submerged evinrude 175

ok skoolz, the dude at the omc dealership got me pretty nervous about my bearings. he says i got about a ten percent chance of this thing workin out. he says that if i get it running it may flat spot the bearings and just when i think everything is fine they will break loose and start banging on the crank and blow my motor! after he gave up on trying to sell me a new e-tech, he tried to sell me bearings and stuff to replace at about 1400 bucks. on the other hand my buddy chris who is a damn good boat mechanic (he had a major stroke few months ago and i dont feel right askin him for help) says i should fog it and no worries.prob is he only has half a brain left. anyway he said he wants to come over and supervise from his wheelchair and help me get it running. it will make him feel better since he cant do much anymore. plus he insist on paying me back for the wheelchair i built at his house.
now its complicated. if we pull it off it will increase his sense of self worth and thats great. but if it dont work i worry how he will feel! he says he will supervise me through replacing bearings if i want. but i dont realy wanna. not sure the motor is worth the time and money. i wanna kick the pig all day long! watcha think bud?