Well I decided to take the advice of many of you and rebuild the 454 crusaders in my 1985 32ft FB. The main reason is that I can salvage my season. The rebuilding job at a well known speed shop in my area, who also does work for many boat dealers in the are, has told me it will take two weeks and about 3k per engine. They will do it all from top to bottom end. I was going to just have them machine the block and top end but I think if I let the do the entire job that'll give me time to "restore" the engine compartments and other items while the engines are out. My plan is to use these engines for the remaining part of this season, next season and then maybe after using them for about two years pull them and upgrade to the Cummins 330 diesels. The timing just isn't right for me financially to upgrade at this point. I have a lot of other things going on.

Now for the questions...I'll list them for ease..

1) The rebuilder says he has 454 parts that are better than the quality of replacement original crusader parts. He thinks they'll last longer and hold up better to the distress a marine engine is subjected to. What are your thoughts on this? Should I insist on OEM?

2) With the engine mounts...I will be using the same ones but the bolts that go into the stringers are heavily corroded. If I can get them out can I simply replace them in the same holes or must I epoxy them and redrill? Wasn't sure if they'd hold in the original hole that was used.

3) I was wondering what your thoughts on "phasing in" my diesel conversion would be? I was thinking that maybe during the next time I have her on the hard I could upgrade the through hulls for the raw water intake and the exhaust for the upcoming diesels and a few other items? Will a bigger exhaust (from 4 to the 6in required for cummins 330) be too much of a drop in exhaust back pressure for the 454s?

4) While the engines are out I will be replacing the manifolds. The engines are FWC and I was wondering if I should get the manifolds that are original to the engine (risers are positioned to the back end of the block) or are there any benefits to using the newer style where the risers are positioned towards the middle of the block. If I change manifols style I will not be able to use the elbows and risers I just replaced, but I was wondering about the benefits of changing the style.

5) Can I upgrade to 1.75inch shafts during the next off season and still use the 454's? (I want to get as much of the conversion done while I have the boat out during the off seasons so that I can basically just drop the cummins in place.)

Sorry about the length of this and of course....thanks for all your comments in advance!

Jack