I just bought another boat. My first sterndrive.<br /><br />It has a Mercruiser 3.0/181 140hp alpha-1 setup. The guy who owned it had a head gasket problem, and rather than taking it to a mechanic attemped himself to destroy the motor.<br /><br />All the cyls are rusted now. Prolly froze. THe head he left _outside_ so the chambers are _ALL_ rusted. Valves do move, but it obviously needs work.<br /><br />Anyway. I spent the last two days trying to research this 3.0 block. Other than the fact that it is:<br /><br />181 Cid<br />9.25:1 compression<br />Uses 4.000 inch pistons (same as 350??)<br />Uses 1.94/1.60 valves (same as 350??)<br />Is 140hp in marine form, but only 88 in industrial<br />form.<br /><br />Since I can't seem to locate a local one used, at least for what I think is a resonable price for a long block (keep in mind I have everything else in perfect working order). I'm curious what automotive applications use the same basic "block". I know the cam is prolly different, and can re-use that but. There has to be SOME vehicles that use the same block/head design, even if the bore/stroke and valve sizes are somewhat different. <br /><br />What will bolt in? Get me through the summer anyway.?<br /><br />-- Joe
