sushieater
Cadet
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2011
- Messages
- 6
My buddy bought a 1987 90etlh in unknown shape for cheap. Impulse buy that he is now regretting.
It had a bad knock so we took it apart. The bearing on the top cylinder was loose on the crank and the wrist pin had play in the cylinder. Everything else looked fine.
Unfortunately, the crank was damaged at the top cylinder bearing. You can see/feel the wear and a step in the crank.
Now we are trying to find options on what to do with this engine. He stupidly (and against the advice of others) spent at least $500 on accessories on this engine (fancy tach, factory bolts, new cowling, etc) before admitting there was a problem.
Any suggestions on how to proceed?
We thought we could just buy a rebuilt power head and drop it in, but the guy at dealership was saying that motor will only take an 87 or older power head and not a newer 90etlh. Is this true?
It's tempting to do a full rebuild as we have never done an outboard before and we have someone to help us through, but the price of parts is rough. Any suggestions on where to find cheaper parts?
Another option is to just buy another piston/bearings for the damaged one and put it all back together. Still have to spend money on gaskets and such and who knows how long that will last.
Anyone have any luck w/ getting the crank surfaced and using oversized bearings? I was told it can be done, but highly not recommended.
Worst part is he just bought his first boat and it came w/ an 80's mercury 50 with no compression in the bottom cylinder. He thought he'd just buy a different, faster motor and everything would be fine. Now there's two broken motors, a boat with no propulsion. Should have just bought new rings for the mercury and enjoyed it for the originally cheap purchase that it was.
Any advice appreciated. I don't have much experience w/ outboards, but have rebuilt a few truck engines and was really impressed w/ how easy it was to take this motor apart.
It had a bad knock so we took it apart. The bearing on the top cylinder was loose on the crank and the wrist pin had play in the cylinder. Everything else looked fine.
Unfortunately, the crank was damaged at the top cylinder bearing. You can see/feel the wear and a step in the crank.
Now we are trying to find options on what to do with this engine. He stupidly (and against the advice of others) spent at least $500 on accessories on this engine (fancy tach, factory bolts, new cowling, etc) before admitting there was a problem.
Any suggestions on how to proceed?
We thought we could just buy a rebuilt power head and drop it in, but the guy at dealership was saying that motor will only take an 87 or older power head and not a newer 90etlh. Is this true?
It's tempting to do a full rebuild as we have never done an outboard before and we have someone to help us through, but the price of parts is rough. Any suggestions on where to find cheaper parts?
Another option is to just buy another piston/bearings for the damaged one and put it all back together. Still have to spend money on gaskets and such and who knows how long that will last.
Anyone have any luck w/ getting the crank surfaced and using oversized bearings? I was told it can be done, but highly not recommended.
Worst part is he just bought his first boat and it came w/ an 80's mercury 50 with no compression in the bottom cylinder. He thought he'd just buy a different, faster motor and everything would be fine. Now there's two broken motors, a boat with no propulsion. Should have just bought new rings for the mercury and enjoyed it for the originally cheap purchase that it was.
Any advice appreciated. I don't have much experience w/ outboards, but have rebuilt a few truck engines and was really impressed w/ how easy it was to take this motor apart.