Chrysler Marine 440's

[Runnah_dude]

Were there any major differences between the 440's produced for passenger cars and the 440's produced for Chrysler Marine in the mid-60's?

Thanks a bunch
Runnah

[Dick]

Reverse rotation, for one. Exhaust manifolds, starters, alternators, distributors, carburetors, fuel pumps, cams, gaskets. Anything else?

[Runnah_dude]

Hrmm....reverse rotation...what would it take to put a marine engine in a automobile, even if it had a reverse rotation? Can you reverse the rotation of the engine? I don't know...got a lead on one and was wondering if it was viable...

[Paul Precht]

The small blocks were made both ways, theres a good chance the BB were too. The crank seal area would be an issue although it could be polished and used with a rope seal. The blocks are thicker walled and desired in drag racing applications, Paul.

[adodgemann]

I had a marine 340 in my circle track racer. If the boat had 1 engine it would be a standard rotation engine. Bigger boats with 2 engines had 1 standard and 1 reverse rotation engines. The only differance is the cam and the starter. And if I remember right the plug wiring on the dist cap, ie, reversed. Years ago I replaced the cam in my buddies "left handed" boat engine. Had a heck of a time finding that reverse rotation cam. Marine engines are stout too, steel cranks, double roller chain and gears, 4 barrel carb. Small valve and port heads tho, for low end torque. On small blocks the crank seal was the same as a car. You can also make alot of your money back selling off the marine manifolds, pumps and stuff you won't need. That stuff brings big bucks.

[Runnah_dude]

Thanks a lot guys! I'm still debating whether to buy or not...

[DartGT66]

The seal itself is the same, but the grooves in the crank against teh seal are in to different direction. I don't know wether it causes one to leak or not, but that's the way they are. I believe the distributors work just the same, but it's the cam and oil pump driveshaft gears that reverse their rotation to the same as in regular engines.

[Runnah_dude]

Thanks Dart. Anyone know if you would have to make modifications to your (manual) transmission to run it?

[Dick]

Originally Posted by adodgemann

I had a marine 340 in my circle track racer. If the boat had 1 engine it would be a standard rotation engine. Bigger boats with 2 engines had 1 standard and 1 reverse rotation engines. The only differance is the cam and the starter. And if I remember right the plug wiring on the dist cap, ie, reversed. Years ago I replaced the cam in my buddies "left handed" boat engine. Had a heck of a time finding that reverse rotation cam. Marine engines are stout too, steel cranks, double roller chain and gears, 4 barrel carb. Small valve and port heads tho, for low end torque. On small blocks the crank seal was the same as a car. You can also make alot of your money back selling off the marine manifolds, pumps and stuff you won't need. That stuff brings big bucks.

That description of standard rotation VS reverse rotation is true in twin engine installations.

However, there are single engine applications that use a reverse rotation powerplant. It can depend on the position of the engine in the hull, whether it is facing forward or backward, and what type of transmission is installed.

I worked for an agency that had an entire fleet of inboard boats powered with everything from 360 Chryslers to 502 Crusaders. Every one was reverse rotation. It became an issue when the engine builders declared that reverse rotation engines were being phased out. That meant that these boats would not have engines available for repowering when the time came. The agency made a mad scramble to buy all the reground cranks and rebuilt short blocks they could lay their hands on.

[cageman]

My dad scored a 440 out of a boat a while back, it was reverse rotation, it was a monstrosity of a motor, the exhaust manifolds were water cooled or something. The block had some major webbing inside of it, he made some big bucks off of that motor, people were fighting over buying the parts, crazy deal. He is always hunting for boat motors. The motor mounts are the really hard part to find I guess. The last one he got still had wood bolted to them, like they ripped it out with a tractor before they took her in for scrap.

[charger_dan]

Originally Posted by DartGT66

The seal itself is the same, but the grooves in the crank against teh seal are in to different direction. I don't know wether it causes one to leak or not, but that's the way they are.

a friend of mine dropped a rebuilt 440 into his 66 coronet.
the thing did nothing but leak oil at the rear main seal, no matter
how many times the seal was replaced.

nearly drove him crazy, until one day he was describing the problem
to an old-school mechanic who said his mill might have a reverse-rotation
marine crank. sure enough, it was, with diagonal oil seal grooves running
in the opposite direction.

they dropped in a standard steel crank — problem solved

[Runnah_dude]

Wow Charger Dan! That story just explained a lot.


Runnah

[Skwerly]

I saw marine 440 crate motors on the net the other day and was wondering all this myself....reverse rotation didn't even occur to me! Thanks, you cleared that up for me too hehe.

[nhdriver]

The marine engines also came w/ sodium filled valves & valve rotators. The reverse rotation models also had a "spacer" to prevent the distributer gear from "driving" itself away from the cam.