Wisdom of spending $2500 on rpowerhead rebuild on 1985 engine

[nwcove]

Re: Wisdom of spending $2500 on rpowerhead rebuild on 1985 engine

i would do as others said, find one that has lower unit issues, check it well, buy it cheap, and change the powerhead. ( if you plan on keeping your rig for awhile, you would then have an assortment of other parts for your motor also....especially the little things that break on sunday, but only take 5 minutes to replace!)

 

[marauder11]

Re: Wisdom of spending $2500 on rpowerhead rebuild on 1985 engine

When looking for a boat local shop had a rebuilt 90 hp Johnson on a boat for around 6k. Stilled had the Vro on it and he told me he gives a 1 year warranty on motor. I laughed because he was trying to sell me a boat in october and around here that is when i get ready for ice fishing. He said if i bought it he would start warranty on April 1. One year warranty on a rebuild was not bad in my opinion.

 

[nphilbro]

Re: Wisdom of spending $2500 on rpowerhead rebuild on 1985 engine

I like what nwcove had to say about having extra parts on a Sunday. Not only are they available for you, they are dirt cheap. Even my wife doesn't complain about the extra motor in the garage due to the money it has saved the family budget.

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Wisdom of spending $2500 on rpowerhead rebuild on 1985 engine

One thing nobody's asked about is what kind of boat is the engine mounted on. Does the boat hull have any life left in it? This has to be considered when you could put good money after bad.

Is the hull something you're going to keep for the long run? If so, I would suggest putting the $2500 toward a good, used freshwater outboard.

 

[Numlaar]

Re: Wisdom of spending $2500 on rpowerhead rebuild on 1985 engine

I agree with the majority here, I personally wouldn't spend that on a powerhead rebuild... it will be bored, and have less life in the long run.... I would hit up craigslist hard, but don't be in "too much" of a rush and buy some garbage, or someone else's problem, take the time that your motor would have been down anyway, and hunt for some deals... pick one that works for you, is mechanically sound, and the right price.

To give you some examples... I recently acquired:
1990 Johnson GT150 Freshwater motor from a bass boat, (with a STAINLESS prop, controls, harness, and even gauges) for $500.00. Guy bought it to do a re-power, and didnt know how to hook everything up, got frustrated and gave up... I Did a compression test (perfect), took it home, hooked everything up on a stand, and blamo runs perfect!
1978 Evinrude 175hp complete. Also $500.00 bucks, mostly freshwater motor, extremely clean, needed new t-stats

Last year got a 1976 Johnson 75hp Stinger for $100.00 bucks, guy hooked up solenoid wrong, and couldnt figure out why it wouldnt start.

So as others have said, you can find a decent running motor, have spare parts, and spend far less... it will give you the time to enjoy the boat quickly, and cost effectively, and have a spare parts motor! You have good trim/tilt, lower, etc. which is always nice to have in case something major goes...

Do some shopping and get back on the water!

Good luck

 

[bob johnson]

Re: Wisdom of spending $2500 on rpowerhead rebuild on 1985 engine

wow....lots of opinions, but everyone is in a different boat( pun intended).

some people are handy and have tools.....some people are totally inept at mechinics... some people got little extra cash , some got tons..and just buy new all the time..

used running motors to replace the one you have while newerish will run about what you are going to spend on the rebuild.

if you buy anything cheaper you are gambling and could have two junk motors in no time!

a commercially rebuilt motor with a warranty is way way more reliable and dependable that a motor bought off craiglist on average...

itsmore of a known commodity than a used motor purchase...but still way way cheaper than a new motor...heck guys buy new motors and make 10 trips back to the dealer getting stuck each time.....AND they spent big bucks.

and then as someone pointed out...whats the boat? does the motor match the boat and its use? and is the boat worth this motors expense?

I personally dont know the prices of motors or motor rebuilds in Ontario canada....thats a big piece of the puzzle.

if you are outboard savy....go looking for a used motor.... condition , condition, condition..... a super clean motor with great compression, and no water in the lower unit...is a great place to start....you can find used mid 90's loopers for the price you are going to spend on the rebuuild...but you need to be a savy outboard buyer to recognize a good one...and they are better motors than the older crossflows

good luck


bob

 

[jbjennings]

Re: Wisdom of spending $2500 on rpowerhead rebuild on 1985 engine

Just my opinion:

I wouldn't give a dime for a rebuilt motor unless I knew the person rebuilding it very well (i.e. skills, honesty, experience).
I would look at a used one for the price of a rebuild as described above, or consider getting a used motor the same year as yours, so that you could scavenge needed parts off your old motor such as electronics and lower unit. I personally see a lot more used motors with boogered up lower units/lower unit parts than bad powerheads. If a motor had great compression and sounded good on the muffs, I'd think it was most likely at least fixable fairly cheaply. There's no way you can see how good a lower unit is unless you take it apart. Since you have a usable lower unit........
JBJ

