1977 85hp or 1964 90hp Cylinder Heads on a 1988 90hp Evinrude? [PICS]

fire7882 · #1 August 13th, 2009, 12:41 AM

I have a bad head gasket and pulled the heads to do the repairs. The cylinder head with the bad gasket has corroded bolts holding the top water jacket cover on and the other one shows damage left from rings after the cylinder was rebuilt. I have access to some 1977 85hp Evinrude heads for cheap and I personally own a 1964 90hp Evinrude I could pull the Cylinder Heads from. Will either of these work with a 1988 90hp model E90TLCCA? If not, what years should I be looking for?

Damaged Head

Head with corroded bolts (2 are already broken)

1977 85hp heads

1964 90hp heads

fire7882 · #2 August 13th, 2009, 02:26 AM

After doing lots of looking and reading, I have noticed that the 64 heads don't have the coil mounts and only one of the 77 heads have them. Looking at the part diagrams at evinrude.com, 1984 seems to be the first year that both heads have the coil mounts and some 90hp models keep this similar design until 1998. Anyone know the specific years I need to be looking for?

fire7882 · #3 August 13th, 2009, 08:50 AM

Now i'm even more confused. I found some heads from a 1978 85 hp with the coil mounts. Will these work?

fire7882 · #4 August 14th, 2009, 12:08 AM

I picked up a complete 1992 90hp evinrude today that had a busted piston and cylinder wall. The port side head is in great condition and looks to be the exact same. I may just reuse the other one that is damaged until I find one for cheap.

ondarvr · #5 August 14th, 2009, 02:51 AM

Some heads are interchangeable, but the coil mount may be different, the coil mounts aren't that important, you can mount them with a homebuilt bracket if needed.

There were a number of changes in the 60's 70's and into the eighties, after that there were fewer. So while the heads "may" bolt in place, they may not be the correct design for your model. HP ratings changed in the eighties, so a 90 from the seventies will be different from one in the late eighties.

fire7882 · #6 August 14th, 2009, 12:45 PM

Thanks ondarvr for the help. Since I got a good one that is identical to the one that came off on the port side, I'm going to wait on another exact match for the starboard side.

Here are some pictures of the "new" motor. As you can see, It has slight cylinder damage. I got the complete outboard with controls and gauges for $150 and it has never seen salt water. I've broken so many bolts working on the other outboard, I wasn't looking forward to finding the replacements. Now i have a complete set.

Outboard being held up with the head bolts. The block is trash so I'm not concerned with messing it up. Just don't want it to fall.

The damage

The heads. One is obviously trashed.