This is all third hand, but I believe it to all be true. A friend of a friend of mine used to work at a reputable Boat yard. A few years back one of their customers bought a rebuilt( I think) mercrusier 5.7 engine. While it was still under warrenty, something broke in the top end and the customer made a warrenty claim to mercrusier. Supposedly, it just needs one of the heads reworked. To the shops suprise mercrusier told the shop not to bother with the engine, and to just install a new one for the customer. For some reason they also never sent the old engine back. Anyway, my friend's friend who was the service manager at the time took the motor home, and in his garage its has sat for some time. I thought it would be a good idea to buy the engine, fix whatever is wrong with it and save it for when I need to repower my boat (1996 5.7lx /alpha 1).<br /><br />I haven't seen the motor, but I'm told its late 80's vintage, has extreamlylow hours and was fresh water cooled, so corrosion isn't an issue. It is really just the block and heads, nothing else. The price is $50. My plan was to buy this thing, and go through it, replacing anything thats worn out. Since it needs head work, I was hoping I could just put vortec heads on it. If I can, do they have to be a certain type (i.e marine)? I know I'll need to order a marine gasket set. <br /><br />Will this thing bolt up to my alpha 1?