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: Wisdom of spending $2500 on rpowerhead rebuild on 1985 engine

Fortunately, I'm pretty outboard savy and I will never be faced with this delema. I usually go the most cost effective rout when in comes to outboards and the cost of repairing. For example, I took a nice afternoon drive for a couple hours and purchased three Evinrude Larks for the sum of $50. All three had great compression and were in pretty nice cosmetic condition. Two of them needed a coil replaced and the third one needed both coils replaced. After a $67 investment, I got three good running motors. Now, that's hard to beat. If a motor pukes out, I can take my boat home and re-power in less than an hour and head back to the lake. If I decide to use something smaller, I have two 5 1/2's, a 5hp Sea King and a Fleetwin that are ready to power a car topper.

Boating should not be expensive or stressful in my oppion.

 

[Kyleb100]

Re: Wisdom of spending $2500 on rpowerhead rebuild on 1985 engine

Also, look at buying a complete package (ie. boat, trailer, outboard). Most of the time you can swap the outboard onto your boat and sell the trailer with the boat for almost as much as you paid for it depending on the deal you got. A friends of mines father bought a used Bayliner with a freshly rebuilt mid 90's 125 Force for 3000, sold the boat and trailer for 2000. Had a perfectly good outboard for 1000!

 

[ultra353]

Re: Wisdom of spending $2500 on rpowerhead rebuild on 1985 engine

You`ve got most of the winter to make a desicion. I, myself would start looking for a good used motor/powerhead donor on craigslist first.

 

[bass890]

Re: Wisdom of spending $2500 on rpowerhead rebuild on 1985 engine

Lots of good advise here. I'll be look at buying a new/newer boat in the next couple of years and my next concern is getting back what I would put into the boat/trailer. I should buy new tires ($100 a piece), trailer needs to be painted and new running boards with carpet, ($800) and then get the motor up and running ($800-$2200). When my motor went out I just got a bird 798c and a new 70# minn kota. So I have $1500 of new toys just sitting on it. That is one of the main reasons why I feel I need to get this done soon. Also I waisted $50 in gas when I filled up the tanks the last time I took it out.

I have a little outboard knowledge and I don't have the special tools to do the rebuild. But I don't really have the cash to spend on a mechanic to tear me a new one on labor costs.

 

[bob johnson]

Re: Wisdom of spending $2500 on rpowerhead rebuild on 1985 engine

classic delimma!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

its like spending 110% of your picture taking budget on a camera...and not having enough money to buy film or batteries...

you just cant afford the hobby. or you need to get lucky.

at the very least you need to learn how to take care of the stuff you already have.....

on outboards..the killers are usually
Overheating
no oil
detonation

they can be caused by clogged carbs, bad water pumps, clogged water pumps, running with out water, running with out oil in the gas, not enough oil in the gas, debris getting into the carb openings, and into the motor cylinder. wrong spark plugs among some other more obscure things.

most of the other repairs will never amount to a power head rebuild.....even a lower unit rebuild

good luck


bob

 

[rothfm]

Re: Wisdom of spending $2500 on rpowerhead rebuild on 1985 engine

Had to chime in to agree with most, given that cost. Grab a used running motor. My example: I got a 1995 88spl that was a boat, motor,trailer package. I got it just for the Motor really. Whole thing 2K. I then saw a complete 1984 Johnson 115 with harness, control, and spare parts for $500. Very smooth running, and 110 compression all around. Even with some preventative items, paint and decals....Way below what that rebuild is.

Shop around save some $$ and get back on the water.

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: Wisdom of spending $2500 on rpowerhead rebuild on 1985 engine

Yep, keep it cheap. I just picked up a Sabercraft with a (running) 40hp Johnson for 100 bucks. Now that's tough to beat. The old 40's are a dime a dozen nowadays.

 

[cajuncook1]

Re: Wisdom of spending $2500 on rpowerhead rebuild on 1985 engine

Just my opinion:

I wouldn't give a dime for a rebuilt motor unless I knew the person rebuilding it very well (i.e. skills, honesty, experience).
I would look at a used one for the price of a rebuild as described above, or consider getting a used motor the same year as yours, so that you could scavenge needed parts off your old motor such as electronics and lower unit. I personally see a lot more used motors with boogered up lower units/lower unit parts than bad powerheads. If a motor had great compression and sounded good on the muffs, I'd think it was most likely at least fixable fairly cheaply. There's no way you can see how good a lower unit is unless you take it apart. Since you have a usable lower unit........
JBJ

I agree with JBJ, find a good used motor with a bad lower unit and just put your good lower unit on the good used motor!!! A lot less work than swapping powerheads.


I believe the motors of that era share common lower units.

85-140.............(crossflow 13 spline prop shaft).............1978-1991


This was the original post listed by Fastbullet:

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=359907


Cheers