swaping out 360 for 454 in my tricabin?

kevin babineau · Post by **kevin babineau** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 10:10 am

i have a f36 flybridge that has been converted to 454s with vdrives... the hull is pretty rough, window smashed, decks rotted, interior been gutted and any sellable metals have been stolen (rudders cut off, steering plumbling, battery cables, a/c, and the fresh water heat exchange tanks).. the 454s have compression but i havent run them. now i have a tricabin with 2 360s that have antifreeze in the cylinders. if i get the 454s running and they check out has anyone repowered their chryslers with mercruiser gm power? i hate to see the f36 flybridge so to the scrap heep but im in love with the tricabin...

aaronbocknek · Post by **aaronbocknek** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 12:19 pm

kevin, unless you plan on modifying the aft bunks, i'm not sure that 454's will not fit in the current 'footprint'. those engines are also heavier than what is in there now, and, granted, while at cruise you can trim up w/ the tabs, but sitting at the dock an already tail heavy boat will be even more tail heavy. i remember an article from december 1971 for the 'new' f-36 tri cabin and the boat had two engine options, both short blocks. chrysler or mercs. by the time dad purchased the boat, trojan only offered the chrysler 280hp engine and that was in february of 1972.

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 1:16 pm

First a F36 fly bridge will not have V Drives , second I believe Aaron meant small blocks not short blocks , the 280 hp was a big block mopar BTW ( 383 or 400 cid) I have seen the rear engine tri cabins with 440 Big blocks installed no issues . I don't see a issue with 454s but you will have to use the v drives you have now .

aaronbocknek · Post by **aaronbocknek** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 1:24 pm

prowlersfish wrote:First a F36 fly bridge will not have V Drives , second I believe Aaron meant small blocks not short blocks , the 280 hp was a big block mopar BTW ( 383 or 400 cid) I have seen the rear engine tri cabins with 440 Big blocks installed no issues . I don't see a issue with 454s but you will have to use the v drives you have now .

thanks for watching my '6' paul. i'm still new to some of the terminology. the 280's on bubala 3 were 440's. do you think the v-drives will match up to the 454's? do you foresee any problems mounting wise? if i remember, those chryslers fit pretty tight. when you removed the side engine access hatches, that flame arrestor was just underneath the bottom of the plywood for the bunk. it's a pretty tight fit. but, it would be cool if he could 'recycle' his old engines from one boat to the other. that would save $$$.

kevin babineau · Post by **kevin babineau** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 1:37 pm

when i said vdrives i meant velvet drives...i was wondering if the bellhousing on the sedan borg and warner 1.91:1 will bolt to the borg and warner in the tricabin or are the bell housings universal?...now i am concerned about the more weight from the 454.... anyone have any suggestion? i see arron posted that his dad had 440s .. i hate to see the sedan go but it would save me money if i could swap out the engines..

aaronbocknek · Post by **aaronbocknek** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 1:40 pm

kevin babineau wrote:when i said vdrives i meant velvet drives...i was wondering if the bellhousing on the sedan borg and warner 1.91:1 will bolt to the borg and warner in the tricabin or are the bell housings universal?...now i am concerned about the more weight from the 454...

i'm not sure about that. the velvet drives that is. as for the weight, she will sit lower in the stern that's for sure. by how mcuh, i'm not sure. you might even have to 'reprop'. then again, i'm not totally certain on that one either. paul? suggestions for this guy?

kevin babineau · Post by **kevin babineau** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 1:51 pm

the stats online (not sure of how accurate) are 360 weighs 550# and the 454 weighs 685#

kevin babineau · Post by **kevin babineau** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 1:56 pm

here is one a 74 with 454s
http://marinesource.com/boats-for-sale/ ... 00657.html

aaronbocknek · Post by **aaronbocknek** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 3:02 pm

kevin babineau wrote:here is one a 74 with 454s
http://marinesource.com/boats-for-sale/ ... 00657.html

ahhhhh i learn something every time i log on here!! when i hear '454's, i generally think of crusaders. never once did i imagine a 454 merc. okay, my bad. now, kevin, do you have crusaders or mercs on your 36 sedan?
i tried looking at the pics from marinesource regarding the 74 tri cabin. it's a shame they don't include pics of the engines. i wish more folks and brokers would do that. cosmetics is one thing. i want to see the meat and potatoes of the boat. that's what really gets my attention. thanks kevin for pointing me onto the mears point site. too bad mike (mears point broker) is such an SOB. i actually looked at an 85 tri cabin before buying what i have, and he was too busy texting to answer any of my questions. which he had no answers for. i guess i was too low end for him.

did you notice how the back bulkhead was redone on that one too?

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 7:28 pm

kevin babineau wrote:when i said vdrives i meant velvet drives...i was wondering if the bellhousing on the sedan borg and warner 1.91:1 will bolt to the borg and warner in the tricabin or are the bell housings universal?...now i am concerned about the more weight from the 454.... anyone have any suggestion? i see arron posted that his dad had 440s .. i hate to see the sedan go but it would save me money if i could swap out the engines..

The Borg warner from the tri ( 360 engines) will bolt to the bell housing on the 454 as it has Borg warner gears , Most likely the 454 has 72 gears and the tri has 71 ( could be 72) the will inter change , however the 71 will not take as much power as a 72 . But as long as you don't abuse it there should be no problem , same goes for the Walter V-drives . Keeping it propped light will help . as far as the added weight I would not worry its not enough to be a big deal on that size boat may not be much difference from a 440 to a 454 that many had .

kevin babineau · Post by **kevin babineau** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 12:07 am

thanks prowlerfish... i am going to go forward with the 454 swap and i have researched other tricabins and there are tricabins listed with 454s...i did look up the link on this site about trojans and it said that the max hp rating was 280hp...this does concern me on weither the hull structurally will handle the added weight in the aft end on the boat...my engines are aft not in the salon..any thoughts?

kevin babineau · Post by **kevin babineau** » Sat Jul 28, 2012 12:17 am

if the 280hp is the 413 what i can find is that it weighs 640 pounds and a 454 weighs 685 pounds...i dont know if the 280hp is a 413 and if my weigh number are correct but thats what i found online... but over all that is only 90 pounds more for the two motors which does sound like too much. also my boat has the borg and warner 72 and walter 30

Vitaliy · Post by **Vitaliy** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:23 pm

i have twin 454's and walter v's in my 74 f36 and there isnt a single problem

kevin babineau · Post by **kevin babineau** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:45 pm

vitality..thanks..i sent you a pm asking if you could take some closeup pics for me...if you could that would be great.

Vitaliy · Post by **Vitaliy** » Tue Jul 31, 2012 5:55 pm

that wouldnt be a problem except for the fact that my boat is about 6000 miles away from me as im curently deployed

but ill drop an email to the wife to see if she can snap a few pics for you