1996 Mercury V6 135hp with bad cylinder

[redmen62]

I'm looking for a good little boat to leave at my folk's boat for tubing, skiing, fishing, ect (it's kinda hard to ski behind a 36' Carver :happy. I found what looks to be a great option on CL, but it has lost compression in the middle cylinder on the right bank. I rebuilt the Mercrusier 160 (chevy iron duke straight 6) in my boat last winter, but haven't worked a whole lot on outboards. Is this something I should be able to do myself?

Off the bat I was thinking do just the 1 bad cylinder, but now I'm thinking while I'm in there I should really just do a full rebuild.

I'm thinking in principle an engine is an engine, and I should be good to tear into it but wanted to see what other people have to say. Any advise, jokes, comments, or thought would be greatly apprciated. I'm sure my dad wouldn't mind having a little "buzz around boat" as he likes to call them

 

[Chris1956]

Some of those V6 Mercs are chromed, and cannot be bored, as I understand it. I do not know what your motor has, but Wired or some of the other experts will likely know.

 

[wired247]

Thats a steel bore 2.0 fat block motor. Unless its real bad it can be bored oversize. Even if its real bad it can be sleeved. Have a good machinist who know outboards check the cylinders. You can probably get by with just doing the cylinders that need it unless its heavily tapered. If you dont know anyone in your area that is trustworthy for this sort of work I suggest stripping the block and sending it to Chris Carson if you are in the south or Rucks machine if you are up north. Both have always been very good to me.