Crown Marine engines.

[aztecgold]

I'm going to go look at a boat this week with a pair of flatheads to use as rebuildable cores for my P-12. I checked the site with the keywords "Crown Marine" and got a few threads to check.

What should I be looking for in these marine motors? Is there a best unit to build for street use? I read there was a reverse rotation model, how can you tell externally? Could you get the marine engine in various displacements or was there a standard size? If so, would it be uncommon to find a 265 in a boat? I read somewhere the boats had forged steel cranks, myth or truth? Did boats have full-flow oiling systems too?

I haven't seen them in person yet, so I need your guys help in determining what parts can be reused/rebuilt for a car and what boat stuff can go in the garbage.

Thanks!

[Dodgeb4ya]

I looked for my NC Marine catalogs to try to find more info, but all I could find was this MoPar Marine parts book. It shows only a 251-no 265 under the Crown name. Hmmm.. I do know that the Industrial and Marine engines have a lot of differences compared to passenger car engines. I have worked on a few industrial engines and always had unexpected issues to resolve. Once tried to put a new 251 marine crank in a big forklift engine rebuild-rear flange had a different offset-Don't want to deal with that kinda stuff anymore!

Bob

[martybose]

You have to be careful with marine engines, as most of them used raw water cooling. That meant that they had outside water going through the block, and particularly if it was salt water they will be highly corroded internally.

Marty

[1937 Dodge]

I have an old Crown Marine brochure that lists a 265 CI with dual carbs. You would have to make sure that your get the correct engine rotation. You'd be able to use the basic block with cam pistions crank rods etc. I am running a CM cam in my 265. It had more lift than the stock cam but it was gear driven so I had to use a different distributor. The gear driven cam is neat in that the engine makes a different whirring sound. I also got the brass water distribution tube from one.

I would have installed a marine 265 if I could have found one that had run on the Great Lakes. They were better constructed than auto blocks since most onf the water carrying parts including the water distribution tube were made of brass.

If the block is in good condition and the price is fair grab it up. The brass air cleaners look cool on the engine too.

[greg g]

Rule of thumb for marine engines, starter to the front of the bellhousing regular rotation, starter to the rear of the bellhousing opposit rotation. The Crown in Crown marine usually refers to the manifolds and cooling adaptations applied to standard blocks to use direct water cooling. Also spark arrestor type air filters. Many of the manifolds use ehaust heat transfer to temper the water coming into the engine from the body of water that the boat is operating in.

[aztecgold]

We're close to the Pacific ocean around here, but the boat is inland, so it may have been a freshwater runner if I'm lucky.

1937 Dodge: What distributor are you running? Does it have an advance mechanism or is it a non-advance unit?

[1937 Dodge]

The original 265 distributor had a vacuum advance on it. My Langdon 12 volt

GM HEI also has a vacuum advance.

[greg g]

One other thing to watch for, many of the marine conversions had their transmissions mounted on the timing cover end.