1987 OMC 1.6L V4 Swap Labor Charge

Solittle

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Apr 28, 2002
Messages
7,518
My motor is toast. I can get a remanufactured powerhead for $26-2800.00. My wrench estimated his labor cost at $750.00 to swap motors. Is this reasonable??<br /><br />Howard
 

JB

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
Mar 25, 2001
Messages
45,907
Re: 1987 OMC 1.6L V4 Swap Labor Charge

Is this a Seadrive outboard engine, SoLittle??
 

RKwood

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jan 10, 2003
Messages
49
Re: 1987 OMC 1.6L V4 Swap Labor Charge

So Little,<br /><br />Sorry to hear about your motor. I'm curious as to what happened???????????????? You may recall I have a pair of '84 1.6l Sea Drives.<br /><br />Anyway I swapped my starboard for a reman'd powerhead this year, and pulled the port powerhead to replace the base gasket. Did all the work with a buddy. The re-assemble went pretty well. The only issue I have is they are slight under ideal WOT RPM, but they are both that way some I'm thinking linkage adjustment.<br /><br />Anyway, the work really isn't that difficult. I say go for it yourself and use the $750.00 to upgrade other parts while you have the powerhead off!<br /><br />Good Luck, do let us know what happened.
 

93bronco

Ensign
Joined
Nov 11, 2001
Messages
962
Re: 1987 OMC 1.6L V4 Swap Labor Charge

i am doing the same thing rite now.<br />being the year you have i thought the seadrive was the same as a 120/140 looper.<br />atleast the seadrives i was looking to buy just for the powerhead were the same.<br /><br />when you said "bubble back" thats what i assumed.<br />must have been the 2liter seadrive<br />-<br />i would do it myself, you will learn alot about your motor in the process.<br /><br />i found 3 bad recirculatory fittings bad when swapping parts from old ph to new/used.<br /><br />also found tilt/trim gauge wires cut and taped so they were non-functional.<br />-<br />if you are mechanically incline and have the time go for it.
 

Solittle

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Joined
Apr 28, 2002
Messages
7,518
Re: 1987 OMC 1.6L V4 Swap Labor Charge

Thanks guys. As for my toasted motor - Thats what a mechanic told me. I'm not really sure that it is toast. Here is the story -<br /><br />It would start normally & run fine when at wake speed. When going up on plane the rpm for the port motor would lag, as it worked to get up on the step, the starboard motor by over 1000 rpm. At WOT the port motor would max out at 4300 rpm - the stwbd motor at 5400 rpm. After about a half a minute the overheating horn goes off on the port motor. One would imediately think that the motor was getting real hot and binding. But - - <br /><br />Other stuff - <br /><br />1.Water pressure is at 20 pounds at WOT and teltale is strong. Water pump is just over a year old. Mechanic went out with me and with the cover off and the overheating horn blaring away at WOT (4300) and he put his hands on the heads & said that the motor was not hot.<br /><br />2. Compression is 107 lbs on two cylinders, 100 lbs on one and 117 on the other. <br /><br />3. He pulled the heads - The motor was rebuilt before I bought the rig 8 yrs ago - One piston .020 oversized. One piston is rather badly pitted (detonation). The head for that piston also showa detonation and could/should not be re used. It has a couple of small pieces broken off the top edge of the piston by the exhaust ports.<br /><br />4. No major scoring of the walls on any of the cylinders. One cylinder has a "corrosion chunk" out of the wall of the casting about 1/2 the thickness of the wall and the size of 1/2 of a dime. It is right next to the sleve for that cylinder.<br /><br />5. No evidence of heavy carbon build up in any cylinder. All plugs a nice tan color and all look the same. Also good healthy spark to all cylinders. You could easily move each piston from side to side after the heads were off indicating that the rings are free.<br /><br />4. Carbs rebuilt as part of the troubleshooting. They were clean and had no effect on the problem.<br /><br />5. Gas is old ( 80 gal one year old with sta bill). New filters - checked fuel - looks & smells OK and the other engine runs fine.<br /><br />In summary.<br /><br />1. Seems like it is getting hot under load but don't think so. <br /><br />2. I have no clue what caused the detonation.<br /><br />The mechanic recommends that I buy a rebuilt powerhead estimated at around $4,000.00 installed or repower with a new 200 hp Yammy at around $14-15,000.00 (I don't have deep pockets).<br /><br />I am confused at this point both as to what is going on with the motor, what caused it (maybe more than one problem) and what to do. I am looking for alternatives. I know I could give it a stab to overhaul the motor myself but not sure that I would solve the problem as I don't know the cause. I could turn it over to a shop I trust for overhaul. I could buy a remanufactured powerhead. And I'm sure there may be other options.<br /><br />No problems at all with the SeaDrives on either motor.
 

93bronco

Ensign
Joined
Nov 11, 2001
Messages
962
Re: 1987 OMC 1.6L V4 Swap Labor Charge

the powerhead that i had failure on- also had the corrosion around all four cylinders down to the sleeves.<br />both the heads cleaned up at .010. which is ok<br /><i think> they were pretty bad.<br />book says .005 can be taken off block and .005 from heads not to exceed .010.<br />-<br />they have a vendor on this site that has up to a 24month "iron clad no fault" warr. its less than 3k for the powerhead.<br />-<br />i found that the corrosion around the sleeves led to head gasket failure.<br />but also the last shop that worked on it crimped one of the recirc. fittings and left hose off unplugged.<br />so not only did the guy i bought it from reuse the head gaskets, the shop mech aided in the total failure.<br />-<br />luckly for me i caught it when i pulled my plugs and they were clean, after a 6 hour outting.<br />4 scoured cylinders- but no melt down or pitting.<br />-<br />i have a spare block that i will use the other parts for, if this powerhead im going to put on doesnt work.<br />-<br />i dont think i would reuse the block because of the corrosion. its not going to get any better.<br />possible it could cause head gasket failure due to not sealing rite.<br />although you could try & clean it up, then try some jb weld.<br />anyway good luck
 
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