Questions about '86 or '87 175hp Mercury Outboard
 

My Dad has an opportunity to buy an older Ranger bass boat that is seemingly
in "perfect condition" for what he feels is a very good price. It is a one
owner boat and my Dad knows the owner and his meticulous nature so he really
wants to buy it. However, he is a bit concerned about the motor itself just
based on its age (it currently runs flawlessly). He has asked me to try to
figure out how difficult it would be to work on this particular motor
if/when it needs repair down the road. I have a lot of experience with
4-stroke car engines (I work with them for a living actually, building
turbo/efi race motors) but I have literally zero experience with anything
related to boats, 2-stroke motors, or even carbs. So in a nutshell, for
somebody that has a wide selection of tools, and lots of mechanical
experience, are there enough resources out there (service manuals, etc.)
that a person could jump in a succesfully repair this type of motor?

On another topic, is there any particular part of this boat that we should
knit pick before buying? Every single thing on this boat "looks" perfect.
The paint, the carpet, even the upholstery, but we have never owned any kind
of boat and buying anything this old is a bit scary.

Thanks for taking the time to read!

Jeff

Questions about '86 or '87 175hp Mercury Outboard
 

Jeff B wrote:
My Dad has an opportunity to buy an older Ranger bass boat that is seemingly
in "perfect condition" for what he feels is a very good price. It is a one
owner boat and my Dad knows the owner and his meticulous nature so he really
wants to buy it. However, he is a bit concerned about the motor itself just
based on its age (it currently runs flawlessly). He has asked me to try to
figure out how difficult it would be to work on this particular motor
if/when it needs repair down the road. I have a lot of experience with
4-stroke car engines (I work with them for a living actually, building
turbo/efi race motors) but I have literally zero experience with anything
related to boats, 2-stroke motors, or even carbs. So in a nutshell, for
somebody that has a wide selection of tools, and lots of mechanical
experience, are there enough resources out there (service manuals, etc.)
that a person could jump in a succesfully repair this type of motor?

On another topic, is there any particular part of this boat that we should
knit pick before buying? Every single thing on this boat "looks" perfect.
The paint, the carpet, even the upholstery, but we have never owned any kind
of boat and buying anything this old is a bit scary.

Thanks for taking the time to read!

Jeff




If it's well maintained I personally wouldn't worry about the age, '86
is not really that old, there's still lots of them running around and
the technology of a carbureted 2 stroke has not really changed much in
the last 50 years. Perhaps more importantly, any idea how many hours are
on it? Some have an hour meter, some don't. Pick up a service manual and
familiarize yourself with the basic maintenance, I'm new to outboards
myself too but so far I've found them to be relatively simple to work
on. Pull off the cowl and everything is right there with no frame or
body parts in the way.

Also relating to age, I recently picked up a tired old boat for
practically nothing, it needs transom and stringer work but I look at it
as an opportunity to learn something. The motor is a '69 Johnson V-115
which had sat outside in the rainy Northwest not run for over 4 years,
yet a half hour of fiddling and it rumbled to life and runs great, it
was really a cool feeling to hear that thing light up. 37 years old and
you'd never know, old is not always tired or bad.

Questions about '86 or '87 175hp Mercury Outboard
 

"James Sweet" wrote


If it's well maintained I personally wouldn't worry about the age, '86 is
not really that old, there's still lots of them running around and the
technology of a carbureted 2 stroke has not really changed much in the
last 50 years. Perhaps more importantly, any idea how many hours are on
it? Some have an hour meter, some don't. Pick up a service manual and
familiarize yourself with the basic maintenance, I'm new to outboards
myself too but so far I've found them to be relatively simple to work on.
Pull off the cowl and everything is right there with no frame or body
parts in the way.



Thanks James!

That's a very good point, I'll try to find out how many hours are on the
boat.

