2.3 engine swap question.

[mrh1282]

Hello, I am new to this site and also new to boating, I bought a 87 bayliner last month for 200 bucks and it needs a motor. that's the reason I bought it. me being a mechanic for a living doesn't scare me away from installing a motor. For the past month I have done non stop research on this engine and the question I have is I went to the local junk yard so I can pull a motor from a 88 ranger 2.3 but while I was tearing it down I noticed there isn't a hole for the fuel pump. No big deal I can install a electric fuel pump like I have done on all my carb cars. Now is this the only difference on this block. I plan on using the block and head and swapping the cam from the old motor to this new one. Or do I need to get a engine from a carb car/truck to make this work? I've looked and couldn't find my answer. so please help.

Now I know nobody likes this boat. So please no negative replies. To me this is a hobby. For a 200 dollar boat and if i can have it on the water for less then a 1,000 i think I kinda scored, The floor and seat are in good shape and who know I might just turn around and sell it.

Thank you very much

 

[nedc]

I did just what you're doing last year on my 87 Bayliner which I bought w/ a cracked head and block 2.3. Found a complete engine from some unknown year, but it had the 8 plug head. So I found another 4 plug head and assembled the engine w/ new bearings, rings, gaskets and swapped the marine parts onto it. I did have to go electric pump for the reason you stated, but it is working fine. If you find a 4 plug head w/ the roller cam, just use it as is. That's what I did and it works great. Mine was also a very low budget build and I'm very happy with it. Been out on the water numerous times already- good luck!

 

[mrh1282]

I did just what you're doing last year on my 87 Bayliner which I bought w/ a cracked head and block 2.3. Found a complete engine from some unknown year, but it had the 8 plug head. So I found another 4 plug head and assembled the engine w/ new bearings, rings, gaskets and swapped the marine parts onto it. I did have to go electric pump for the reason you stated, but it is working fine. If you find a 4 plug head w/ the roller cam, just use it as is. That's what I did and it works great. Mine was also a very low budget build and I'm very happy with it. Been out on the water numerous times already- good luck!

Thank you very much that makes me feel alot better. I went and pulled the motor today and going to order a rebuild kit. so you kept the roller cam and rockers in huh. i was gonna use the old cam but i guess i will keep all the internal stuff in the motor.

 

[500dollar744ti]

I would use brass freeze plugs and marine head gasket when you swap it in.

 

[nedc]

I didn't change the freeze plugs and used a regular automotive headgasket too. Like i said-this was a low budget build and i didn't even know if it would work or not. So far, so good. As to the cams, there was a post on here from someone who switched from the 'slider' cam setup to a roller and his research showed that there was no difference between the marine cam and the automotive one.