"Have you considered the YAMAHA 150 4 stroke?"

I haven't only because it's a heavier motor than the DF140. I don't need hole shots or high top speed. If money wasn't that much of an issue, then I would get the DF140. I may still get it but my decision making gets clouded when I see 150 Optimax's and Etecs for $8500, whereas the DF140 would probably be at least a grand more.

I have also seen the ford logos on the cams and some other internal components but I never heard it was a Focus motor. To my understanding the only motor that the folks at Yamaha ever admitted to making was the early Taurus SHO motor. Thats kinda like when people say the 130 Honda is a Civic motor. It's not,trust me. Just shared technology.

thats what they told me at Yamaha school, I imagine the block is a different casting to accomodate the verticle arrangement, but the basic design is based on the Focus motor

It's not much different than the 140 SUZUKI. It is nothing more than an old SUZUKI SAMURI engine marinized. Learned that one from when they first came out. The local dealer had one that failed on it's first start, spun a rod bearing. SUZUKI paid for a completely new engine and had him fix the old one. When he went to order parts for it he found out that SUZUKI didn't list bearings in undersizes yet, so he went to NAPA and ordered ones for a SAMURI. Low and behold the SAMURI bearings were the same part number as the marine ones except they had an extra 3 digit code at the end of them.

Thats cool. I went to Yamaha school too. This past January in Atlanta. They never mentioned anything like that. But then again I never asked. You learn something new every day.
Ferm I can understand what your saying but there is no way any Suzuki Samari ever even came close to making 140hp.

how the heck do you get such bad fuel economy with that merc?
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4...TestDay009.jpg

http://www.wellcraftv20.com/communit...ead.php?t=7411

We went 80 miles recently in MJ's 23 seaox with a hardtop + 200lbs of cod (1985 2.4L merc 175) turning 4500 - 5000rpm (trying to keep up with his buddies 23 contender) and only burned 30 gallons.

I will throw in my .02 here.

I have a E-Tec 200HO on my V-20--running out in the Pacific ocean--NW--I average around 3.5 MPG with a heavy load and big current and seas. I have run over 200 miles on 54 gallons. This is my second year with this motor and my review is----AWESOME running motor. I have had different brand motors over the last40 years--this is by far the best so far. Now I imagine with a 150 E-Tec you should be able to get 5mpg if you run itin the sweet spot. The new tach does have a built in flo scan for monitoring your fuel burn along with other items that are way past due on outboards--temps on everything, even the lower end and fuel pressure, water pressure,water temp, engine temp and more.

I would not want the extra weight of the 4 stroker on the back of mine (of course I could have gone smaller on the motor size). I also really like the winterization feature of the E-Tec--takes about 3 minutes to store for the winter.

Hey, that's my boat. I'm running a 225 Opti (99) on a proline 231 now and love it.

The pic below is from my 87 V20 running an 88' Merc 150 2.0l Blackmax.

ETEC 200 HO dry weight 524
DF140 dry weight 421

My "winterizing" takes as long as pouring Stabil in the last tank of the season.....its worked fine so far, since 03.

Of course the ETEC will absolutly smoke my little 140, but I get 5 mpg.....its all a trade off.

I don't have to pour oil in a reservoir, but I have to change my oil.

You won't be unhappy with a DF140 though, I love mine.

[QUOTE=randlemanboater;152554]ETEC 200 HO dry weight 524
DF140 dry weight 421


E-tec 200HO---509lbs from Evinrude.

DF 140--------421lbs pr Suzuki

For me that equals one nice halibut or 3 nice Albacore tuna(with no limit)--LOL

You do get the better fuel burn for sure--it is a give and take--as most things in life. There are alot of guides running those DF 140's up in British Columbia.

But I can open up if needed into the mid or upper 40's and still not work the motor. I do some Tuna tournaments off shore--where speed can be king sometimes. So as stated--depends on needs and wants.