Homelite/Bearcat, 4 stroke 55hp motors, info??

[kd6nem]

Re: Homelite/Bearcat, 4 stroke 55hp motors, info??

Yes whole motor, I'm thinking without controls. Check Don's website or talk to him for more details. Or Ed at Economy. They're both decent guys. This rough figure is what I noticed at Don's website, and is when you trade for a remanufactured one. He will buy outright from time to time, also. <br /><br />This is not to say that this is the going rate particularly this time of year- that just depends on who you're selling to and how bad they want it. Also depends on mechanical soundness and cosmetic appearance. Might even be some regional differences. Keep in mind that shipping often costs more than the purchase price, so local often works better. <br /><br />Of course if you like your good one you could always save the other for a parts donor...

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Homelite/Bearcat, 4 stroke 55hp motors, info??

Hey Jay, since you appear to live in Priest River, there is the possibility I could be persuaded to give a bit of a hand with getting those motors going. I am usually working the area at least twice a week (I am an exterminator), I could stop by at the end of my work day and maybe give a pointer or two on the motors. Email me (link is in website below) if that is something that may interest you.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Homelite/Bearcat, 4 stroke 55hp motors, info??

One thing I would like to add is that at 250-ish pounds apiece for the Homelites, you would probably be ahead with a 100 or 125 horse 2 stroke. For example, an early Merc inline six 100 or 125 horse motor, late 60s or early 70s weighs in at around 270-ish pounds. You have twice the power at around the same weight, the economy may be similar. When I swapped my Homelite 55 for an 85 horse Merc I6, I had similar fuel economy unless I ran wide open. The difference was I had to run near WOT with the homelite to get anywhere, whereas with the Merc, I could run part throttle, and cruise faster than I could run with the homelite wide open. Now, when I ran that Merc wide open, I had not so great fuel economy, but it wasn't horrible either. I had a top speed of about 22 mph GPS with the Homelite, and about 35 mph GPS with the Merc 85 horse. Like I said before, I liked the Homelite, but for my application, good ol' Merc 2stroke gave me the better performance.

 

[kd6nem]

Re: Homelite/Bearcat, 4 stroke 55hp motors, info??

Jason- you're probably correct, but the keyword is "for your application" . The point about fuel economy being relatively equivalent should be more true for larger heavier hulls, and for smaller lighter hull will be less true. As to power and speed, obviously there is no contest at all. Even when the motor is correctly propped for a given hull, there still is no substitute for enough power. More speed requires more fuel burn, which requires a more powerful motor. For me, I'm not in that big a hurry anyway. I expect mine to be a good match for the hull. Unique and economical give me plenty of satisfaction.<br /><br />Book weight on the Homelite/Bearcat is 227 lbs. I never tried weighing one, myself. Like I said before my Johnson 55 with its hydro-electric leg was very nearly as heavy, though any decent two stroke with a conventional leg will of course be lighter for the given horsepower. <br /><br />For a relatively smaller boat of the same vintage, they are really neat motors. Seems like a motor which has had a faithful following for a long time, while at the same time has alienated others as being a bit unconventional. (I prefer to think of it as way ahead of its time) They beat Honda to the four-stroke market by several years, and even Honda took awhile to really be accepted- and that was when fuel had gotten much more expensive. Did you realize Honda bought some of these to reverse engineer when they were developing their early outboards? Still took Honda a very long time to match the weight of the Bearcat for its size category. <br /><br />Bottom line: putting one on a boat needing more motor will do little to enhance its reputation. Just depends on the boat and the desires of its owner. If I had a boat the size of a Comoro, I'd have probably repowered also.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Homelite/Bearcat, 4 stroke 55hp motors, info??

Bearcat, I had my Homelite on my 63 Pacific Mariner. It was 17 foot and weighed about 1100 pounds with motor, fully rigged.<br /><br />

<br /><br />This was with the Merc 850<br /><br />

<br /><br />I do have the feeling that, since I was down on compression on one cylinder on te Homelite that a rebuild would have brought it more up to speed, but it ran pretty darn good the way it was. Like I said before, I loved the motor. I kept that thing on a stand in my carport for over a year, trying to decide if I wanted to keep it or not. I was going to just rebuild it, refinish it cosmetically, and wait for a cool old 50s hull with fins to come along, but in the end I felt it would do someone else more good to sell it.

 

[kd6nem]

Re: Homelite/Bearcat, 4 stroke 55hp motors, info??

For that boat you needed the extra power, and after looking at the pics again- the "bumper sticker" emblem Fisher Pierce used for awhile was not the prettiest, but those classic Mercs do look really nice. I'm not especially a Merc fan (don't dislike them either), but they had the best styling hands down. The white ones being the more unusual color are particularly eye catching.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Homelite/Bearcat, 4 stroke 55hp motors, info??

That is why I am thinking of repainting my 69 Merc 1250 white, the white ones look pretty cool. I have no need or desire to keep it "stock".

