470 question
 

Hey guys, I was just wondering what type of oil is recommended for the 470 motor, and also what kind of sparkplug and what should i gap them at. Any help would be greatly appreciated :) Thanks

sae 30w will be fine in most areas, if you are in hotter areas you might want to use sae 40w. I personally like Shell Rotella oil. IF you want to use multi vis oil, use Mercury's 25w40. Plugs, use BR6FS NGK's. IF you haven't allready changed over, swap out your points to a pertronix electronic conversion, its well worth the money

Agreed, I switched mine 2 years ago. Runs smoother and starts easier. I should have done it sooner. Cheaper in the long run. You'll save alot of money on points. I got mine here... http://www.vintageperformance.com/retrorockets/

HAVE NOT SWITCHED MY POINTS OVER YET....BUT IT IS ON THE LIST:zip:

Cool, thanks for the info :) I have seen the pertronics mentioned in other posts on the forum and it is definitely on my list of things to get. By the way, what should I set the gap to on the plugs? Thanks :sun:

I haven't fished on a 470 powered boat in many years but recall the alternator and heat exchanger being weak points. Other than that, I thought they were fine running engines with decent performance and mileage. My buddies that ran them switched the crank snout mounted alternator to an external model and one increased the heat exchanger size to keep the motor cool.

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I use 40w motor oil with about a quart of Lucus oil stabilizer in my 170, it seem to like it OK. I would also recomend doing the electronic ignition change over, it made a huge difference in starting and performance. I used the Pertronix ignitor and the Flamethrower coil, well worth the money!!

I'd have to give the nod to 40w over 30 just for the fact that those motors don't use cam bearings, teh cam rides on the aluminum block, when it warms up, you tend to loose some oil pressure, this is normal for those motors, it just makes you feel a little better when you glance down at the oil presure gauge on a hot day

Awesome! Thanks Spare, This is my first real boat and I know nothing at all about it. Im also partial to chevys and I guess the 470 is basically a ford, or at least half of a ford, but it does run pretty good for an old boat thats been sitting a while. The speedo was bouncing around 40 when I took it out about a month ago, I cant wait to see how fast it really does with my new gps. Im planning on doing a tune up this weekend and hopefully some fishing afterward. :party:

The 470s are good motors,,but if you do a search on the net you will find that theses motors get a bad rap....they have there problems but once you get the bugs out they are great ...some of the problems are

to small heat exchanger 3" should be 4"

stator charging system w/ water cooled reg. ''' change it out to a reg. alt.

starter take a beatting because of the big pistons... Keep all wireing clean

seals on the water cir. pump and cam ......a must change or oil will get in the oil

And that the bottom end is alm. and the head is cast Don't le the motor overheat or you will blow a head gasket

keep a good abttery in it, and run good cables, if you don't have hte 4" heat exchanger, start looking for one. And regardless of what the sticker on the valve cover says, set the timing at 4 degress btdc. If you can find a Rochestor carb(has two idle mixture screws) for your 470, you will like its idle and starting better than the Mercarb you have(one idle mixiture screw)