How yall do'in

[cfelton]

Welcome to the site! I'm with the Ferm, I'd stick with the 470 Merc. What happened to your old motor? I checked into changing to a 4.3 but decided is would be cheaper to keep and rebuild what I had! What year is your V?

Welcome aboard

[nipper]

I replaced my 4.3 litre V6 2 years ago with one I bought off ebay (brand new). The motor went for $4,200 bucks. Not being handy enough to install it myself, it cost me about another $1,000 to have it installed (not counting $900 to redo the stringers for mounting).

[Bonita Dan]

Thanks for the input guys. I've rebuilt the 3.7 twice already and aint gonna do it again. The dang camshaft cost $407 the first time and almost $300 the second round so I'm not looking forward to round 3 since it overheated last month and burned up another lifter. Great motor and cant really complain but the tow boat guys are starting to know me from my boat name and that aint good! Does anyone have any pics of what the new motor mounts look like when installed? I got a buddy down here that will do whats needed for a 12pk. of Natty Lt and cost of material as long as were on the same page as far as install goes. Yall like that Take a Fish Boating thing now dont ya. Yall stay warm up there,it aint much better in Florida right now,45 tonight.

[THEFERMANATOR]

Sounds like you have an early 3.7L without the updates if you have overheating. I know how it is once you've made your mind up, but I don't think you'll be as happy with a 4.3L as you were with your 3.7L. I'm sure you also know that an outdrive swap will be in order as well as new mounts and bellhousing. If your set on swapping, I would find a complete assembly in a junk boat somewhere for a bone boat.

[Bonita Dan]

Its an '85 model 3.7 and the new 4.3 is "supposed" to be direct replacement for it with the alpha drive unit. As far as I've been told,takin that with the ole grain of salt theory,is the only changes would be for the chevrolet style motor mounts and an adapter harness(don't know if thats made)for the 14 pin to 12 pin or vice versa main engine harness. Mainly looking into what has to be done with the motor mounts. Thanks for any input thought,its much appreciated. Oh yea Fermanator,isn't Zephryhills where they make that bottled water?

[THEFERMANATOR]

How does your current 3.7L mount in? Some have a single mount and some have a dual mount. The 4.3L will mount in like a V8 does if you use a new style 4.3L. The older 4.3L's used the same bellhousing and couplers as the V8's whereas I have seen that the newer ones use a bellhousing and adapter that moves the engine forward some. SPARE will be able to confirm all the differences as he is the I/O guy. I just do them as a hobby mostly. Also watch EBAY as new style harnesses can be had fairly cheap from time to time. You can use the early harness on a late engine, there is a pin change in them around 87 or 88 regarding the alarm circuit, but you can get around that. All of the 4.3L's I have seen use either a 1.65 or 1.81, and IIRC the 3.7L uses a 1.81 ratio(some had a 2:1). I see 3.7L's on CRAIGSLIST down here in TAMPA for under $1K about once a week still running.