need advice on used outboard purchase...

[cterrebonne]

that should be a 2.0L. with those comp#'s i would pull the heads and inspect the cyl walls even before i thought about buying it. still 700 bucks if you know how to tool with merc i would buy it and put 700 bucks into for new internals and you basically have a very reliable engine.

[THEFERMANATOR]

I looked in the SIERRA MARINE catalog and it says it's an 86 150 according to the serial number, and it should be a 2.0L. Those compression numbers and the missing airbox are dead giveaways that somebody has been monkeying with the engine. It would make a ggod engine, but definately looks as though it will need work soon. I'll keep an eye out when I'm surfin to see if I can locate you a decent 2.0L outboard or at least a 2.0L powerhead. the 2.0L engines are pretty tough, and if left stock will run a long time. I have an 81 that needs new electronics, but other than that it is a solid engine that has never been rebuilt. The hard part is finding one in a 25" shaft as most of them were 20" shafts for bass boats.

[bsteckel]

i was thinking about driving over and looking at it ... it is at a local marina. what price is a deal that i cannot walk away from? not sure what these motors go for .. also not sure how easy they are to find .. lookd like it is missing prop and does not say if controls are with the motor.

i am afraid that the 200 hp fresh water yamaha (1992) i was looking at may be too heavy?

[willy]

Ferm, was my two 90's 150 Black Maxs the type you are talking about, because they were the engines that constantly needed attention, mostly electronic and or power pacs and crushed me for years ?

[THEFERMANATOR]

In the 90's it could have been 2.0L's or 2.5L's. They offered both in 150HP from around 91+. The switch boxes can give some trouble, but aren't normally that bad. No worse than OMC's powerpacks. All of them pretty well used the same electronics though if they were carb motors. Normally when they give constant problems with the electronics like you describe, there is a problem somewhere else that is actually causing the problem. Many times a stator will fail constantly from a bad rectifier or battery, but thet stator will get replaced and the other actual problem overlooked and then it happens again and again. Or switch boxes fail from the wrong stator flywheel combo or a bad coil, yet the switchbox is continually blamed when it is actually working fine but getting burned out by another problem.

As for what this engine is worth, I wouldn't go to high on it. These engines do pop-up from time to time with better options on them for fair money. I believe RM sold a nice one last year for $3400 on Ebay that was a 2.0L 150 25" shaft.

[willy]

Think hard before doing a motor bigger than a 150 if you are doing a bracket. Don't rely on the flotation that comes with the bracket to make it work, it won't. It will mostly help offset the weight being extended 25-32 inches further back and will barely do that.

[THEFERMANATOR]

The MAJOR point to keep in mind here with a bracket conversion is running on plane. A flotation bracket will offset the balance when idling or off plane, but once your on plane that 350-400 pounds is hanging out there with nothing offsetting the balance. Trim tabs on a CC with a bracket should be mandatory I believe from what I have read on them. Unfortunately some of the lightest engine options are also some of the thirstiest. There are lighter outboards than the MERC 2.0L, but they guzzle fuel. The 92 200HP YAMAHA you are looking at should actually be the 2.6L(I think) YAMAHA which is the same basic engine from a 150-200. That was back in the day when YAMAHA got sued by OMC for patent infringement when they directly copied OMC's engines and sold them as YAMAHA's. The first YAMAHA V4 could almost interchange internal parts with an OMC V4, and many racers run the YAMAHA electronics on there OMC's as they are almost a match for each other.

The 92 200HP YAMAHA is 390 pounds according to ther NADA guide, so it would only be a couple pounds heavier than the MERC. It actually weighs the same as my 85 140 JOHNNY-RUDE I have, so it shouldn't be a major issue with weight on it.

I reccomend you read this thread as WHATKNOT just did a similiar conversion with a 150 YAMAHA(same weight as the 200 your eyeing).

http://www.wellcraftv20.com/communit...ead.php?t=9006

[bsteckel]

thanks for the info .. went to the marina and looked at the merc .. looks ok, was told that none of these engines have an air filter?? just an airbox which they say this one has. they ran it and it has a miss, also can hear it run on the ebay ad. stated they do not know what the miss is from .. could be as simple as a tune up or carb cleaning .. but to diagnose it, would be shop charge at $98 per hour. they have the motor for sale listed at $1800 but told me to make an offer of $1500 and that would probably take it. ebay auction is still at $710 with 3 days to go. maybe i will roll the dice and see what the auction brings.

As for the yamaha, the major flaw from what i can find out is the shift rod .. was told you can see if it is broken from the outside of the motor, but to fix it you have to take the power head off. upwards of a $1000 bill. how can i make sure this used yamaha i am eyeing up does not have shift rod problems?

keeping fingers crossed one of these motors will work out ,, if not.. the search continues.

Brad