Mercruiser 470 re-engineered\remanufactured?

[stomp10]

Hi all!
I really don't want to beat this already dead horse any more than it already has.
I have spent much of last fall, spring and summer reading every forum out there in addition to all I have read over the years.

I am the second owner (My dad was the first) of an '81 Viking 16.5 Mercruiser 470-170hp Alpha drive. Its decision time for this boat. It still runs great but, it's also almost 40 years old. Boat has been garage kept and pampered its whole life. Overall corrosion is minimal. She sat for the last 3 years cuz the steering cable froze where they always freeze and no shops around me want to mess with anything that old... don't ask me why, its an easy fix for them and common replacement parts. A $10 air hammer from Harbor Freight adapted to a brass business end modded for this job got it done for me in no time at all. I could have easily gotten away with cleaning the solidified goo off the end of the steering ram, regreasing and putting the cable back in service as it still looks factory new, but I had already bought a replacement.
I can't see trading it in and having a second mortgage to pay off as I will be on a fixed income before too much longer.
I'm good with used, even vintage if the condition is good. I have found a few candidates on the web and elsewhere. I also don't want to be spending my retirement fixin' my boat.

Somewhere in my internet travels I read a posting about or from an outfit in Milwaukee Wisc think it was, that had "re-engineered\re-manufactured Mercruiser 470 engines" that addressed some or all of the engineering problems with this engine. I wanted to revisit this site again before I make any decisions but, wouldn't you know, stupid me didn't bookmark the site and browser updates have completely erased my history. Tech is great but when it just sucks, it really sucks bad. This has been my experience with it anyway. I don't remember the site I was on and I'm having no luck searching for it.

So, I'm hoping someone out there knows what it is I'm talking about.
Anyone?

Thanks in advance, for reading all this cuz you know, I like to paint a clear picture. lol

 

[GA_Boater]

Is the 470 running OK with no issues? If so, why look at replacing it? Most problems are from maintenance or none.

If the common gremlins haven't popped up over the years, consider her broke in.

 

[stomp10]

After I typed that part in, I thought to myself, "That part probably ain't gonna fly... Hope my post doesn't get deleted." lol
Thanks for that! Took me a couple hours to pecker all that out.

It's a great runner! I put it up every year with no gas in it cuz I'm not a big fan of Stabil. Just a quirky personal preference. Tank is clean every time I look inside. After sitting for the last 3 years we'll see what happens this fall. It may be time for a rebuild here.

Last few years fall has been the best for us weather wise and schedule wise. Seems like there's all these grandkids with summer birthdays eating into my water time, dadgumit!..... This summer, everytime I want to drag it out of the garage and set up the fakealake the skies open up and dump a deluge on us all, so haven't even fired it up still. So, fall it is, looks like for this year.

Put on a 4" HE 15yrs ago or more. It has a zinc in it that has sacrificed a lot of itself and made a mess inside I need to clean up, probably will ensure it's grounded to the engine. It probably isn't cuz I changed the 3" HE to the 4" and used the 3" mount by utilizing Liquid Steel to adapt the arc of the mount to the new HE. Works great but I'm pretty sure the HE isn't grounded anymore. The extra weight of the HE is also partially carried by a bungee cord around the HE up to the lifting eye. Sounds weird but it actually works really well. I'm all for simple fixes to complex problems even if it may be unorthodox. Just so long as it is effective.

The head gasket was oozing AF from the rear when I got it. '91 or 2 I think. Kind of a red flag there. I cheated.... dumped in a can of Bar's Leaks as a lot of hose connections were oozing too. Re torqued the head too. Most of that eventually congealed in the reservoir bottom and slithered down to the bottom of the HE where it still sits as far as I know. It'll get removed when I change the AF. All that said, no issues from that so far. Neither the head nor the hose cons leak anymore and still runs cool as a cucumber. I also believe in "If it ain't broke, don't even try to fix it.

I can't say I would recommend this fix to anyone else, but it has worked for me.

Surprisingly all of the rubber still looks new, but it is concerning to me due to its age.

Don't know if all this adds up to deferred maintenance or not but that added to some of the other engineering issues inherent in it's design is quite concerning to me moving forward.

 

[nola mike]

The engineering issues are non issues. If the voltage regulator goes, you throw in a $300 alt conversion. May have to do the cam seal at some point. Keep it cool. Otherwise your issues are going to be related to age and maintenance rather than the model of engine.