1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

[phipps]

I have come across a 1975 Evinrude 70HP motor on eBay. The seller claims that it has been recently rebuilt and that it runs good. He said that the buyer can hear it run. The motor on the trim does need replaced.

I have placed a bid on it, but I'm not sure how high I should go. Is this motor worth $500?

 

[109jb]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

I have a 1976 70 hp Johnson and it is bulletproof reliable. If you get it for $500 I'd say you did well.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

Unless he has paperwork on the rebuild I would assume it wasn't rebuilt. Howeber, as 109jb said, a good running 70 is a good buy at $500.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

That is a 32 year old motor. I would not offer any more than $250 for it, and then only if it was pristine.

Some questions: How much longer are the electronics likely to last?
Who are you going to get to work on it?
what are parts availibility.
If it was used in saltwater, the aluminum alloy starts to breakdown after time.

I would get a motor made in the 90s. it will cost a bit more, but not much

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

those older 70's were and still are great motors. parts are available. most any shop will work on them, and they are easy to work on.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

I've got a '73 and the last time I was at a BRP dealer for a water pump, it looked like they could still order me just about every part on my motor.

 

[109jb]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

That is a 32 year old motor. I would not offer any more than $250 for it, and then only if it was pristine.

Some questions: How much longer are the electronics likely to last?
Who are you going to get to work on it?
what are parts availibility.
If it was used in saltwater, the aluminum alloy starts to breakdown after time.

I would get a motor made in the 90s. it will cost a bit more, but not much

$250 around where I live gets you a motor with a blown powerhead or other problems. A 1990's motor around 70 hp would run about $1500 to $2000 if it is in good shape.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

I bought a '93 Merc 135V6 last year for $1K. The dealer accepted that offer immediately. Blue book was more, and I had thought he would negoiate.

Would you rather have a 31 year old motor for $500 or a 15 year old motor with twice the power for $1k? The '93 is a motor that is still made, and of a modern design. The moving parts have 16 years less wear on 'em!

 

[109jb]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

I bought a '93 Merc 135V6 last year for $1K. The dealer accepted that offer immediately. Blue book was more, and I had thought he would negoiate.

Would you rather have a 31 year old motor for $500 or a 15 year old motor with twice the power for $1k? The '93 is a motor that is still made, and of a modern design. The moving parts have 16 years less wear on 'em!

I would say you got an exceptional deal on your Merc. Your timing could have been just right or whatever, but like I said, it depends on where you are. Here in northern Illinois, you aren't going to touch a decent 70hp or up motor for less than $1500 unless there is something wrong with it. I don't know where the original poster is, but he will have to decide that. As far as your '93 motor having less wear, there is absolutely no way you can tell this without tearing down both engines. A 30 year old engine that got run 50 hours a year would have 1500 hours on it. A '93 engine (15 years old) that got 100 hours a year would also have 1500 hours on it. If I needed a 70 hp size motor and found a 1975 johnson or evinrude 70 hp for $500 in decent shape, I would have no problem buying it. I have one and I'm talking from personal experience when I say that it has been a great engine. As a matter of fact, it starts better and runs smoother than the '97 Mariner 115 hp on my other boat. I wish the Mariner ran as well as the Johnson. Before you ask, yes the Mariner is in proper tune and has been checked out by a Mercury dealer adn been given a clean bill of health. As TD said parts are still available for the Johnson in question. I would actually say that most parts are readily available. As far as whether someone would rather have twice the power, I don't know what the max power rating is on the original poster's boat. I can say that for my Starcraft that 135 hp would be 50 hp more than it is rated for.

 

[Steve Mahler]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

I love posts like some of these - not offering more than $250 if in pristine condition. Where do you live, Iraq?

Anyplace I look at online $250 would buy you a nice clean 20yr old 5hp kicker. Geesh.

I agree, $500 is a good price, I had one of those 70s before and it was wonderful, reliable and smooth. I sold it for around 500 - cant remember exact.

 

[phipps]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

I am in Ohio, but the motor is northwest of Chicago. I didn't win the auction as I wasn't able to be home at the end. It ended up going for $520!

 

[Chris1956]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

It's great to know there is such a market for those old motors. I have enough parts laying to assemble a '73 Merc 850 w/ PTT. I could sell it for $500, and it would likely last several months before the exhaust cover sprung another hole, and the motor injested water. Oh yeah, the dissy is like brand new at only 35 years young. Rotors and coils never wear out. Switchboxes are forever... The block is slowly disolving from corrosion, but who cares...What could go wrong with it? It is a proven design...


Just where are you buyers located?

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

Chris I'm just not understanding the adversity to old motors. TONS of people on this site are running very old motors. You need to understand that you got a fantastic deal on your '93. For many of us, a '70s motor is all we're going to find for $500. When I got my '73 Johnson we did dump a bunch of money into it initially to replace the very parts you're talking about. However, we've run it for 4 seasons now and it's been reliable.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

I am just trying to get the message out that old motors do die, due to non-fixable stuff, as well as fixable stuff. It is important to take this into account when making decisions to purchase or not.

Just as it is important to choose a boat design that fits what you plan to use it for, it is important to choose a motor (age, HP) based upon how long you need it, how much experience you have in repair, and weigh cost accordingly.

