Marine Outboard Engines?

[rv9ralph]

Quick question... do outboard motor engines have a vertical crank? If so, could they run with the crank horizontal?

Ralph

[Rik]

Quick question... do outboard motor engines have a vertical crank? If so, could they run with the crank horizontal?

Ralph

The outboards are orientated with the crankshaft rotation on a vertical plane as the bottom of the crank plugs into the midsection via a spline coupler.

The Mercury outboards are usually lighter than the Suzuki or Yamaha motors. Then again the midsection, lower unit and transom assembly might be where the bulk of the weight is.

With all of the outboard with the exception of the Evinrude being 4 strokes you can merely design an oiling solution for these when you mount them horizontally.

Mercury just started with a V8 lineup vs their previous inline 6 lineup. The overall package is comparable in weight with one another. The V8 comes in a 450 hp rating (probably actually dyno's at over 500) and they come down in ratings from there.