GM makes ALL of the marine ski/wake engines today

[funkcity]

Re: GM makes ALL of the marine ski/wake boat engines today.

What will happen?

This is a small part of their business.

Will they continue?

Where will Indmar, PCM, Mercury, Crusader etc... get their motors?

[electricjohn]

WHAT ABOUT NASCAR?

[hookblade]

The government now owns 60% of GM, they will still keep rolling.

[aaudii5150]

IMO this will have no effect on us......

[CrazyTegger]

IMO this will have no effect on us......

Indmar may have to do a little more R&D

[electricjohn]

The V-8 engine is probably one of their profitable markets, considering the engine is pretty much unchanged in 30 years. It won't go nowhere.

[XTI04]

Obama will bail us out

[eyepeeler]

Has everyone received their bail-out check? Let's see...12 trillion bail-out divided by 300 million people in U.S. should be a pretty good check per person.

[Bill_AirJunky]

Obama will bail us out

Hehe, you heard him say it too, huh. Believed every word too, huh.

Maybe they will do like PCM did when Ford stopped building the 351...... just order a million blocks & head castings.

Edited June 3, 2009 by Bill_AirJunky

[WakingMeHappy]

Obama will bail us out

But I thought it was Al Gore who was going to save us!

[Sixball]

I don't think the small block Chevy will be going away soon.

If it did i bet ford would pick it up. I would think its a nice market but not for more then one manufacture. If nether wanted to do anything with the market I bet an aftermarket suppler would appear in a flash. there are small block casting blocks & heads from other suppliers out there. You wake boarders my need some more ballast I think most or all are all aluminum.

How about a Hermie?

[martinarcher]

I won't ever own a boat with a Fia.....I mean Hemi motor in it.

The GM smallblock isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Even so, I wouldn't mind seeing a Bu with Fords new Stang powerplant. How about a Malibu Wakesetter Super Snake.

[shade]

I expect the GM 350 will be around for a long time to come. Just becuase GM files chapter 11 doesn't mean they are all toghether dead. The 350 has to be the most common engine in the US (at least as far as V8s are concerned). Now the 8.1L on the other hand may have a very short life expectancy I would imagine. It's a low production, realatively high cost, gas hog that is no longer offered in GM trucks (if I'm not mistaken).

Yes, PCM switched from Ford to GM engines, but not because you can't get 351Ws anymore. There are lots of manufacturers still making 351s in cast iron or aluminum, including Ford. My guess is that when Ford stopped MASS producing the 351 for their trucks it got alot cheaper for PCM to marinize the already less expensive GM350. Thus it was a no brainer for them to switch from Ford to GM. I don't know if this is exactly how the change was made, but financially it makes sense. After all, if you follow the money trail it will usually lead you to the answer.

We may see Indmar and PCM switch from the 350 to newer GM V8 engines in the future. Like the LS series they use in trucks (4.7 and 5.3L). They are already putting a 6.0L in CCs and MCs. Maybe we'll see active fuel management where the engine cuts back to 4 cylinders when less power is required. I may go for that considering I burned 55 gallons of gas this past weekend!

[DONTW8]

The GM 350 will be produced for a very long time.

That being said the sweet Toyota i-force 5.7 engine is more efficient due to overhead cam versus pushrod. 382 ponies and good gas mileage to boot.

[shade]

The GM 350 will be produced for a very long time.

That being said the sweet Toyota i-force 5.7 engine is more efficient due to overhead cam versus pushrod. 382 ponies and good gas mileage to boot.

Define good gas mileage

[johnsvt]

The GM 350 will be produced for a very long time.

That being said the sweet Toyota i-force 5.7 engine is more efficient due to overhead cam versus pushrod. 382 ponies and good gas mileage to boot.

Define good gas mileage

That overhead cam motor is nothing special and is a much bigger and more complex package than the good ol smallblock chevy.

[Sixball]

Ford drooped the marine engine, cost cutting I believe. I thought they looked at coming back in 3 or 4 years ago?

[funkcity]

This is the current Marine Engine "Portfolio" from GM Powertrain.

http://www.gm.com/experience/technology/gm...ine_engines.jsp

It's a terrific lineup!

Check out the new 6.0 supercharged (LST)

and the new 6.2 supercharged (LSA).. which is basically the Cadillac CTS-V engine WOW!

It makes marinizing a lot cheaper to the Indmars and the PCMs of the biz.

GM Powertrain is laying off folks and shutting down operations in certain locations.

Some of these engines are built in Mexico.

I cannot imagine them continuing 11 separate marine engines!

[funkcity]

The GM 350 will be produced for a very long time.

That being said the sweet Toyota i-force 5.7 engine is more efficient due to overhead cam versus pushrod. 382 ponies and good gas mileage to boot.

Define good gas mileage

That overhead cam motor is nothing special and is a much bigger and more complex package than the good ol smallblock chevy.

The OHC engine just costs more to manufacture. Ford was somewhat jealous when the Camaro motor could be built for less money than the 4.6 OHC variants... and it was smaller on the outside and fit in tighter engine bays. And with today's electronics you can still do Variable Valve timing as well on the OHV.

Also...Don't forget about Toyota's engine problem with THAT motor. Camshaft problem if I remember.

[Toby]

IMO this will have no effect on us......

Indmar may have to do a little more R&D

hopefully into lithium ion battery packs and electric motors...

[MalibuNation]

I won't ever own a boat with a Fia.....I mean Hemi motor in it.

The GM smallblock isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Even so, I wouldn't mind seeing a Bu with Fords new Stang powerplant. How about a Malibu Wakesetter Super Snake.

I'd take a Hemi if it had as much R & D in the marine world as the Chevy 350. How many of you remember Chryslers power in boats?

I'll close this with what does FIAT stand for? Fix It Again Tony.

[Toby]

Has everyone received their bail-out check? Let's see...12 trillion bail-out divided by 300 million people in U.S. should be a pretty good check per person.

so will your tax bill when you the comrade has to pay for all these bail outs.. USD=

[Toby]

I'll close this with what does FIAT stand for? Fix It Again Tony.

cause that makes sense... like if budweiser ended up selling out to the belgians, it would taste just like stella artois..

[hattric73]

GM is bankrupt not ceasing operations. They might shut the factory down for a bit...but I am sure there is plenty of inventory! I would imagine if they can make money they would open a factory up!!!!

[funkcity]

I won't ever own a boat with a Fia.....I mean Hemi motor in it.

The GM smallblock isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Even so, I wouldn't mind seeing a Bu with Fords new Stang powerplant. How about a Malibu Wakesetter Super Snake.

I'd take a Hemi if it had as much R & D in the marine world as the Chevy 350. How many of you remember Chryslers power in boats?

I'll close this with what does FIAT stand for? Fix It Again Tony.

According to some well placed GM engineers much of the new Hemi looks very similar to the new Aluminum Vortec GM engines.

They said "Imitation was the sincerest form of flattery". In this case they copied the right guy!

And the Hemi can also be enlarged (think SRT) just as GM does.

For Ford you would have to get a one-off block.. like a Roush.

Ford no longer makes OHV engines

Remember the Ilmor Viper V-10 is also very popular with the offshore crowd.