I'm looking at 288 sunsations and it seems like a lot of them have the 496 HO. I'm use to fresh water cooled 454 and 502's. Should I jump over to the 496 HO with the closed cooling? What are the Advantages and disadvantages? I thought I heard somewhere a while back that there was problems with the 496's... Would the 496 be a more costly engine to maintain or replace? Whats your thoughts guys?

Used right? The 496 is gone and now it's the 8.2. However it's a no brainer IMO...fantastic engine, starts every time, runs forever, respectable power, what's not to like?

Actually, the 496 is cheap to maintain. But if you modify it, you risk some problems... Leave it alone and they are good for 800-1000 hours. Just do regular oil changes, dont run it at 5000 RPM all the time and you are good to go.

Why not?

Everything I've seen on those motors is they're rock solid. 1000hr motors as long at you maintain them. For performance power (even mild performance) that's pretty awesome.

1. Cast pistons.
2. In my opinion, the valve springs are too light to handle a prolonged beating.

Other than that, run them normally and they will run a long time.

If stock put it to the wood and don't worry

One of the best(if not the best) engine Merc made when left stoc imo. Run the piss out of them and they will still go 800+ he with just mantenance.

I LOVED my pair of 496HOs in my 37AT. 500 hours, and aside from a few sensor issues over time; GREAT setup! You just have to maintain them, namely the cooling system. There are plenty of threads on these topics.

Because no engine should be run at 5000 rpm all the time unless its in a 500 mile race at Daytona.