New powerplant for 1983 Vr207 - help please!

[WTFWT]

Dear all – thank the Lord I found you!

I have inherited my old man’s 1983 Sea Ray Vr207...

Having been used religiously every summer for 25 years, the engine and gearbox have now reached the end of their serviceable life and I want to perform a heart transplant. The rest of the boat is immaculate because to call the guy anal would be an understatement.

The work will be done on my behalf as I have neither the time nor skill to do this myself. However, I am in the fortunate position of having some cash to throw at the project. I realise I could just get a cheaper second hand boat, but this is a family heirloom and I have an irrational love for it having enjoyed so many happy moments onboard.

I want a turn-key, modern powerplant and naturally, being a petrolhead, I would probably want to uprate the power and go for Captain’s Call type exhaust system. At the moment she has the OMC 5.7 V8 (260hp I think).

What lump and leg would you guys recommend? I have been trying to read up on the stringer system you all mention – this site is a goldmine!

Thanks in advance for your input, it’s much appreciated.

:thumbsup:

 

[fc3]

Where are you located?

If you have the old OMC stringer type drive system, you have a very large oval shaped transom cut-out. You first need to find a good fiberglass guy to rebuild the transom after you have the old engine and drive removed. The stringer system transmitted all torque to the stringers, hence the name. Newer drives transmit the driving torque to the transom, so it must be rebuilt right! Doing a fill-in and cutting a new hole isn't going to do the job.

Since all modern drives use the same cut out, you can select any. Personally, I'd get a Volvo drive. They have a better reputation for quality. The engines are all the same except that Volvo uses industry-standard GM MEFI modules rather than Mercruiser's proprietary smartcraft units. They even did little things right, like painting the engines red so that you can easily find and correct leaks instead of black that conceals them until they become major problems.