mercury xr2

[richlewis]

im thinking of buying a 94 merc xr2 thats been rebuild,can anyone please tell me if these engines are race engines or normal outboards.do they have a rev limiter on them or do they rev to destruction? are they a motorcross bike of the sea.does this engine have any big reliability problems or common faults that i should know about before parting with any money.also it seems rather noisy as if the exhaust isnt baffled .

[pyro]

XR2 was made 85-87, a 2.0 L 150 with some mild performance upgrades. It shared many components with the 200 such as tuner, exhaust plate/divider, etc., and had a recommended RPM range of 5500-6000 instead of 5800. Later "XR" 150 models would add new features, particularly in the form of a 2.4 block in '88 (XR4) and a 2.5 block in 92 (XR6?), and a smaller diameter gearcase was also part of the deal for some year models.

Yours can't be a 94 XR2 unless I'm mistaken.

These will stay together at 6500-7000 rpm, but not for long without more upgrades.

[Markus]

Pyro, I think richlewis is talking about another XR2 than the U.S. bass fishing engine:

There is also an XR2 that is a carburated 2 liter race engine used for offshore racing over here. That engine delivers a tad less than 200 hp unmodified, and can be blueprinted to deliver another 10-15%, within the homologation specifications.

It uses the same powerhead as one of the more common U.S. race engines, perhaps the SST120, or whatever it is called.

Among the offshore racers over here, it has a reputation for being notoriously unreliable and expensive to maintain, but their reference point are Japanse 1.3 liter engines (90 hp Yamahas and Tohatsus), not 2.5 EFIs.

I saw a spec sheet a long time ago, I think the RPM range was slightly lower than on the 2.5l engines; 7500 RPMs or so, but I may well be mistaken.

I think there is a rev limiter, but I am not sure.

[pyro]

I think I do recall hearing something about the motor you're describing now. Must be a Europe thing?

[Markus]

Pyro, yes, it is a Europe thing.

Many years ago, I browsed Merc's website without finding any reference to it anywhere.

However, I know of people importing them from U.S. dealers, so U.S. dealers should be able to get them.

richlewis, to give a straight answer to your question: Unless you are going to race in the 2l offshore class, there are better options for power than the XR2.

[us1]

Isn’t it just like Mercury to confuse the hell out of us and then take all our money?:D