Sadly the weak link is my alpha 1 outdrive so I don’t want a big block, not just for the sake of the out drive but for the sake of the effect on the old wallet trying to feed a BBC. I have a few months before the season ends so I'm simply weighing my options as to what to do for power. I just want to be able to open the hatch and have people interested in what i have under the hatch rather than your standard run of the mill 350 thats in thousands of other boats. Any input would be appreciated. I just simply don't know what route I want to go. my previous engine project was a monster 390 FE motor in an old F250 that i loved... except when it came time to hit the gas station...lol

I did a 383 conversion in my 22 Scarab and it worked out great not much more fuel that the 350, much stronger. The boat has an Alpha drive as well have not had any trouble.

you build the 383 yourself? or did you buy a crate motor? I just want a something a bit more you know. I know and dont expect to run 80+ nor do I want to. too much work to make a small boat run safe at higher speeds. like i said just something that grabs your attention when people ask what you're running.

I built it myself fairly mild I did have a roller block to start with. The conversion to roller was much less expensive. Boat went about 50 mph with the tired 350. Goes 63 on gps now, boat has never felt unsafe at that speed. When I bought my new boat I gave the 22 to my son, would never have done that if I thought it was overpowered. I did add MSD ignition and Edelbrock carb, left the stock exhaust. I think the boat runs good and looks good as well lots of people may have better looking stuff but this project was reasonably priced. As I recall we spent about 3500 for the whole project.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]505036[/ATTACH]

nice set up i like that. with a roller block im guessing you had vortec heads on it or did you go aftermarket? With my block being non stock i have no idea if its roller or not. I believe it has the bosses there but they are not tapped. I need to run a gps in my boat to see how fast she really goes. stock speedo read 50 last time at just shy of 3/4 throttle. so your guess is as good as mine as to how true that was. all i know is it felt pretty damn fast...lol I wish i had the paper work on this motor. No clue where it came from or whats done to it. for all i know it may already be pumped up. guess i wont know untill i pull things apart. previous owner "claims" he ran at 65... for what thats worth. what kind of paint did you use on your motor? I want to paint my valve covers and intake to match the color scheme of the boat.

I had the vortec heads to start with, although I think the stock heads would work just fine, I am convinced the stroker crank is what made the significant difference. Did not use paint on the motor I used florescent powder coat. I suspect a big conspiracy when my wife bought me a powder coat kit for Christmas, and then said if we remodeled the kitchen I could use the old oven for the motor project.

ha ha ha... funny how that worked out isn't it? i had a friend who used his moms oven to powder coat some parts... she made him buy a new oven after dinner later that same day. i love powder coat, but I really dont know how much i'd use it if i invested in a system. I really want to pull the oil pan and see what this old girl has up her skirt. I suspect its a 350 but you never know. I do know that I have a 750 cfm rochester carb sitting on it, not sure if that was stock or if a 650 was.

Well it sounds like my season is over ... I think the motor cooked the port side head and possibly spun a bearing. Sucks but oh well

A reworked lq4 would be nice in that. dollar for dollar and dependability a basic stock 454 mag take out would be nice too.

id love an ls based motor but not sure of all the hidden costs of the swap. i tore my 350 down, both heads are cracked. both head gaskets were shot, bent #8 and #1 rods. however the block only has a few hundred hours on it. you can still see the cross hatching on the bores. it looks like the top end was shot before i ever purchased the boat. but such is life when you buy used right? like i said id love an ls swap, but im thinking more of 383 stroker with a scat 9000 crank, and scat forged i beam rods that are already clearanced for strokers. and either hypereutectic or forged pistons. looking into a comp cam xtreme marine cam, thinking the XM262H or XM270H grind. not sure on heads yet, thinking a set of cast vortec heads but not sure just yet.