Carburetor/intake and engine mismatch?

[Tex60]

The mercruiser I have is a 2.5L 1988 in a 1991 boat, well I decided not to try and rebuild the carburetor that was in the boat but not on the engine (it is in REALLY bad shape) so I looked up the engine using the ser # and ordered a carburetor it comes in and I check it's fit and realise that the bolt pattern does not match. My intake has a bolt pattern of 3 3/4 x 2 the carburetor that came in had a 3 1/4 x 1 7/8 Is it possible that they changed the engine but kept the intake from the 1991 engine that was in the boat? would a 3.0 intake fit on a 2.5? Is there any where that would have the bolt pattern measurement? If you have any information that would help me figure out which carburetor I need it would be greatly appreciated

 

[Tex60]

Re: Carburetor/intake and engine mismatch?

I have an update and a good one.........I continued to search the internet last night and found http://www.flyingfishcarburetors.com had some very good info. On one of the pages it pointed out where to find numbers stamped in the old carb, upon futher inspection I found there was numbers and after some work I managed to get them legible. Unfortunatly iboats does not have the carb that I need but flying fish does, well sortof he does not have one ready to go out the door but he can have me one in 7 days. The guy I talked to was supper helpful. BTW yes the intake is apparently from the boats original 1991 3.0L engine and the 1988 block was swapped in.