need advice on used outboard purchase...

Can you guys imagie how much easier life would have been for all of us if we had the computer and a site like this years ago when we were younger and were able to bounce stuff off a bunch of other fellows who had been there seen that and done it.
I was thinking about that this morning

As ususal Ferm is on the mark with the engine info, sounds like that older Merc would be a great candidate
Good luck with your search
 
can't thank you enough for all of the info ... as willy says .. this site is great. you have a way better chance of getting it right the first time... when i was younger with no family .. i could make those mistakes and it was not a big deal..

now with a wife and kids, i can't afford to spend un wisely .. also get tired of hearing about it :)

if anyone comes across a nice 2l 150 merc in the northeast area .. philly, nj, ny .. let me know .. i would be grateful.

Brad
 
Another thing to keep in mind is to get a bracket with the least amount of set-back as you can get away with as possible. I would think a 26" set-back would still allow you to trim the engine up and to help keep the center of balance further forward.
 
bsteckel said:
found a 87 merc 150 exlpto ... is this a 2.0 l that i am looking for?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_Boa...QadiZ2823QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item180245681009&

it is right were i am this weekend and would like to go look at it if it is the correct engine.

thanks
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I wouldn't buy that onbe if it were for me. The first thing I didn't like about it was that the airbox for trhe carbs is missing. This is an almost sure sign of an engine that somebody has tried to up the HP on and re-jet, or if it hasn't been re-jetted it's beggin to get burned up. And secondly it only has a 16 amp charging system on it. And lastly the compression numbers don't look good on it. The general rule is 10% difference from highest to lowest, that engine has one at 110 and another at 135. that is more than 10% and an almost definate sign of an engine trhat has been re-sleeved and over bored on one or two cylinders. It also looks to be a 2.4L to me, but I'm not that good at identifying them from pictures. I use the airbox to tell the difference and this one doesn't have an airbox.
 
that should be a 2.0L. with those comp#'s i would pull the heads and inspect the cyl walls even before i thought about buying it. still 700 bucks if you know how to tool with merc i would buy it and put 700 bucks into for new internals and you basically have a very reliable engine.
 
I looked in the SIERRA MARINE catalog and it says it's an 86 150 according to the serial number, and it should be a 2.0L. Those compression numbers and the missing airbox are dead giveaways that somebody has been monkeying with the engine. It would make a ggod engine, but definately looks as though it will need work soon. I'll keep an eye out when I'm surfin to see if I can locate you a decent 2.0L outboard or at least a 2.0L powerhead. the 2.0L engines are pretty tough, and if left stock will run a long time. I have an 81 that needs new electronics, but other than that it is a solid engine that has never been rebuilt. The hard part is finding one in a 25" shaft as most of them were 20" shafts for bass boats.
 
i was thinking about driving over and looking at it ... it is at a local marina. what price is a deal that i cannot walk away from? not sure what these motors go for .. also not sure how easy they are to find .. lookd like it is missing prop and does not say if controls are with the motor.

i am afraid that the 200 hp fresh water yamaha (1992) i was looking at may be too heavy?
 
Ferm, was my two 90's 150 Black Maxs the type you are talking about, because they were the engines that constantly needed attention, mostly electronic and or power pacs and crushed me for years ?
 
In the 90's it could have been 2.0L's or 2.5L's. They offered both in 150HP from around 91+. The switch boxes can give some trouble, but aren't normally that bad. No worse than OMC's powerpacks. All of them pretty well used the same electronics though if they were carb motors. Normally when they give constant problems with the electronics like you describe, there is a problem somewhere else that is actually causing the problem. Many times a stator will fail constantly from a bad rectifier or battery, but thet stator will get replaced and the other actual problem overlooked and then it happens again and again. Or switch boxes fail from the wrong stator flywheel combo or a bad coil, yet the switchbox is continually blamed when it is actually working fine but getting burned out by another problem.

As for what this engine is worth, I wouldn't go to high on it. These engines do pop-up from time to time with better options on them for fair money. I believe RM sold a nice one last year for $3400 on Ebay that was a 2.0L 150 25" shaft.
 
is there much of a weight savings from this merc we are speaking of to the 1992 200hp yamaha that i was thinking of looking at?

what kind of $$ are we talking to upgrade the charging system on this motor?

what should the compression numbers be ideally on this motor (merc) ?

as always, thanks for the info .. it is priceless.
 
Think hard before doing a motor bigger than a 150 if you are doing a bracket. Don't rely on the flotation that comes with the bracket to make it work, it won't. It will mostly help offset the weight being extended 25-32 inches further back and will barely do that.
 
