84 Suzuki 30hp 2 cycle. Good motor ? value ?

[Ironhorse2022]

Hi all. I just purchased a boat with a smooth running Suzuki 30 on it. I say that after taking it for 1 half hour trip followed by a hot restart. The guy I bought it from put a bunch of time into it trying to track down the cause for its “run 20 mins and stall then after a half hour, start right up and run another 20 min and stall”. Yup, it was a swollen shut vent on his gas cap. Prior to figuring that out, he rebuilt the carb, replaced impeller / lower unit seals / thermostat and head gasket. The engine housing was also nicely painted and has new decals. The PO was a very believable older gentleman and I trust what he told me. That and I can see the edges of new gaskets in the carb and head area. He thought it was an 84 but I can’t find any ID tags on it. Is this a good motor presuming it’s well maintained (I know zip about Suzukis). For purely sentimental reasons, I’m considering replacing it with an older, heavier, less fuel efficient, probably less reliable Evinrude 33 from the 60’s. Can you help me establish a reasonable selling value for the Suzuki, tank and controls ? I’m still weighing options here but may be open to trade for a super clean 60’s 28 or 33 hp evinrude. I’m in SE mich (no shipping). Thanks for your help.

 

[Ironhorse2022]

Wondering if there is a reason nobody is responding to this post ?

 

[matt167]

Good motor, very few parts available. Sadly extinct. I wouldn’t replace it with a ski twin though unless it was dead. 30hp zuki is actually more power than the ski twin 33. But you can keep an old johnnyrude running on cheap aftermarket and oem parts

 

[stresspoint]

they are a top little motor , general maintaince as you would with any outboard of that vintage and you will get years of trouble free use .

if its parts availability that scares you , well , in general not much breaks on them,
my brother ran one for years and it was very strong and reliable, in the later years he had an issue with the wires in the box on the side of the motor getting a spot of green ,
a sheered prop spline but i recon he het something to cause that ,
some "wanna be" outboard mechanic ??? adjusted the carb screw and messed it up a bit .

i would suggest running it till you can kill it "" good luck" .

 

[Ironhorse2022]

Thanks for the feedback. I’ve been considering what it would take to add electric start as the manual start is pretty tough (no compression relief on this puppy). It seems I’d need the starter motor, mounting bracket, solenoid and switch. Would also need to add a ring gear to the flywheel or maybe a new flywheel. The starters and solenoids are available aftermarket and eBay. Haven’t found a source for the bracket yet. Any thoughts on adding electric start ?