Rebuild myself, have rebuilt, or repower?

[kmagnuss]

Hi guys. Great site. I'll dumb it down a bit with probably the millionth post of this type... but here goes.

I recently bought a 89' Action Craft Bayrunner 17' flats boat. I got it at a great price knowing that I was going to most likely need to rebuild the engine. It has a 95' Evinrude 115 on it.

I did some basic maintenance to it, including decarbing it, and it still wouldn't idle very well... so I tested the compression. From the rear of the boat it looks like this:
125 90
122 95

Well nuts. I crossed my fingers hoping for a bad head gasket leaking between the two low cylinders but when I opened it up I found two of the worst pistons and heads I've ever seen.

So now I'm down to the decision... rebuild it myself, buy a rebuilt powerhead, or buy a newer used engine?

If I rebuild it myself I'll probably be into it for close to $1500, then I'll probably get nickle and dimed on the rest of the motor for another $500 or more.

If I buy a rebuilt powerhead it'll be around $2000, then the same nickle and dime for another $500.

I could get a slightly newer outboard, say a 2003 or so... for around $4000.

So obviously this is pretty subjective... I just want to get some extra opinions on it.

Thanks guys.

-Mag

 

[oldman570]

Re: Rebuild myself, have rebuilt, or repower?

Not a bad looking boat. Realy the choice comes down to just how much time do you want to spend with the boat down and how much you want to spend. I would trade the motor off and move up to a newer motor as that way the boat is not down long and the value of the setup will increase. From the looks of the pistons and the head, it will cost more that you mightbe able to buy another motor for when you figure in the down time and labor. JMO
Oldman570

 

[Faztbullet]

Re: Rebuild myself, have rebuilt, or repower?

Repower as that a salty dog....may open a bigger can of worms trying to disassemble it.

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Rebuild myself, have rebuilt, or repower?

IBoats.com has a Mercury direct fleet lease return 115 hp motors for sale--2010 2 stroke model for $5299 and 2012 4 stroke model for $7199. They'd be a great value for you.

If your boat is in top notch shape and if you put a lot of hours on it, a repower would be warranted.

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: Rebuild myself, have rebuilt, or repower?

The reason the engine failed was due to an overheat due to an internal blockage in the powerhead. The third picture down shows a complete blockage in the water circulating system between the two cylinders. I'll attach a picture of what the rubber water diverter should look like when installed properly in the block. Once you get your cooling issues resolved, you could install two new pistons, hone all 4 cyls and install 4 new ringsets.

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: Rebuild myself, have rebuilt, or repower?

The reason the engine failed was due to an overheat due to an internal blockage in the powerhead. The third picture down shows a complete blockage in the water circulating system between the two cylinders. I'll attach a picture of what the rubber water diverter should look like when installed properly in the block.

 

[bob johnson]

Re: Rebuild myself, have rebuilt, or repower?

after being here for a few years it seems of that eras 115 from the omc-brp groups , the loopers were better motors ..i bought a used 115 oean runner and have been running it four years now...I add a little more oil than needed, I change the plugs regularly and i have two temp gauges so i never over heat....ill just shut the motor off if it is getting too hot for any reason.....( it did once when the LU got clogged with mud)

as far as OMC-brp...the early 2000's was a change in ownership and they say the product suffered some, and many motors were Ficht's which were problematic... Id lean towards a carbed Johnson 98 99 2000. ocean runner if you were staying with that brand... you can buy a decent used motor for $2500...forget th rebuild......with the cost you listed.....almost the same money and all that work and headache

bob

 

[kmagnuss]

Re: Rebuild myself, have rebuilt, or repower?

Well I bought two sets of rings and a couple gaskets... figured for $70 I could try to bang out a redneck rebuild and see if I could get a year out of it. Well I underestimated what was involved here and try as I might I just can't get the powerhead off the exhaust... bummer. Gonna sit on it for a few weeks and give it another go... and if that doesn't fly then it'll be repower time.

Thanks for the tips guys... I really appreciate it.

-Mag

 

[kmagnuss]

Re: Rebuild myself, have rebuilt, or repower?

Got halfway through the 'rebuild' and said to hell with it. Picked this up instead:

 

[Faztbullet]

Re: Rebuild myself, have rebuilt, or repower?

Great!!! You you will be a whole lot happer!!

 

[kmagnuss]

Re: Rebuild myself, have rebuilt, or repower?

Well I didn't want to start a new thread so here's where we sit:

Mounted the motor, checked compression. 130, 135, 135
Replaced: Impeller, thermostat, plugs, couple little plastic carb linkage deals, fuel/water filter, inline fuel filter. Hooked up a flush kit. Drained the fuel tank (again). Took carbs of and cleaned them thoroughly.

Turned the key... vrooooooooooom. Runs as smooth as a 3 cyl can run. Took it out on the water and paid close attention to the tell tale that on muffs was barely squirting out... after about 15 seconds it started spraying out pretty good... then after about 15 minutes it had cleared out whatever was blocking it off and was spraying nice and solid. Tuned the carbs a bit with the air/fuel screws while idling in forward gear. I think I did it right but might not have waited long enough between turns.

One issue though... I mounted the motor on the 4th holes from the top, so it's up about 3" higher than it would be if it was all the way down. Once I got on plane it would cavitate almost immediately. So today I dropped the motor down two holes... hopefully that will fix it... as I only have one more hole to come down.

This makes it all worthwhile:

 

[jetterbug]

Re: Rebuild myself, have rebuilt, or repower?

Awesome! Those are the times you'll most likely to remember! )

 

[jetterbug]

Re: Rebuild myself, have rebuilt, or repower?

By the way, what'd ever happen to the 115? Garage ornament?? )

 

[kmagnuss]

Re: Rebuild myself, have rebuilt, or repower?

By the way, what'd ever happen to the 115? Garage ornament?? )

The 'rude got sold off on Craigslist to a guy who parted it out.

 

[tmal]

Re: Rebuild myself, have rebuilt, or repower?

Hey Mag, it seems Im in the exact same situation and decided to learn from you lessons, thanks for the blow by blow. Couple of questions though. What did you get fornthe 115, what did you pay for the merc and are you good with the performance of the 90 vs the 115?

 

[kmagnuss]

Re: Rebuild myself, have rebuilt, or repower?

Hey Mag, it seems Im in the exact same situation and decided to learn from you lessons, thanks for the blow by blow. Couple of questions though. What did you get fornthe 115, what did you pay for the merc and are you good with the performance of the 90 vs the 115?

If I remember right I got $300 for the 115. I bought the 90 for around $2500 or so and to me it was great. Top speed was usually around 37-39 mph on GPS... hit over 40 a few times but usually it was high 30's. Holeshot was excellent with trim tabs down. I can't compare the 90 vs the 115 because I never had the 115 running (bought the boat for the hull with the weak 115 on it and never ran it on the water).

I have since sold the 89 AC 17' and bought a 99 AC 1720 with a Optimax 135 on it. To be honest, the 90 was plenty fast compared to the 135. I hit 50-52 on GPS most days but don't care for the extra 140 lbs of weight vs the 90.