A gross example is that manufacturers make carb kits, ign parts and other normal repair items or many years. However, they discontinue many other parts. The lack of these parts can severly impact the usage of the motor. For example, stuff like throttle cable clamps, rubber motor mounts, cowling parts, props, fuel pumps(not repair kits), throttle linkage parts etc, are discontinued at different time by the OEMs. OK so you have a mid-70s motor, hit a rock and you are lucky to break only a rubber motor mount. They are NLA, now what? How about if a bearing is discontinued, and yours goes bad?

Or you break a piece of the throttle linkage, and the parts are discontinued, now what. If you have an OB junkyard nearby, as I have, you could be OK. if not...

There are a lot of boats and motors w/o homes these days. Polk around and you may find something newer, or at least a design that is still made, for the about the same value...

 

[109jb]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

It's great to know there is such a market for those old motors. I have enough parts laying to assemble a '73 Merc 850 w/ PTT. I could sell it for $500, and it would likely last several months before the exhaust cover sprung another hole, and the motor injested water. Oh yeah, the dissy is like brand new at only 35 years young. Rotors and coils never wear out. Switchboxes are forever... The block is slowly disolving from corrosion, but who cares...What could go wrong with it? It is a proven design...


Just where are you buyers located?

Why the animosity?? You don't like old motors. We get it. These motors are worth what people think they are worth. You obviously don't think they are worth much. That is your right. It is not your right to dictate to others what we think they are worth. All we did was state why we though it was worth $500.

The fact is that many of us are running these old motors and have done so reliably. As I said before, my 32 year old 70 hp Johnson has been totally reliable for 10 years of my use now. The only things I have changed are a few preventative maintenance items (impellers and spark plugs). I would put that motor up against any for reliability. Also, as was stated, parts are still readily available. Also, as was stated before, there is no guarantee that a 1990's motor doesn't have more use on it than a 1970's motor. Yes, things can go wrong with an older motor, but the same is true for a newer motor too. As long as parts are available I don't see a problem. As for price, all I can say is what I know about. The $250 you mentioned won't get you any kind of running 70hp motor where I live (Northern Illinois). Here we don't have the problem of motors rotting away from corrosion. I had my boat with the 70 hp Johnson up for sale this year and had 2 guys wanted to buy just the motor. One guy offered $750 for it and the other offered $700, but I didn't want to have a motorless boat to get rid of, so I didn't separate them.

 

[whofan]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

The core design of the 55/65/70 JohnnyRude was produced from 1968 to 2001. These are great motors. In their day I`d say the best. Parts should be availible for a long time yet. I`m a proud owner of a 2000 70. Last of the OMCs.
As Chris1956 stated, You do have to watch what your buying going back many years. I would suspect that parts are hard to find for some makes and models. OMC midrange motors were very popular.

 

[Benny1963]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

you cant compare a un maintained saltwater merc to a 70 3cyl
with good comps and maint 500 is a good deal with prop and controls even better .been watchin the 70 on ebay rock solid motor i also have a 78 merc 50 4cyl freshwater motor it tempermental and a pain in the butt but when not being repaired it runs beautifull
500 for a motor that has good comps no corrosion and no water in lower
is fair game in louisiana and we have tons of motors down here
simply because the new motors when they break you pay
and arent as easily diagnosed

 

[Chris1956]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

Hey Benny, Punch up the parts list for that old OMC motor and see what parts are no longer available. Now think about the likelyhood that one of those will break. If any one of those parts fail, you have an anchor. Check Ed's post about the gearcase solenoids for the '69 115HP Evinrude, being NLA.

Do you feel lucky?

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

Chris, I have a 36 year old OMC motor (1972 Johnson 65hp) that is rock solid on reliability. I work on it myself and have no problem getting parts for it. I tow guys with $15,000+ motors in all the time. I also use it for search & rescue missions frequently. The mechanical design of this motor is the very same design that was used in OMC triples all the way up to the early "2000s" motors. The difference, however, is that the newer motors have more stuff (VRO, electronics) to break.

My backup motor (kicker) is 39 years old (1969 Johnson 6hp). The biggest problem that I have with it is that I never need to use it, because the 65hp never fails me. That being the case, I have to run it in a barrel at home occassionaly, or fire it up at the boat launch, just to keep the carb from fouling. When I do, it usually starts on the 1st or second pull.

Whatever motor you feel comfortable with for you is fine, but I think you are a bit opinionated and off base in regard to many of the older motors.

BTW, before I bought the 1972 Johnson, I ran a pair of 1958 Evinrude Bigtwins (35hp) on my current boat, and the one before it. These motors were not restored or babied - they were used like workhorses. I also never had problems getting parts for them. The only reason why I put them up in the shop, is that they were fuel hogs. One day, I probably will restore both and put them on a vintage boat, just for fun.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

Jay, You misunderstand. I have nothing against old motors, especially ones I have owned for a while. I will keep them forever. The message I an trying to get out (I guess unsuccessfully), is that there are constaints on buying an old motor. One of these constraints is that a lot of the non-maintenance parts are no longer available. if you crack a recoil starter housing for example, or recoil spring, you will likely not be able to buy one new. You might get lucky and find a used one. The same goes for transom clamps and otehr exterior cast pieces. A personal example is that I had the throttle bellcrank on my '58 fat-fifty break. It was cast white metal, and it was it's time to break. I simply could not use the motor until I got a replacement I also could not come up with a replacement that I could fabricate.

Another constraint is that some shops will not work on old motors. If you do all the work yourself, that is not an issue. However, if you are just buying an old motor it may have stuff wrong with it, that you may not know, and may not have the experience to find and fix.

Buyers of old motors need to recognize these constraints, and buy accordingly.