1977 OMC 120 seems under powered

Number21

Seaman
Joined
Jun 14, 2008
Messages
50
I'm helping my buddy fix up a free boat he got, a 1977 17' Seaswirl tri hull with an OMC 120hp inboard. It's a POS, but we're trying to have some fun with it this summer. (I plan on buying a boat after the season is over) We took it out today and it seems really underpowered. It tops out around 28mph and just over 4,000 RPMs, and really struggles to get on plane. We tried to pull a tube and it could just barely do it. I don't think it could get a skier out of the water.

The engine seems to run really good. It always starts with a little bump of the key, idles nice, and sounds good. We plan on testing the compression tomorrow but I'm afraid it's going to be low. There is a bit of smokey blow by coming out of the CCV. We replaced the plugs/cap/wires and gave it a heavy dose of Seafoam. (both in the gas and in the carb)

Is there anything else we can check? Maybe the carb needs to be adjusted? If the compression does turn out to be low, are there any band aid fixes we can try? I plan on putting some 20w50 oil in it. Anything else we can do? At the end of the season we plan on stripping it for parts and cutting it up, so we don't have much to lose...
 
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Howard Sterndrive

Rear Admiral
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
4,603
Re: 1977 OMC 120 seems under powered

if compression test passes, remove the points mounting plate in the distributor and check the advance springs and weights for gummy residue or rust.
 

Number21

Seaman
Joined
Jun 14, 2008
Messages
50
Re: 1977 OMC 120 seems under powered

Will do. It does have a manifold gasket leak. (water spraying out) Would that cause poor performance? We should be replacing the gasket soon.
 

500dollar744ti

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 23, 2012
Messages
691
Re: 1977 OMC 120 seems under powered

Is the prop just as much as a POS as the boat? A beat up prop will really hurt performance.
 

Number21

Seaman
Joined
Jun 14, 2008
Messages
50
Re: 1977 OMC 120 seems under powered

Is the prop just as much as a POS as the boat? A beat up prop will really hurt performance.
No, it's actually in pretty good shape. (18 pitch) I'm thinking maybe we should go down in pitch if the engine is too worn to spin this one? What should WOT RPMs be for this engine?
 
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