Outboard Repairs

[clayton86]

How are older evinrudes to repair? the reason I ask is there is a bass boat less the a mile from my house with a blown cylinder #4. It's cheap comes with a good amount of goodies with it but it has the engine issue. Now I can tear apart any gas or diesel engine rebuild it and slap it all back together tuned while blind folded even rotory engines like the old mazda's. However iv never touched a boat motor well not a outboard iv fixed my old bosses twin 302's in his charter boat but thats a 5. slow mustang that swims pretty much. I was thinking if parts are cheap to rebuild the engine it may be worth picking up sense I'm mechanically inclined I mean this is how I got my last few cars that were my "beater" cars blown engines I fixed em for next to nothing I have every tool known to man get discounts on parts and saved my self lots of money but would it be as simple for a boat also. Here is the craigslist listing for it http://buffalo.craigslist.org/boa/3220601464.html

[BKeith]

There are some things you need to know that's different than building your car motor but with a little help understanding the do's and do not's, they are still piston driven engines and if you have no problems with car engines, you should have no problems with an outboard. Granted a V-6 is kinda diving in head first but taking your time, paying attention to details, asking questions and listening to the tech advise, you should not have any major problems.

Now, for the engine, #4 being blown is a broad statement. That can be anything from reringing one cylinder to needing a whole power head. That can be from a couple of hundred dollars to a couple of thousand.

If it's just low compression, put it in a tank or lake, crank it up and see how it sounds, don't use a hose because it will be so loud, it's hard to hear those stange knocks and sounds you want to listen for.

If it's lock up, then you are taking a big chance. As a minimum it will probably need at least that hole bored, possibly a new sleeve and piston for it, and maybe all six.

Then next failure could be the ring locator pin came out, hung the port, busted the piston and the rod end went through the cylinder wall, possibly destroying the block and head. If a piston comes apart, it's very common for a chunk of the piston to get between the rods big and and crankcase and destroying both block and crankcase. Usually meaning you will need another block and at least one rod.

Just doing a rebuild, boring all six, new pistons, gasket set and a few other parts you will need, it's going to run pretty close to $1,200. There are a number of other small items you usually need, water pump, carb kits, recirc valves to name a few.

As is, that motor is only worth about $500 max, and doubt you will find any boat motor savage company that will pay that much for it.

[clayton86]

what about finding another engine for it around same range there are a lot of marina's in my area all with boats for sale all over the property along with engines. I know its another craps shoot because its unknown but would it be smarter to just shop around and find a like engine with like a 1 year warranty from what iv read doing a search finding other forums its a common route to take. I know the #4 Cylinder blown like you said is a very broad statement and its usually statements like them that get me the best deals because to average people they just know the engine is blown or transmission doesn't work, so I buy them drop the tranny pan and replace the plunger for reverse and away I go making out like a bandit. I know this may not be that simple but I'm hoping. I may call him later and ask what he knows about said #4 cylinder.

[BKeith]

Another similar motor and similar year model can cost you $2,000 - $2,500. Also understand, these motors love gas, I mean they really love gas in stock form. That's why the it's Johnson cousin has the 200 GT decals, the GT stands for gas thursty. By the way, the Johnson and the Evinrude back then were the exact same motor.

The very first thing that needs to happen is to pull the head off and see what it looks like. If the seller is not trying to hide something, he should have no problem letting you do this. It's a very simple task to pull it off and put it back on. If nothing else, fix you up a small light bulb that will fit through the spark plug and long enough wires (very small wire) to reach the starter solenoid to inspect it through the plug hole. By putting the bulb into the cylinder, it lights it up so you can see inside pretty good.

Understand a couple of things when making your deal. Expect the worst, because that's a good chance as to what you will get. More times than not, as a minimum it will need a sleeve in #4. If it has be previously rebuilt, it's a good chance it will need another block because it's very common for them to be bored .030" on their first build, and that usually doesn't leave enough for a second boring. It cost approx $200 per cylinder to resleeve it so it's not cost effective to replace all six when you can find rebuildable blocks for a few hundred, even a rebuidable powerhead for less than $500. If the crank is damage, those usually go for $400+. The crank, block and lower unit are about the only thing of any real value and there is even any market for, so most people try to get their money out of these.

One major word of caution and you need to verify. Make dang sure no one has gone into it and modified it. These are very, very popular motors for people wanting to soup them up by doing port modifications and other things. The problem with this, every shade tree under the sun tries to do this because it sounds so simple and all they do is ruin a prefectly good block. They think it's very simple, when in fact, it's a very precision process to do it right and very few know how to do it right. I ruined about a 1/2 dozen blocks before I learned to get it right, even with one of the best in the country telling me how. If there are any signs or mention of being ported, most likely that block is junk and it will never keep all six pistons in it. It will constantly be blowing cylinders, and once it has be screwed up by some idiot with a die grinder, there's usually no cost effective method of fixing it. Just to give you an example of why they are so popular to modifiy, with nothing more than a different set of heads, (because that years models are junk) and the proper port work, I've gotten welllll over 300 hp and still keep the rpm below 6,800

Now that the 3.3's are getting more available, prices for the 3.0 parts (this motor) may be a little less expensive since the hot rodders are going after the 3.3's now.

[clayton86]

I'll have to ask him about all that I'm not even stateside and wont be for another 4 months so I wont be inspecting it till then if i were to get it or if it was still for sale its been for sale since before I left back in January just now hes got it listed on CL. I wouldn't be surprised if it hasn't been modded everyone and there brother in my area are hot rodders it seems comes with living in the sticks and everyone being a redneck.

[ww2farmer]

Clayton, I have seen this rig in action, AND the idiot who owns it. Keep your money.

[clayton86]

haha nuff said thanks