v6 Inboard on a 23' GM 4.3 200-235 hp?

[Wags23]

When I bought my 23 cc it had a 4 cyl ( half of the 460 ford) AND IT WAS A DOG!! It had no ttop and the hull was in good shape.Probably because it wasnt run hard (you couldnt). I was out about 30 miles and it started getting rough 4-6 footers and it was struggling to get over some of the bigger ones. In went a 350 merc. You will never regret it go with the 350 it was a whole different boat. POwering up waves,cruise, getting on plane, everything. I just switched over to diesel v6 tdi and need to get it propped right but seems to have plenty of power.

[Hooligan]

Excellent advice guys, I thank you for all your input. The reason I was tempted was a near new 2010 4.3 235 hp for sale for short money... sort of thought I could save some weight and also put a larger hp motor in than the stock from factory and be in good shape.

Not worth the risk i guess, huh.

So the lesson taught is that should settle for a slightly older 305 or 350, preferably the 350 from what I have read above. Naturally the 350 seems a better choice than the 305 because of the near identical weights yet differing horsepowers?

Great to see you guys are willing to share from both your successes and mistakes. Thumbs up. As usual, this site is a great group and I'm glad you let me be a part.

Thanks,

Hooligan

[pelican]

Originally Posted by Hooligan

Interested to know if anyone has any experience with the gm 4.3 vortec inboard/outboard and whether or not it would be an acceptable fit in a 23' CC.

I am considering the original mercruiser 888 from the factory and comparing the 188 hp to the 235 hp numbers of the vortec v6 and considering some weight savings... torque figures may be off from one to the other but no published specs for either.

Do you think performance would suffer with a 4.3 v6?

All thoughts appreciated.

besides the performance,allready dicussed,if your plan was to reuse the existing drive yu were going to make a huge mistake - very costly mistake as well.the older alpha drives,these have high pressure low volume water pumps - the newer alpha gen II drives have a high volume,low pressure water pump - with all that,the older drives are not compatable with the newer vortec engines...

the smart play for you,is to pick up a package -read that as engine/drive and transom assembly - if you're really smart,you're gonna go for the harness,smart craft set up including guages.doing this,you're buying new,not used/rebuilt ,and the best part,you're not attempting to "adapt"...get the merc 5.7 MPI/bravo drive - this is what's pushing my 23,it's a bulletproof,incredibly fuel efficient package - it's an '03 set up,have had ZERO problems !

[Gary Hill]

I went with the 350 Marine power carrb 315 HP and love it but when all my friends told me to go Fel injected I have not all the problems they get and cruise at 26-27 and get around 2-2.5 gal per mile. What the heck.

[pelican]

Originally Posted by Gary Hill

I went with the 350 Marine power carrb 315 HP and love it but when all my friends told me to go Fel injected I have not all the problems they get and cruise at 26-27 and get around 2-2.5 gal per mile. What the heck.

those marine power engines are a very nice package,work very well in an inboard application - i've used a few of them
good warranty too