Oh, I am SO good!

I bought a 1997 Force 50 horsepower engine. It was described as locked up. The lower unit was covered with barnacles and it looked like a generally neglected engine. I bought it for junk with the hopes of salvaging some parts.

Lo and behold: I got it home and started checking---

Tilt and trim worked and held although the wires need repair.
Starter worked but bendix was worn out.
Engine was indeed locked tight.

I removed the head and there was rust inside the bottom cylinder. I wiped out the heavy and honed the cylinder, then replaced the head and torqued the bolts. The piston crowns and cylinder head were almost new-clean so this engine doesn't have many hours on it.

Next I removed the bendix and took it apart (No easy task, you really need to want to do it). I made a rubber donut to replace the original and reassembled the bendix. Reason: The Mercury bendix is different diameter than the earlier Force bendix and I didn't have one laying around. I did not want to buy one for 20-40 bucks for a supposed junker engine but I did want to try and crank it over.

I put some oil in the cylinders and cranked over the engine--120 psi on top and 135 on bottom. Eh! Not too bad. I can work with that.

Next came the carb. It was packed tight with goo and corrosion. It took me a couple of hours to clean it but eventually I got it to where it would work.

Put fuel in her and cranked her over. She fired right up and settled into a nice reliable idle. I added straight oil through the intake to get the engine well lubricated internally then let her run at a fast idle of about 1000 RPM for about an hour. Head stayed cool and she was spitting water out the relief nicely.

Shut it down and ran compression test again: Top--140-145, Bottom--140-145

Scraped barnacles off lower unit, midleg and newer Vortex prop. (10 X 15) and performed a couple of other minor repairs.

So, now I have a sweet little 50 with nothing to put her on. Not too shabby for a 35 dollar investment.

Re: Oh, I am SO good!

Nice.

Time to take a drive in the country this weekend, and look for another boat

Re: Oh, I am SO good!

I love you Frank.

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Nice!

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Frank, everytime I read one of your threads I learn something. Next time I get a frozen engine I'll try this remedy. Good Job!!

Re: Oh, I am SO good!

I'll give $40 for it? jk, nice work frank.

Re: Oh, I am SO good!

Frank Acampora said:

So, now I have a sweet little 50 with nothing to put her on

Click to expand...

Starcraft.

Re: Oh, I am SO good!

Nice Frank! I came into some luck about a month ago..went to pick up an 84' 85hp Force with no lower for $275. Turns out the top cylinder had a blown head gasket and had slight scoring so I scored a good clean what looks to be a fresh water outboard with all plug in ignition components for free. The guy told me to make him an offer and I said I couldnt take a chance on it without opening up the block and also testing the electronics. I was about to leave and he said you know what do you just want it? Lol. He really wanted to get rid of it. Looks like a trim unit but didn't include any trim components. I was able to easily get the thermostat cover off and water passages are very clean with zero corrosion..trigger and stator test good but not sure about the cd's and coils yet. He said he bought it from some outboard guy for the lower unit and he said the guy told him it had 60 hrs on it. Is 60 a lot? Ive had it in the machine shop for a few weeks but they're putting it off because they have to build a custom plate for it just to bore it out. Found my steal on Craigs list! Doesn't hurt to look.

Re: Oh, I am SO good!

Nice! Who says boating has to be an expensive hobby.

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Oh, and I am so jealous, I can't get my Force to stay on longer than 20 sec, and it looks like new. Rebuild the whole boat and cannot get engine to stay on, even after rebuilding pump and carbs.

Re: Oh, I am SO good!

man...I dont want EZ to hear this..

But ya never hear of an I/O coming back to life that easy.
Great job