Need Advice On Merc 2.0 Rebuild or Reman?

[Capnmoench]

Hello all. New to the forum. I see a lot of knowledge and expertise here. I'm in need of some. I bought a 1995 Trophy in May. It has a 1995 150 Mercury 2.0 Black Max. I made the mistake of looking under the cap at the transom and found rot. I ended up pulling the cap, replacing the transom, splicing stringers, replacing the fuel tank and much much more. I replaced the engine mounts and associated hardware, studs, gaskets, transom brackets, cowl mounts, swivel pin and steering arm.

Long 5 month sob story short; I finally got it together and out on the water. After 4 times out on the water, it just died the last time after spending 2 minutes or so on plane. I restarted and tried again. Same thing, but after only 30 seconds. Didn't hear any unusual noise, so I thought I had a collapsed fuel line. Nothing out of the ordinary and the primer bulb was still hard. All fuel system components are brand new as well. Weird. Tried to plow water and limp it back to the docks. On the way back, it started making a loud clatter. I throttled back and it died. Dropped the kicker and putted 6 miles home.

Removed the spark plugs and found aluminum on #1. Pulled both heads and sure enough, #1 was toast. Now I'm in limbo on if I should spend the money on boring #1 and #2 due to small amounts of scoring, honing the rest and rebuilding. All other cylinders are as smooth as glass. Still wonder what happened to #1. Bad thermostat I hear for that one usually. I don't know. That's why I ask for your advice on this. The block is pretty good. It's a saltwater motor. Doesn't look mush worse than a freshwater on the inside based on year. There were gouges when I removed the powerhead on the block flange like it had been pried on. I dremeled and filled the areas with marine-tex. They aren't on the inner part of the seating surface, just the outside edge 1/4 of the way in in about 3 spots.

I'm wondering what you guys suggest. Should I try to rebuild this thing at what I estimate will cost me $2000 for parts, labor and material, or should I drop $3500 on a reman and assume it's good with a 1 year warranty?

[Capnmoench]

I'm leaning towards the reman.

[W2F a V-King]

Guess it depends on what your mechanical abilities are. Taking one apart is different than re assembling one.
It sounds like you may have the expertise to do it.

If you can, or have someone to help you do a rebuild, then that is a more gratifying and economical way to go...jmo.
If you are not familiar with these motors, and have nobody to assist, then the re-manufactured motor might be your way out.

OR.....

There are a lot of pros here that can talk you through it and with enough good pictures posted. I don't see why you couldn't do it yourself. You will need a good machine shop to do the boring/sleeving work.

James

[Capnmoench]

Guess it depends on what your mechanical abilities are. Taking one apart is different than re assembling one.
It sounds like you may have the expertise to do it.

If you can, or have someone to help you do a rebuild, then that is a more gratifying and economical way to go...jmo.
If you are not familiar with these motors, and have nobody to assist, then the re-manufactured motor might be your way out.

OR.....

There are a lot of pros here that can talk you through it and with enough good pictures posted. I don't see why you couldn't do it yourself. You will need a good machine shop to do the boring/sleeving work.

James

Thanks, James. I'm still undecided. I think I could do the rebuild. I rebuilt a running, airplane 4-stroke motor in school for my FAA license. I would have the machining done by a shop. I would also buy a ultrasonic cleaner to do the carbs. I can use it for my other sporting hobbies like shooting and reloading, so it would be worthwhile. It seems like that's what the pros do for them on the reman motors. My only concern is the worth of the original block. I think the epoxy repair will hold for what I want to do with it. I'm curious if something like that can be weld-filled and re-decked though. Also the cost involved. Do you think $2000 is a good estimate? I see the piston sets with gaskets are about $1100. I estimated my transom and structural repairs way under what it actually cost. Time-wise as well. Mostly because I used epoxy instead of vinylester. I have pics of the damage from my stringer/transom replacement and my my lower / mount / steering arm repair in a forum on The Hull Truth. You guys seem more motor oriented though. I'll prob post there as well to get as many feelers out as possible. The more info, the better. Photobucket is down though, so I'll have to check back later.

