1997 5.7L thunderbolt ignition. Slow crank

[findinghomer]

Oh and if I am able to do this, can change into one that's fuel injected? Or will that give me a bunch of incompatible headaches?

 

[nola mike]

Oh and if I am able to do this, can change into one that's fuel injected? Or will that give me a bunch of incompatible headaches?

A truck cam works fine, may need a composite head gasket and brass core plugs, though my 2003 block already had both. Stick with a carb. Your 97 may or may not be a vortec engine. If you got a newer vortec block and combine it with a 4bbl carb that would be a nice upgrade. Otherwise you'd need a non vortec block or swap your heads over.

 

[findinghomer]

A truck cam works fine, may need a composite head gasket and brass core plugs, though my 2003 block already had both. Stick with a carb. Your 97 may or may not be a vortec engine. If you got a newer vortec block and combine it with a 4bbl carb that would be a nice upgrade. Otherwise you'd need a non vortec block or swap your heads over.

Here are a couple pictures from inside of my spark plug hole.. is that yellow stuff rust? I did spray WD-40 in all of the spark plug holes. And should those be in that position?

 

[findinghomer]

If those tell you anything and you need some better pictures I can get some later it just got really hot out and I couldn't concentrate getting a better shot, my camera it's not that great

 

[alldodge]

Looks like rust to be

 

[findinghomer]

Looks like rust to be

Is it worth squirting some PB blaster in there?

 

[alldodge]

Is it worth squirting some PB blaster in there?

No
Your motor is acting like a bull dozer I bought. It would crank but only slowly. After doing most of the stuff you did, I pulled the valve cover like Mike mentioned and found water. After that I pulled, rebuilt and reinstalled the motor.

The cylinder walls were rusted up bad. This is why I wondered if the oil level was correct. Water floats to the bottom and you will not see it on the dipstick but it will raise the level

 

[alldodge]

CAT 3204 motor

 

[findinghomer]

CAT 32View attachment 417815View attachment 417816View attachment 41781704 motor

Oh wow, nice work! So the first picture is with the valve cover off the second picture is with the head removed?

 

[alldodge]

Yes

 

[findinghomer]

Yes

Ok. So I guess I'm going to start working on trying to find a new engine, And plan for eventually replacing it. But just out of curiosity on compatibility, if I were to find something like this , which looks like it's a complete drop in engine with all of the accessories , hoses, cables etc already attached and complete , this will bolt right into my boat since I'm taking a 350 out of it?
But I to were get one used from a salvage yard out of a vehicle, the base block will bolt right in, but I may need to scrounge around looking for mercruiser parts because my old ones may not bolt to that particular engine?

 

[alldodge]

if I were to find something like this , which looks like it's a complete drop in engine with all of the accessories , hoses, cables etc already attached and complete , this will bolt right into my boat since I'm taking a 350 out of it?

2 things
1 maybe but maybe not, it depends what the serial numbers is. Appears to be fuel injected and that's ok, but need to know if it has 10 or 14 pin engine connector? Also is it cable or digital controls?

2 that's pretty cheep for a new drop in motor, so is it new or is it something that has issues and just looks new?

 

[findinghomer]

2 things
1 maybe but maybe not, it depends what the serial numbers is. Appears to be fuel injected and that's ok, but need to know if it has 10 or 14 pin engine connector? Also is it cable or digital controls?

2 that's pretty cheep for a new drop in motor, so is it new or is it something that has issues and just looks new?

Oh ok, so need to know the configuration of the main harness? I guess that's what runs to the dash? So I would need to know if it's one of those 2 configurations, so any 350 V8 out of a truck would be one of those 2, and I just need to make sure it fits my plug? And I didnt know there was digital controls lol. I wasn't putting serious thought into buying that it just came across my feed and I thought..... "Hmmmm if I can repower in that price range I'd be ok, I wonder if it's easy as just finding any drop in 350" so figured id ask to get a better understanding of my options

 

[alldodge]

any 350 V8 out of a truck would be one of those 2

Partly another 2 different things

1 We were talking about a Mercruiser in your pic which can have a few different configurations, so make sure if you buy a boat motor it fits your harness. This is not to say you can also replace your boat harness and install any motor

2 If your getting a truck V8 from a junk yard (or reman short or long block), than this is not an issue with wiring. Your old boat wiring will work on the newer motor. The only possible issue is you "might" not have bolt holes where your older stuff would need to bolt up to. Not saying this will happen just something to keep in mind. The worst case is you would need to get some different brackets