sell my motor as is or fix it first

[joza]

Good morning all!

Not sure if this is the proper place for this question or not, but, here goes anyway.

I bought a '57 Red Fish to restore. It came with a 1968 20hp Johnson motor. The PO said that it works but it needs points. How true this is I don't know because I had to rebuilt the transom on the Red Fish to have something to mount the motor to to try to start it... not quite there yet.

I've been looking for a 35-40hp motor for the Red Fish and found one, it's coming home on Saturday.

So my question is, do I sell my 20hp motor as is or should I fix it up and sell it? For myself, I was going to strip the stupid paint that someone put on the housing, get new decals and get it running if it in fact needs mechanical help. I don't know how to put in points, but a friend said he would help. I don't know how much points will cost or what sort of work I'm getting into.

Basically I paid nothing for the motor, in my opinion I paid $250 for the boat and trailer and the motor was free.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Man I love this forum!

j

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: sell my motor as is or fix it first

The motor is really worth nothing more than a parts motor unless it can be demonstrated to run. It's probably worth 200-350 bucks if runs.
If the compression is good, and you already have tools and the know-how, you can clean the carb, put new points/condensers/coils on, and change the water pump impeller for about 100 bucks.

 

[JB]

Re: sell my motor as is or fix it first

Hmmmmm. You wonder if a forum clearly labeled (not engine topics) is the right place to post your questions about your engines.

It is not.

I will move this to the correct forum for outboard engine questions that do not involve troubles or repair.

 

[joza]

Re: sell my motor as is or fix it first

Sorry about that. But seeing where you've put it, I remember now not being able to post here. I got an error message saying that couldn't start a new thread. I just tried it again to see if I could and got the same message.

Oh well. Thanks for moving it though.

 

[MushCreek]

Re: sell my motor as is or fix it first

On a motor that old, it most likely needs more than points. They were known for the coils going bad (they crack). You would likely need to replace all of the ignition components, rebuild the carb, and put in a new water pump unless this stuff was done within the last year or so. As tx1961whaler pointed out, a running motor of that age is only worth a couple hundred bucks, and you'll spend nearly all of that just in parts. I collect outboards, and routinely put more into them they are worth, but I enjoy taking someone else's trash and making a nice motor out of it. If you're like that, fix it up and have fun. Otherwise, sell it to a nut like me, and concentrate on the motor you are going to use on your boat.

 

[Lion hunter]

Re: sell my motor as is or fix it first

You either need to fix it or part it out. A non-running whole motor is an anchor that won't bring much. If you have no interest in fixing it parting out will bring the best money.