[W2F a V-King]

Thanks, James. I'm still undecided. I think I could do the rebuild. I rebuilt a running, airplane 4-stroke motor in school for my FAA license. I would have the machining done by a shop. I would also buy a ultrasonic cleaner to do the carbs. I can use it for my other sporting hobbies like shooting and reloading, so it would be worthwhile. It seems like that's what the pros do for them on the reman motors. My only concern is the worth of the original block. I think the epoxy repair will hold for what I want to do with it. I'm curious if something like that can be weld-filled and re-decked though. Also the cost involved. Do you think $2000 is a good estimate? I see the piston sets with gaskets are about $1100. I estimated my transom and structural repairs way under what it actually cost. Time-wise as well. Mostly because I used epoxy instead of vinylester. I have pics of the damage from my stringer/transom replacement and my my lower / mount / steering arm repair in a forum on The Hull Truth. You guys seem more motor oriented though. I'll prob post there as well to get as many feelers out as possible. The more info, the better. Photobucket is down though, so I'll have to check back later.

You no doubt have the skills then.

So IMHO for me...Re-manufactured anything, is only as good as the person or process it went through, and the quality of parts used in the process.

If you do it yourself, you will get a much better motor when done. I am accumulating parts now for my 225. And I will have at least that in my motor when done.

Marine tex is good stuff, JB weld is good too. When used in the right areas. Based on description of yours without a picture, I'd be guessing, but it sounds like a harmless area. Yes, guessing again, it could be welded and resurfaced.

I have a harbor freight ultrasonic cleaner, and it does well...did my 175 carbs in it and they came out looking new, and more important...clean! Cleans shell casings well too!

By all means start a new thread for the hull transom repairs...this is a great site for that as well!! Not motor only, there is a fiberglass and restore forum here as well..

http://www.screamandfly.com/forumdis...tes-Discussion

Welcome to this great website !!

James

[Capnmoench]

I'm starting to feel more comfortable with going the rebuid direction. Thanks. Would be a neat project. Heck, I've done everything else myself. Transferring that thread over from the other forum might take some doing. Maybe if I find some time. Not looking good though. Lol. Here's a link. Pics are still down at the time I typed this. http://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-...placement.html

[Capnmoench]

Here are the photos as promised. This was the gouging I had to get creative with and repair. As you can see, there's still a lot of the flange that is sealed, metal to metal. This was my biggest concern as far as the "worth" of the block. For all I know, I could buy a reman, and strip the paint, only to find it had more problems than the powerhead I already have.







I ground out the low spots and roughed them up with 80 grit just in the recess. I clamped up the exhaust adapter with a really thin layer of grease residue. I waited for it to cure, then I broke it free with the tap of a dead blow. I took a 12"x12" piece of tile and sprayed it with 3M Super 77 adhesive. I adhered a piece of 180-grit sandpaper and worked it evenly around the entire mating surface to deck it evenly.

[Capnmoench]

Oh, and here's the damage on cylinder #1:

[W2F a V-King]

You are good to go! Those areas look good to me. I prefer JB weld to marine tex, but what you did was done very well.

As far as pistons go, I am using Vertex in my 225. There are some cheaper, and some more expensive. I value the opinions of some of the guys here on S&F very much. There are some real Mercury GuRu's here. Do some searches here and see what I mean.

Some of the parts you will read about here are race motor orientated, and some fish motor ( non race applications ).
Find a local machine shop that has a good reputation to do your block/head work and see what opinions they have on which parts to use. If nothing local comes up, search this out here and find one you can ship your block/heads to.

One nice thing about the 2.0 is the thick sleeves, and that they can be modified to spin way up and perform VERY well.

Let the rebuild begin !!

James

[90 5.0]

There is a ton of damage to that cylinder looks like you are gonna need a sleeve

[Capnmoench]

There is a ton of damage to that cylinder looks like you are gonna need a sleeve

We will see when I get a chance to clean it up. It's hard to tell how bad it is with the aluminum melted to it.

[Capnmoench]

Worst case scenario is it gets looking too bad and I change my mind about a rebuild. Disassembly is free minus a flywheel puller.

[Capt.Insane-o]

It'll be fine.

[90 5.0]

Is that not huge chips taken out of the port on the last pic?

[Capt.Insane-o]

looks more like aluminum smear.