Frank Acampora
Supreme Mariner
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2007
- Messages
- 12,004
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.