Jeff

Questions about '86 or '87 175hp Mercury Outboard
 

Jeff B wrote:
My Dad has an opportunity to buy an older Ranger bass boat that is seemingly
in "perfect condition" for what he feels is a very good price. It is a one
owner boat and my Dad knows the owner and his meticulous nature so he really
wants to buy it. However, he is a bit concerned about the motor itself just
based on its age (it currently runs flawlessly). He has asked me to try to
figure out how difficult it would be to work on this particular motor
if/when it needs repair down the road. I have a lot of experience with
4-stroke car engines (I work with them for a living actually, building
turbo/efi race motors) but I have literally zero experience with anything
related to boats, 2-stroke motors, or even carbs. So in a nutshell, for
somebody that has a wide selection of tools, and lots of mechanical
experience, are there enough resources out there (service manuals, etc.)
that a person could jump in a succesfully repair this type of motor?

On another topic, is there any particular part of this boat that we should
knit pick before buying? Every single thing on this boat "looks" perfect.
The paint, the carpet, even the upholstery, but we have never owned any kind
of boat and buying anything this old is a bit scary.

Thanks for taking the time to read!

Jeff

Two strokes are quite simple, especially in that age range. You can get
good manuals, and be all set. I never really messed with boat motors at
all until I started doing a lot of fishing and bought one. I have done
some work on two stroke motors (motorcycles, snowmobiles, etc) and
after getting a manual, it was easy.

Questions about '86 or '87 175hp Mercury Outboard
 

Check a few things. Compression. Best to worst should be no more than 5
lbs if "perfect". If 1 and 6 are low, you should change the crank seals.
Wouldn't hurt to get a full gasket set and change all the rubber parts plus
the impeller. With a good shop manual (Clymer or whatever) you should be
able to rebuild if needed. The only "special tool" I needed was a flywheel
puller and I took the powerhead to a local marine mechanic who pulled it for
$10. The tool was $50 and I hoped I'd ;never need it again. Your cylinders
I guess are like mine ('88 200hp)--chromed aluminum. I had to get 2 bored
and sleeved ($250/hole for piston and rings, another $250/hole to bore and
sleeve). I walked out of BassPro with a little box of parts for about $750
and then paid the machine shop about $800 and all I had was parts! Compared
to an auto engine a V-6 Merc is like 6 deranged people all had their
favorite little system and they each piled it on one project! It's hard to
imagine how they could have made it any more complicated. You got one guy
that is a racer type and uses surface gap (racing) plugs that don't work
very well for trolling and they're not resistance plugs. Another guy had
this little black box that would make it idle better and tweak the timing
over 5600rpm (but now I suspect it cuts the engine at over 5000 and idles
poorly). Then there's the pollution freak who put in the "bleed hoses" so
any unburned fuel/oil would stay in and smoke like crazy at cranking after
setting a while. Can you believe some demented mind would run a rubber hose
off the top end that, if it cracks or comes off will lean out the
cylinder?? On and on.
One more thing on the motor--check the oil (bottom screw) in the foot, for
excessive metal on the magnetic rod. (A new/rebuilt foot will cost you 1 to
$2,000.
As to the boat, stomp all over the floor to see if it's got soft spots and
check the transom. With the motor tilted up, put your weight on the prop,
up and down to check for transom flex (rot).
LD


"Jeff B" wrote in message
news:CKAVg.8830$Rp3.445@dukeread12...
My Dad has an opportunity to buy an older Ranger bass boat that is
seemingly in "perfect condition" for what he feels is a very good price.
It is a one owner boat and my Dad knows the owner and his meticulous
nature so he really wants to buy it. However, he is a bit concerned about
the motor itself just based on its age (it currently runs flawlessly). He
has asked me to try to figure out how difficult it would be to work on
this particular motor if/when it needs repair down the road. I have a lot
of experience with 4-stroke car engines (I work with them for a living
actually, building turbo/efi race motors) but I have literally zero
experience with anything related to boats, 2-stroke motors, or even carbs.
So in a nutshell, for somebody that has a wide selection of tools, and
lots of mechanical experience, are there enough resources out there
(service manuals, etc.) that a person could jump in a succesfully repair
this type of motor?

On another topic, is there any particular part of this boat that we should
knit pick before buying? Every single thing on this boat "looks" perfect.
The paint, the carpet, even the upholstery, but we have never owned any
kind of boat and buying anything this old is a bit scary.

Thanks for taking the time to read!

Jeff