Powerhead question
 

I have a question for the experts. I have an engine that I'm selling and this is what it looks like. It's a 1989. Would it scare you off?
http://i1033.photobucket.com/albums/...psbbc46f9d.jpg

I'd want to hear it run and do a compression test. But outside corrosion, while ugly, would not by itself scare me off. It's what's inside that's important.

I've run it on muffs and checked the compression. Ran great and the numbers were even. I had a guy come up from cherry hill today and look at it. He kept telling me it was mud and that the engine was underwater at some point. I thought maybe I was crazy in thinking it was ok.

That guy is an idiot.

To me it would depend on the price.

If it runs good and has good compression numbers, then I would take a chance on the corrosion at the right price.

I would want to see that pic above before I traveled to see it in person.

I second what everyone else said. It's all in the internals and how it runs. Now......a little cosmetics go a long way. Get yourself an electrically powered Dremel Tool and go to work cleaning up the corrosion. Apply a coat of zinc chromate primer and some fresh black paint.

I figured if I painted it, it would look like I was covering it up. Cleaned right up with a wire brush.
I originally emailed the guy some pics and video of it running. Here's a screen grab of the video, clearly shows the corrosion. I think he thought I would just give it away.
http://i1033.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3133bb5a.jpg

looks just like the 88 special on my McKee. One of these days im going to clean up the corrosion and paint the power head. kinda normal for those motors, tehy had a pretty crappy paint job from the factory

Yep, pretty well normal for an older outboard that has been in the salt, or any outboard for that matter. Heck, every 5 or so years you should pull the pans, degrease one, and respray it to keep it covered. It is all part of engine maintence to keep the paint touched up. It's going to chip off, and once it starts to chip it will start coming off in pieces. Your only choice is to clean it up and repaint them. I don't care how good you clean, prep, and paint one, it is only a matter of time before the paint will start to come off again.

That's what I figured. Would that be a deal breaker for you? I was trying to be honest with the guy but I won't be beaten down like I'm some sort of shiester. I figure I'd rather see the engine in its natural state than a rattle can clean up on the block.

If I could tell it was just surface corrosion and not block rot, then not it hasn't bothered me in the past. Problem is most people only know what they can see from the outside, and could care less about what is inside. From what I could see, the part that would scare me away would be the missing airbox cover.

In my experience if it was a deal breaker then the person wasn't really going to buy your engine for the price you were asking anyways. If someone wants to walk because of a little chipped paint, or a slight dent in some sheet metal or you name it, then they weren't going to buy it anyways. And GOOD RIDDANCE to them, because they will never be satisfied, and will haunt you for money back because it didn't run right, or they had to replace an impeller, or whatever. You don't want and don't need buyers like that. Be honest with the buyer and expect a little haggling, but charge a fair price and don't back down from the bully. Look, there will always be a some haggling on any deal. People want to feel like they got a good deal, whether they are selling or buying. It's normal. I always set a price in my mind that I want to sell an item for, then I add 10-25% to that price for haggle room, and I let myself be talked down to the price I wanted in the first place. That way I feel good, the buyer feels good and I know that usually the item won't come back to haunt me later.

It's there. It's only off in the photo. I bought the boat with an engine that the PO was told had a bad crank bearing. He had already replaced the lower unit when it shut off on him. His mechanic told him it needed an upper crank bearing so I got the whole boat for a decent price, as I was just looking for a boat to hang my 96 130 on so I could sell it. Turns out the control harness was fried due to a bad splice and the engine runs like a top.
When that video was taken I was in the middle of diagnosing it and/or winterizing it.

Destroyer, you know the ride from Cherry Hill to north Jersey. I was just surprised that a guy I spent an hour on the phone with talking about an engine would have an issue. I guess he thought my 89 was going to look like a 98. I just wanted to double check with the guys on the board to be sure that I wasn't delusional. I'm a stand up guy and I'm honest, maybe to a fault, but I prefer to sleep at night. If I sell something I prefer to be fair and have the next guy be able to enjoy my loss. Makes me a shot salesmen.

Striper, my apologies to you if you thought that I was intimating that you were not being totally honest. I never meant that in any way, shape or form. Just from your post here on the subject it's apparent you're a stand up kind of guy. Actually I was sorta giving advice to everyone here on how to sell an item, be it a boat, engine, car, truck or glass figurine. Making money is always good, but sometimes people lose sight of what is really important in life. I totally believe that what goes around comes around. Call it karma, call it whatever you want. To me, being able to sleep at night and feeling good about yourself is much more important than making a few extra bucks.

I didn't take your comment that way at all. I completely agree. I got the feeling like this guy wanted to chew me down without haggling. He made me laugh when he was staring at a casting line in the cylinder head and said it concerned him.

Yep, that's the kind of guy that will never be satisfied. AVOID them at all costs.

I went thru this when I sold my proline, I had one person after another try to tell me about my boat and what was wrong with it. I "educated" a few of them but got tired of it after a while. After that when some one started slamming the boat trying to get me down on my price, I just walked inside the hose and closed the door. It was a 20 ft center console on a tandem trailer that was turn key for $4000. I won't even begin to list the things I had done to it. People would start questioning the status of something and I would tell them I had just replaced, rebuilt, serviced or fixed it. The guy who bought it was a friend of a friend. He asked me my lowest priced, I told him $3500. He drove down from Raleigh, I went ahead and told him up front that if he offered $1 less, he just wasted a trip down here. He took the boat and enjoyed it for two years, sold it to someone else

I was thinking about that boat today Spare, a friend is in the market for a 18-20 center console. That one would have been a perfect match.

I love it when they call and low ball you on the phone without even seeing it. I've added a $100 to the craigslist price before. They say, "Well your ad says it's X price"????, I say, yeah, but i'm gonna charge you more.

Gets you a few akward seconds of silence.:deer:

There you go, leave it cleaned but unpainted, show the before and after pics and offer to paint if the buyer wants you to (for a little extra $ to pay for the paint/supplies).

That way they see its just surface corrosion, it cleaned up fine, and you are not hiding anything with new paint.

BTW, I sold the Merc 150 that came on my V on Ebay, got more than I wanted for it and with the video of it running on the ad, there were plenty of bidders.

Funny thing is, that boat ended up coming back down here, its up on Lake Moultrie with some fishing guide. I haven't seen it. I hear he put a new four stroke on it.