marinising a diesel...is it cost effective?

breghall

Can any body outline the main draw backs or difficulties in converting a say , diesel turbo 3.0 L from a jeep into a new engine for your boat?
For example say it's a 20ft open bow pleasure craft, would this engine power it as well as 4.3 merc ?
Could it be hooked up to the outdrive, how would it be cooled? etc..

just curious to know that's all..

fergal.b

All marine engines are built stronger to run at high RPM also the starter and alternator are spark proof and they have brass frost plugs. So lets say you keep the RPM low next you will have cool it by heat exchanger or wet exhaust manifold http://www.lancingmarine.com/ made some for rover v8 and a few other cars so might be worth a look. Some engines also have a problem running at an angle so you might have to change the sump and oil pickup.
To connect to the outdrive you will need a bell housing I thing lancing made these too or you could try and line one up and drill new holes in it. They look like this and have two mounts that fit onto the out drive connecting the two.



Next you will need a coupler thats bolts to the flywheel they come in a lot of different shapes and sizes and again if you cant get one to fit drill and tap your own holes but make sure you get it right because if it's off it will shake the boat to bits



In my opinion you are better off getting another marine engine and just bolt it up


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breghall

Good man Fergal, your a mine of information.

so it's do-able but it's much better and prob close to the same cost to splash out on a diesel version going by that web site.

aw well that's that answered thanks.

fergal.b

Yep, you could buy this and dump the boat and it will still end up cheaper.:D
http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/boats/2507046


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breghall

fergal.b wrote: »

Yep, you could buy this and dump the boat and it will still end up cheaper.:D
http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/boats/2507046


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good spot