Repower planning for 37 Al Riviera

Salvage-Diesel

Kiwipushrod-Henning (Kiwi-Aussie banter???) Hope we are all having fun and learning. No offense given in below-good humor intended.

I said to myself I was going to avoid the $ discussion for a while as it seems folks are never quite willing to fork out the truth for the cash they actually forked out in these endeavors. Anyway Kiwi asked for your calculator, heck give me your checkbook/credit card and you will get no argument from me on a diesel conversion.

There quite a few 37 foot Roamers out there on the web now and I think I may have seen a diesel or 2 40' and under but dont recall specifically. I think if this were a turn key full restoration the value would be $45-50K tops. There is one listed on Lake Minnetonka for 2 years now and he has dropped from $100K to $85K and I hope he is really not expecting the phone to ring. I am sure he has $100K plus in the resto. If your serious about a Roamer diesel repower buy a forty plus footer with them already in. IMHO recreational under 40' gas or diesel does not really matter except to the offshore & bluewater crowd which is why most OEMs are gas.

For me total hull-mechanical-interior-exterior investment cannot exceed $50K with an assumed 10 year useful life.

Repower budget from my wallet $18-20K max, fully dressed engine, ex manifolds, cooling and trannies as well ie whole ball of wax. Push the upper end of that and there goes an interior/exterior treatment which resembles formica and roller brush and not the Homer treatment.

What Kiwi has hinted at is the SBC is the choice of the circle track and drag racer circuit and has so much flexibility that if even if you want to go super exotic you could do 4 SBCs for price of the most basic diesel conv and that might actually match to the useful life of diesel. My current set up has close to 1600hrs on a previous rebuild and seem ok to just keep plugging away till they crap out.

I just drove my International 4400 210HP DT466 diesel "roamer hauler" truck halfway across the country empty, approx 10MPG when light on the accelerator (65 MPH or less), avg $3.00/gal about .10 cents more than gas. Love that turbo whine. Get into that throttle above 65 or even the smallest hill 3-5 mpg. I got the truck for $13K, 430K miles, I think 1600 hrs. You can buy a lot of gas for a diesel fuel consumption payback.

For you 427 fans I have a 72 F100 w/390 reman ($2500) which gets about the same MPG and a lot more HP. Only difference is that puny little tank behind the front seat only gets you about 150 mi down the road vs the twin tanks on the roamer hauler cost $250 to fill a pop. Dont say I dont love FOMOCO, I just cant justify it anymore. I also have a 61 Chysler Newport w/361 and it flat out is a torqer. If you really want to be different go the MOPAR route like the sister Al crusiers from Marinette.

Can any you diesel guys out there, pick up another truck, take those motors out and put them in my boat, hook it all up to move the boat forward @ 40 knots max, 25-30 knots cruise, keep ability to fuel up at any big fresh water lake for under $20K. Maybe you could get a couple grand "Salvage" for the rest of the truck. If you can, or do a similar setup you got my business. There are other diesel issues but mainily its budget and relative simplicity. So as I stated in initial thread diesel is out of the question unless one can pony up to the plate on those figures.

RE Salvage

Yes here means junkyard/bone yard engine in a van or your buddies 82 suburban been sitting for 5-10 years in the weeds you pick up for $500 bucks. You really dont know what condition it is in and your going to spend a few hundred just to find out then do all the machine work etc...but it is "seasoned" your just not quite sure if its medium rare or burnt crisp.

The astute engine guys will understand the performance aftermarket guys like Dart with their own SBC engine block new castings are "seasoned" before the build up. The neophyte like me does not know what they actually do to heat them up and make them "better" but I'll drink the Kool aid that it really makes a difference. Personally I think its like $500 bucks for undercoating from the dealer. If I could go cafeteria style I would skip it.

IMHO, I beg to differ on the quality SBC rebuild price of $15K (I assume you r talking one engine only, or about right for two complete turn key motors). These short/long block combos are built with better bottom end components to handle the awesome HP (800-1000) power guys are getting out of these. Couple that with a low compression set up and I would expect one has a more durable setup compared to the over the counter mercruiser/crusader set and and certainly more than your mass rebuilders. A Dart "top end"-short block combo (kinda a long block plus) is about $4500-5500. Add cam, carb, ex, cooling, pump, ign etc... $2500-3500. I need some $ left over for trans & electrical and plumbing.

I dont want to raise the ire of the forum net nannies but check out chevy hi performance magazine engine builds and Dart @ dartheads dot com. By these guys real world dyno tests this is pretty basic stuff by racing standards.

Concept here is HP range 400-450, TQ range 425-500, runs on regular gas, fuel at any marine dock in the states, better performance HP/TQ per dollar than I can buy turnkey over the counter, $8-9K or less each motor, capable of working with applicable marine trannies or pick up phone and order a fully dressed 383 from crusader or the big GM. I dont know if I can get there yet, but its looking real good, either way, moving forward, strictly gas, strictly SBC for me.