[THEFERMANATOR]

Originally Posted by spareparts

sounds fishy, if you look on the power-head, on the top side there is an aluminum "freeze plug" that will have the serial number of the "new" power head on it so you can confirm what it is. If he is advertising the engine as a 99, its not a 99, its a 93 with a used power head on it

OMC stopped doing the model number on the powerhead around 90 or so, so that most likely won't do you any good. It will have a number on it, but a dealer has to break it down. I couldn't find any info on the 94 238, but the 95 238 lists a 25" shaft. The engine situation sounds fishy to me, and I wouldn't even consider it without a sea trial. Unfortunately I know your coming into your boating season up that way, and boat prices are skyrocketing.

I just went and looked up 4 different 238's, and they all had 25" engines on them. I did notice they had a small cutout made in the center of the transom for the 25" engine to sit low enough, so there is a chance it could have had a 30" engine put on it. Since he says it had a powerhead swap done, there is another issue that could arise from it. Around 93 OMC changed the length of the driveshaft and made it longer for the new style cranks in the fingerport engines. An early lower will bolt on, but will not have very much spline engagement into the powerhead. It is unclear if the switch took place in 93 or 94 as like I said earlier 93 is redheaded stepchild for the 200/225's. From what you are saying I wouldn't offer him but what you feel the hull and trailer are worth as you could be getting into somebody elses basket case of parts for an engine. So if you buy it I would find somebody who KNOWS OMC's of this era VERY well and have them go over it and see what is what.