The MAJOR point to keep in mind here with a bracket conversion is running on plane. A flotation bracket will offset the balance when idling or off plane, but once your on plane that 350-400 pounds is hanging out there with nothing offsetting the balance. Trim tabs on a CC with a bracket should be mandatory I believe from what I have read on them. Unfortunately some of the lightest engine options are also some of the thirstiest. There are lighter outboards than the MERC 2.0L, but they guzzle fuel. The 92 200HP YAMAHA you are looking at should actually be the 2.6L(I think) YAMAHA which is the same basic engine from a 150-200. That was back in the day when YAMAHA got sued by OMC for patent infringement when they directly copied OMC's engines and sold them as YAMAHA's. The first YAMAHA V4 could almost interchange internal parts with an OMC V4, and many racers run the YAMAHA electronics on there OMC's as they are almost a match for each other.

The 92 200HP YAMAHA is 390 pounds according to ther NADA guide, so it would only be a couple pounds heavier than the MERC. It actually weighs the same as my 85 140 JOHNNY-RUDE I have, so it shouldn't be a major issue with weight on it.

I reccomend you read this thread as WHATKNOT just did a similiar conversion with a 150 YAMAHA(same weight as the 200 your eyeing).

http://www.wellcraftv20.com/community/showthread.php?t=9006
 
thanks for the info .. went to the marina and looked at the merc .. looks ok, was told that none of these engines have an air filter?? just an airbox which they say this one has. they ran it and it has a miss, also can hear it run on the ebay ad. stated they do not know what the miss is from .. could be as simple as a tune up or carb cleaning .. but to diagnose it, would be shop charge at $98 per hour. they have the motor for sale listed at $1800 but told me to make an offer of $1500 and that would probably take it. ebay auction is still at $710 with 3 days to go. maybe i will roll the dice and see what the auction brings.

As for the yamaha, the major flaw from what i can find out is the shift rod .. was told you can see if it is broken from the outside of the motor, but to fix it you have to take the power head off. upwards of a $1000 bill. how can i make sure this used yamaha i am eyeing up does not have shift rod problems?

keeping fingers crossed one of these motors will work out ,, if not.. the search continues.

Brad
 
yeah none of the outboards have aircleaners(except Opti's), offer them $1000 cash, pending a compresion test, spark test, and check the gear lube. If they don't have anythign to hide, they should take it
 
spareparts said:
yeah none of the outboards have aircleaners(except Opti's), offer them $1000 cash, pending a compresion test, spark test, and check the gear lube. If they don't have anythign to hide, they should take it
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They list the compression numbers in there ad, and they didn't look good to me. low side 110 and high side 135. They don't have air filters, but the air box is an important item to leave on them if they are jetted stock. They resatrict the airflow just slightly t o control the metering circuits in the carbs, and if you remove it on a stock engine it will cause it to lean out and burn a piston and cause a miss or lock-up. I wouldn't offer him a $1000 for an engine with compression numbers like he posted it has, let alone if it has a miss.

On the YAMAHA all of em prior to 94 had a steel shift shaft and they are known to rot in two and then you can't shift them. The repair can range from around $250 for the shift rod and base gasket on up depending upon what else you have to do at the time of the repair. If the bolts that hold the powerhead on are seized in then the repair can get expensive and labor intensive.
 
If the 92 200 Yamaha was used in fresh water only, the shift rod has probably not corroded and it's not ready to break . It doesn't take alot of saltwater use to cause corrosion fast however. The 150, 175, and 200 Yamaha's are close to the same weight.

As far as reliability of early Yamaha V6's is concerned, they are about as simple and reliable as they get. The oil system is very simple and reliable. With the exception of the shift rod replacement, or power head removal (broken bolts) they are easy to work on. Rebuilding the water pump is very easy and I have been doing this repair for years. (about a 1.5 hr job)

I have had and still have Evinrude outboards and like them very much. However, I never owned an Evinrude or Johnson bigger than a three cylinder 70HP.

All in all, the Yamaha's I have owned have been the most reliable outboards by far. They are not the most fuel efficient, or fast, and they require regular preventive maintenance. But when I head out of the inlet to the open ocean, I am glad I have the Yamaha hung on my V's transom.

Geek
 
Brad, I know a guy who has a '91 jonny on his V20 Fisherman and says it does about 60mph. That's a little fast to me but a midrange RPM V-6 that old will get the same mileage as a 4cly. of the same year at top end. I just sold a boat that was slighly underpowered and I regretted that decision. If you don't mind a little more gas consumption get a low HP V-6, they just perform better. It is true that Yamahas are a bit more reliable, but Mercs have much more power and they use a great V-6 system of Optis. You sound like a faster kind of guy, and there is no problem considering EFIs. Like the Merc 2.5L's.
 
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