With our 358 I had approx 6" in front of the 500 efi's. It's tight but not real bad. I will see if I can dig up a good photo of the engine compartment.

My sea strainers are mounted in front of the motors on the center stringer. They are about 7" round, and there is a few inches on either side of them. I would say there is close to a foot in front of the motors.

I was looking at pics of the 35 vs 358 and it looks like there is about 8" clearance in front of the motors in the 358. clearance between and on sides of engines looks about the same.

We had a pair of the 496ho's in are 03' In o4 we wanted more power so we put 525's in . That is money that was well spent. We really like the size of the 358 .Friend did the same
with their 31 sonic 496's to 525's. Cheaper then trading
and now were spinning 5 blades