Even though my Monte Carlo is still a box of toothpicks, I picked up an engine block. It is a Mopar 400 big block. I have been in some conversations with a fella that builds 510 stroker engines using a 440 block. He actually suggested the 400 block, and stroke it to a 451 (or 470), which I guess is a pretty easy thing to do. Take a 440 based crank, some new rods, and some light weight pistons, and bore the block 30 thousands over. They have a good amount of torque, and rev more like a small block.
Sadly, it seems my conversations have dried up before I could get a lot more info. So, I am wondering what you all might think if I bounced some ideas off of you. I am used to working on and building engines for things on land, but haven't done much in the way of an inboard boat.
I am strongly thinking of using aluminum heads to save a little on weight, and have better flow than the stock heads. I also am planning on have a closed cooling system in place so I don't have lake water running through the engine.
Is there any reasons that it would not be a good idea to use aluminum heads in a boat?
I plan to make an adapter to run the exhaust logs from a Chevy engine....they appear to be cheaper and lighter than the old logs from the Marine Mopar engines. This was some of the info I was able to get from this fella before he fell off the face of the earth.
I assume (I know what you can be if you assume) that a boat this size benefits from a higher torque engine. I am wondering if I need to try and maximize torque down low in the RPM range, or if it is better to also have high torque at a high RPM situation.
I am sure there are a lot of questions that I haven't even thought of yet, but we will start with those.
Thanks for any help!
