www.iFourWinns.com

I recently bought a 1996 200 horizon and like an idiot did not check the oil. Needless to say the engine block was cracked. My question is can I swap out the 302 5.0fl with a 5.8fl 351w. Will there be any clearance issues and will my drive SX cobra handle the extra horsepower and torque. Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

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'96 200 Horizon 5.8l VP/SX

guess i will answer my own question. The engine fits with no clearance issues. However there are differences between a ford 302 and 351w. The engine blocks ARE different (contrary to public belief) but the bolt holes for the accessory are the same. The oil pan, oil pump, distributor, crank, intake manifold, exhaust down tubes, harmonic balancer, flywheel and a couple of hoses are different. As for the drive it will handle it I will just have to play with different pitches. So if you are going to do it yourself find someone and a good machine shop who knows what they are doing. Its been 8 months and I have yet to put the boat in the water. Come on summer let's see what it can do.

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'96 200 Horizon 5.8l VP/SX

Hey tad,
Why not just go back with Five-O??? The performance difference, to me, really, would not be worth the swap-headache.

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Jimbo
Na. Ga.

2000 170 Horizon LS
4.3GL

My neighbor has a '96 or '97 with a 351 (not sure if it's a W or C) and Cobra SX. Came that way from the factory, so the drive should handle it fine.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

My '96 200H had the 351. I think it was a Cobra though? It had the DP and ran close to 60mph.

I had around 400 hp with a 350 Chevy hooked up to an OMC 800.
It did just fine. The key to over power is how you drive on the bottom end.
This of course would go for most boats as well. If you Jack your thottle from idle to full power as hard and quick as you can, your pushing your luck.
It's the smooth transfer of power that you want to get positive engagement of all the gears and bearing loads.
If you have a Jet drive you can throw it down every time, and the same with most direct drives as the gears are not on a 90 degree with power transfer.

The rule of thumb I have used, is 3 to 5 seconds from idle to full power. Also, if you want a gain at all over the smaller engine, your 351 will want more air down the carb. At least a 600 cfm and up to a 750 cfm. If you go with Edelbrock, you can change jets, rods and spring to stay on the lean side and try to keep some heat in it.

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1992 Baja 38 Special Twin 502 Mags

03 Stingray 3.0
88 261 Liberator 460 King Cobras
95 Bayliner 1850 3.0
77 Fiber Form 20ft 350/385hp
70 Wescraft 1800 SS 455 Jet

Lead, Follow, or get the Hell out of the Way!

@fiz...yes the blocks are different. The 5.8 has a longer stroke, and thus a higher deck height, and a wider distance between the heads. But it is minimal...as you found out. I have done a few 5.0 to 5.8 swaps in Mustangs.

@pate...5.0 = damn good...5.8 = even better

@230mike...had to be the "w". the "c" was not used in marine engines, and has been out of production in cars since the early '70s.

@cincy...if it had a DP, had to be a Volvo I believe, and in '96 it would have been a joint venture OMC/Volvo I think. May be wrong on this one, but I dont think there was an OMC Cobra DP.

@jv...the factory FourWinns 5.8L 4bbl carb is a Holley 4160, in 600cfm vacuum secondary configuration, if this helps as a baseline for setting fiz up.

@infideltarget

Just an FYI and a piece of history - now I'm showing my age!... in Australia, the 351C was in production until around 1985. We also made a 302C - only difference was crank, rods, pistons. These 302C heads were the hot go for 351C as they are small chamber but large runners. This combo made great torque for street cars. Often used on Windsor blocks to make "Boss 302" or "Boss 351's".

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Alec

2006 Horizon 190
VP 4.3GL/SX, Sunsport

Yep mine was the VP duoprop. It was fuel injected EFI if I recall. So was that a Windsor or a Cleveland? I don't really know engine makes except what they are branded.

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Former owner of:
1996 Four Winns Horizon 200 5.8L VP
2006 Four Winns Horizon 260 8.1L VP
2007 Sea Ray 290 Sundancer

Current boat
2004 Sea Ray 290 Sun Sport Twin 350 Mags

Thanks Aussie! I was actually aware of that. I have seen some 351c and 400m heads put onto 351w blocks to create those Franken-engines before. Since the poster said it was his neighbor, and he lives in Kansas City, I felt it was pretty safe to say his was a Windsor.

Talk about showing age, I started driving when EFI was still "exotic technology"

If the "cincy" in your sig stands for Cincinnatti, then yours was a Windsor, and was one of the last group of marinized Ford engines. If you are in Europe, it could have been either one, but still most likely a Windsor, as I dont hink they made a marinized 351c even there. Even in Europe, the production numbers of the Cleveland variation were reletively small in comparison to the Windsors. Just due to economic factors and tooling costs, not necessarily due to one being better than the other. The Cleveland Engines just couldnt make the new emissions regs that America was enforcing in the '70s, not without a bunch of specialized parts. Ford was already making the 302 in large numbers, and since it shares a bunch of parts with the 351w, it just made more sense to concentrate on that engine for marketability and cost constraints, due to the fact that most of the emissions parts could work on both the 302 and 351w. So the large remaining warehouse stock of 351c stuff went overseas, mostly to Ford Australia, and Africa.

More than you wanted to know right? History class is over for today, kids. Return to recess now!