In the late 50s, Ford sold (from the factory!) a 534ci twin-turbo marine V8. Such a thing has some pretty impressive numbers: over 1300lbs fully equipped, 440hp and 660lbf-ft of torque at a mere 3300rpm…ok, maybe one impressive number and two kinda not so impressive numbers. Aside from its size, the 534 SeaMaster sports an impressive intake arrangement: A pull-through carburetor system that feeds mixed air/fuel through twin turbochargers into a water-cooled intake plenum.
But let’s take a step back: I stumbled on this sweet ’57 Mercury Wagon with a claimed 368ci V8, an engine I’d never heard of. Turns out it’s the top dog of the Lincoln (not Ford) Y-Block family, good for up to 300hp and 400ish lb-ft of torque. Ford phased out the Y-Blocks in the late 50s in favor of the Windsor, FE, MEL and Super Duty engine families. Super Duty…? Turns out Ford applied the name to a line of giant-block truck engines long before it became synonymous with Brodozers. These were industrial engines, meant to make big torque at low speeds for hundreds of thousands of miles, which explains the relatively lousy HP/lb stats they post. Like many industrial engines, they found their way into boats, but because boats (typically) have no transmission, they tend to need more high-end power than many-geared over-the road trucks. Thus: twin turbos on the 534!
Once you go searching for 534s, you’ll find this guy who pulled (and unfortunately recycled) two from a ’69 ChrisCraft he’s redoing, this sweet thread on the H.A.M.B. with ex-truckers and Ford mechanics speaking highly of the motor, and finally this great thread on a ChrisCraft forum with the original brochures, from which we pulled a selection.
534ci Twin-Turbo Super Seamaster is Here to Shame Your GM Twin-Six
18 responses to “534ci Twin-Turbo Super Seamaster is Here to Shame Your GM Twin-Six”
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Mike Nelson, call your office.
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I’m surprised to see (off-road) factory turbocharging from the ’50s. Turbos, of course, came online in WW2 planes, but then there’s the big gap to the first Corvair and Olds turbos. When did turbo diesels become the norm?
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Not sure about turbo diesels, but SAAB has always claimed to be the first regular car producer employing turbos. Volvo held the factory turbo diesel speed record for a while in the late 70s and/or early 80s – so I assume there was little competition.
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GM had turbos on Corvairs and Oldsmobiles in the early 1960s, About 15 years before Saab. The Saab 99 Turbo was introduced in 1978, the same year as Buick V-6 Turbos. Saab was probably the first 4-door European Turbo.
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The 1974 BMW 2002 Turbo also beat Saab to market, although it was more than a decade behind Chevrolet and Oldsmobile’s gasoline turbo production cars.
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My wife’s 16-foot aluminum bass boat needs one of these. It has to be more reliable than the Merc 2-stroke.
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I’m sure you could easily rig up something like this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Long-tail_boat_engine_Ko_Kai.jpg
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Whoa. Awesome.
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“Ford phased out the Y-Blocks in the late 50s….”
In the US they were used until 1964, but in South American markets about another twenty years beyond that. -
So what is the actual date on the turbo version of this? The attached brochures show area code and zip code. Zip codes didn’t come into use until 1963 and weren’t common until a couple of years later.
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Think the turbos were actually early sixties, on closer inspection.
The Super Duty line launched in the late 50s, but it seems the turbos lagged a bit.-
Downvoted, but with a smile.
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The only thing I know about marine engines is that if you buy a short-block from Pep Boys, it’s guaranteed for two years for street use, and only 90 days for marine use. Informative, I thought.
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who would buy short block from Pep Boys they probably use the cheapest suppliers they can find?
OTOH I can see your point on the warranty having owned 3 powerboats with gas V8 in them.
I can tell you they wear out a lot faster in a boat especially with a planing or semi planing hull even if they are OEM marine engine builds vs ordinary automobile engines in a car or lt. truck .
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The 368 was the only engine for the Mark II, back when Continental was its own division. A Mark II platform was used for the Lincoln Futura, which was later transformed into the Adam West Batmobile.
If it’s enough engine for Batman, it’s enough for a non-caped crusader. -
I do want to say thanks for that build thread on the boat. Be it marine, plane, car, or motorbike (or anything really) a good build thread is such a great way to kill time.
It is pretty obvious why he scrapped the engines, they were total trash and he tried to get anyone to pick them up for free ahead of time. -
Back in the 80’s I drove a 1970 C800 fire truck with a 534. What a difference turbos would have made for that old slug.
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I had 8 of these monsters in 1977 at Naval Station Subic Bay Philippines. 10 hours on a turbo was the best we could get out of it. Had to mix avgas and regular mogas to get the octane high enough to support the fuel requirement. I became an expert on these things in a very short amount of time. I could tune them so good, the waste gate valves would open really fast, kicking in the turbo charges.
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