 

[prestigegunleather]

Re: Homelite/Bearcat, 4 stroke 55hp motors, info??

to all,

every single time that i hear someone say that Homelite/Fisher-Pierce/Bearcat 55 outboards are unreliable/junk/no good/etc, i lol AT them.

making such comments makes it patently obvious that they "know not & know not that they know not" & are likely relying on common gossip and/or "downing the competition" talk by other brand's salesmen.

imVho, the 55hp, 4-cycle engines were/are THE most reliable, toughest & cheapest OB engine to run, under the most severe conditons, for DECADES. it's sole problem is that it is "heavier than the Queen Mary"
(the 85hp Coventry Climax-based engine is another story! - leave those to the Homelite FANATICS. - they are worth too much to a collector for "regular folks" to run on a boat, as daily power, anyway. - i know a doctor from Houston who has spent well over 50K bucks on his collection of 85s!)

i was raised on the TX coast & in the company of professional watermen/fishermen & MANY of the Homelite 55 engines are still in daily use after more than 3 decades of commercial fishing.
(i worked my way through > 2 years of college on commercial trotlining & my big "line skiff" was powered by a '65 Homelite 55. it ran flawlessly for the whole time with nothing but routine/minimal/operator maintaince. - when i went into the service, i sold my rig to a distant cousin & Dave is still running it. - he's worn out/replaced the first line skiff!)

as for me, i'm looking for a Homelite 55 from the period for my '62 Starcraft Jupiter, as i plan to use it to troll the Chesapeake Bay. = these 55HP will troll for eight hours on about 2 gallons of regular pump gas. = IF you have a complete one "laying about" unused, i would be a buyer.

yours, PG

 

[JB]

Re: Homelite/Bearcat, 4 stroke 55hp motors, info??

Five year old thread, PG.

 

[prestigegunleather]

Re: Homelite/Bearcat, 4 stroke 55hp motors, info??

JB,

i noted that. - but since it's "bumped up" perhaps we'll have new posts??

yours, PG

 

[homelite]

Re: Homelite/Bearcat, 4 stroke 55hp motors, info??

Hello. I hardly read this stuff anymore, but I knoticed this. Here's 2 cents from a guy that forgot more about these engines than most people knew! I run many 55's. They are as dependable as any car engine...period. I used to have a web page. It is still available as an archived site. The link is below.


http://web.archive.org/web/20010517215204/members.aol.com/homelite55/index.html?mtbrand=AOL_US

The 85 is a little tricky, but I have restored 2 of them and and they run perfect.

All parts are available for the 55. There is Ed Ewing at Economy 4 cycle Marine in Redding CA. Bill Roberts in Coupeville, WA Don at Adventure Bearcat in CA and me. homelite55@aol.com

 

[coolguy147]

Re: Homelite/Bearcat, 4 stroke 55hp motors, info??

That is why I am thinking of repainting my 69 Merc 1250 white, the white ones look pretty cool. I have no need or desire to keep it "stock".

i liked the older mercs that were white too. especially the 50's with the shiny wrap around cowl

 

[Super Sportster]

Re: Homelite/Bearcat, 4 stroke 55hp motors, info??

Since this post is revived I too will toss in my 2 cents. I bought my first Bearcat in April '09, long story short the powerhead had to come apart for a block replacement (low compression and cracked), it's reassembled on my work bench waiting for me to bolt it up to the leg/lower unit. Later in April I bought a Bearcat runner and a shortshaft Homelite parts engine. I couldn't be happier with this Bearcat. If you've never owned one I really don't know how you can comment, good or bad on these. This particular one had been serviced by Ed Ewing and had the electric fuel pump and electronic ignition upgrades. It runs fantastic! I then traded the 40hp Johnson I had on the boat for many years for two more Homelites in June '09, one of them being another parts shortshaft. The runner of the two also is also a fantastic running engine. I've combined the two shortshaft engines to make one and am still sorting this one out. It is running but not quite right yet. In July '09 I added a 6th Bearcat to the stable, this time an 85hp. It had sat for many years, was complete and turned over with compression. Had it running the next day. The biggest complaint I have with 85 is the carbs, I have been battling them for some time. It doesn't like to idle decent except with the hood off, I've trolled it for many hrs at close to 400rpm with the hood off but it refuses to do this with the hood on. I'm also having some problems with accelerator pumps. It will die when you hit the throttle hard. I like the 55's better but man the 85 will flat get with it at speed. You can buy anything you need for the 55's, Napa carries all you tuneup parts and oil filter. Pertronix makes the electronic ignition (same unit works on the 85). The rest of the parts sources were previously listed. For me this is the best engine (55hp) I've had to date, excellent runners, quiet, great economy, easy to work on, trolls all day at the speed of a kicker and top speed of 27mph on my 16ft Sylvan. The 85 pushes the Sylvan at 35mph. Heavy? Of course with valves and a camshaft, the 55 has a cast iron block, 227lbs for the shortshaft and 239lbs for the LS. The 85 is 279lbs with an all aluminum block. Today's BF90 Honda is 360lbs, modern technology is 80lbs heavier! I really don't care about the weight comparison of it's 2 stroke counterpart for my purposes it surpasses it in every other way.

****

 

[prestigegunleather]

Re: Homelite/Bearcat, 4 stroke 55hp motors, info??

Super Sportster,

fwiw, that's "'bout as purty" an '85 as i've ever seen.= WOO HOO!

yours, PG

 

[Super Sportster]

Re: Homelite/Bearcat, 4 stroke 55hp motors, info??

Thanks PG. I had the 85hp sold a couple weeks ago but due to some disagreements between me and the buyer, I pulled out of the deal. I'm now rethinking the whole 85 experience. I think now it's going to get some needed updates and I'll just hang on to it. Not many of them around and it was just a fluke I was able to score this one.

****

 

[donaldraypat]

I just got a 1964 Thunderbird Cathedral Hull boat with a 55 hp Homelite outborad motor on it given to me just to haul it off ! I got it home and power washed it and it looked purty good. I redone the floor and put new carpet and some new used seats in it. Now I'm starting on the motor. The motor seems to be free, but the starter is frozen. I know it was running when it was parked 5 years ago, so I'm hopeful....grin!

 

[GA_Boater]

Putting this ancient thread back to bed. Start a new thread if you want some help.

Closed.