Trojan Boat Forum

My father just purchased a trojan tricabin for a cottage on the water. when purchased we found out that the right had side motor has a crack in the block. These motors have been changed before so I am told. The thing is if I am going to pull the motor I might as well pull the left one out as well. I have worked on many a small block chevrolet and just happen to have a stock rebuid sitting at home. Would it be wise to remove cam from my new rebuild and put cam from crack block motor in and I will also remove and rebuild left motor to match that of other one. Now motor I rebuilt has about 300 ponies would rebuilding the other one the same have to much power for the drives. I really havent had a chance to look to see how they do drive. I am looking for some help here. I have a 24 foot single screw with a 4.3 But i assume that this boat will only be docked unless I am around to take it out on the water.So if I do I would like to make it so we dont break down while the family is out and about in it. This boat is a 1980 and I assume I will be inherit it one day so dont mind spending the money fixing it up. just need some guidance and help on giving it fresh power.

If the stock rebuild you have at home is for an automotive application, the cam shaft will not work for you in a marine application. The power band created by a marine cam is quite different than a cam for the street. The short block you have at home may work well for you by installing the cam from the original marine engine as long as it's in good shape and you keep the lifters in correct order. Also, the compression will need to be the same as the other engine so be sure that you have the same pistons in both engines. Keep in mind that most marinas in Ontario sell only 87-88 octane fuel which can lead to trouble in a higher compression engine.

Also, unless your transmissions are V drives, I believe the engine on the right hand side of your boat is a right hand rotating engine. (Any other Tri-Cabin owner please correct me if I'm wrong.) This means that this engine will have a gear drive under the timing cover as opposed to a chain. Unlike the automotive hot rod 4 gear arrangement, a marine gear drive is only 2 gears which allows the crank shaft to rotate the opposite direction of the cam. Although the valve train and distributor will rotate in the same direction as the left engine, the valve timing is very different to accomedate the counter rotating crank. This will definately affect your choice of cam shafts.

Hope this helps,

On the right hand turing motor (backwards ) make sure you get a rear main seal that is correct other wise it will leak oil and if your replace a 2 peace reamain engine with a 1 peace it taks a difrent flywheel and pan ,and balancer

Also I think that all marine engines are 4 bolt mains and a standard street engine is 2 bolt. You can buy marine long blocks rebuilt for around 2,500 with a warranty. I would hate to see you put engines in just to take them out again. this happened to me but the warranty paid for it.

many marine motors are 4 bolt main ( not all ), however you will not have any issues with a 2 bolt main engine . I would perfer the 2 bolt main block my self. 4 bolt main block is just not needed .( been doing engines for a living over 30 years)

Paul wrote: Keep in mind that most marinas in Ontario sell only 87-88 octane fuel which can lead to trouble in a higher compression engine.

Not correct... ALL Shell marinas sell the gold high octane. Shell is the only supplier that will not sell fuel with ethanol for marine application.
So do what I do and go to only Shell marinas... or get Gold from the road stations.
Some other suppliers like at Britt and Killarney also sell non ethanol regular grade fuel at marinas... they just ship it before the blending stage.
There may be more that I don't know about.

I wish we had Shell marinas in my end of Ontario. We are very limited down here. Many marinas that sold fuel no longer do and many have closed completely due to the downturn in the economy. I regularly transport fuel from land stations to be able to burn premium fuel. It can be a real pain in the ###.

We love boating so we do what we have to to do it well.

Seems there is a lot of misinformation regarding fuel containing 10% Ethanol in Ontario. I operate the Municipal Marina here in Belleville Ontario (Bay Of Quinte, Lake Ontario) and was of the belief that I was supplying customers with mid-grade (89 octane) fuel containing 10% Ethanol. When checking with my supplyer, about stabilizing the remainder of fuel in my storage tanks, I was referred to the supply depot. What I learned was suprising, to say the least. I was told that I have been supplied mid-grade ETANOL FREE fuel all summer! Also, they told me that Ethanol fuel can only be supplied as regular grade fuel and was not available in large enough quanities to supply all of Ontario so, the higher populated regions, only, where receiving fuel with Ethanol. They (ESSO) went on to say that next year their regular fuel WILL contain !0% Ethanol. However, ALL premium fuel (91 octane) will continue to be Ethanol free. (that means all fuel companies, not just Shell). Because Mid-grade has been a matter of blending regular (87 octane) with premium (91 octane) at the Depot by blending these fuels 50/50 into the delivery truck, mid-grade fuel will no longer be available because fuel containing Ethanol can not be mixed with the premium fuel that is Ethanol free as "Phase seperation" will occur rendering the fuel useless. If this turns out to be accuate information, I will be pumping premium fuel next season. Opinions? Jimbo.

If that is the case your lucky . wish we could buy Ethanol free fuel here .
you get better mileage without Ethanol . less proplems . Ethanol is only good for 1 thing and thats to raise the price of corn. and that means higher food prices . and of course we pay more at the pump also .
Ethanol is a scam.