[spareparts]

just use one of the smaller LS engines ( they made a 4.3 l V8 didn't they?), it wont over power your boat and will probably get a little better milage. Your problems are going to be in the EFI programming and in the accesories. Crusader has been marinizing the LS series engines so you can use their manifolds and brackets(expensive). Your going to have to use a speed density injection set up as the MAF style doesn't last long on the water(especially salt). My experiance with reprogrammed ECMs( from some very reputable supliers) has been bad, so bad that we went back to stock ecms, they only person I'll take a reprogrammed ecm from is Dennis Performance ( LIttle Washington, NC), he used to build most of the winning offshore motors before retiring( he built the engines in "Ohio Steel" and developed most of the blower setups that Merc racing uses). He wont have an ecm reworked unless he's got the engine on the dyno. If you have a complete repragrammable ecm( fatstuff, etc) you can probably rework it as you ride with your laptop, but be warned, feedback loops from the o2 sensors give a lot of problems due to the water mixing with the exhaust. You can buy a brand new ALphs drive from SDI.com for $1000-$1300 with a three year warranty. Better yet, give me that 6.0 for my 72 Stepside, and I'll scrounge you up a stock 5.0L carb ;D