280 Rebuild/lifespan

[omega_679]

Ok I have heard different opinions from different people and all very knowledgable on the 280 mercs. I am thinking of getting a 2001 280 with 84 hrs from a friend who has it on his bass boat (Nitro) for my Stratos 20VT replacing my 2.5 200. The question is I have heard the you should refresh the engine about every 100 hrs. I have also heard that the motors are good for 300-400 under normal use. I understand that it all depends on the speeds you run and normal use may not aply to a lot of us. Questions as follows.
1. How often does it need to be freshened up under normal use.
2. Cost of freshining up a 280
3. Cost of a complete rebuild
4. Dependability of a 280
Thanks guys any opinions?

[Jay Smith]

I rebuild the 280's allot most need to be leaked down tested to confirm a rebuild is on coming and indeed needed. Most will live approx. 100 hours or so between rebuilds if properly ran and not abused. Your 2001 should have top pinned pistons so if they "spec" out a JSRE rebuild which includes all labor ,all new bearings, new gaskets, new rings, injector cleaned and serviced by Brucato, new reeds ( Tony Doukas Racing Reeds ) , bores honed and straightened if needed , all fuel and TPI setting confirmed and engine ran in here before recrated and shipped will cost about $2200.00 usd. If the motor is sent with healthy coatings on the bores when it arrives..That does not include any mods, and problems found at time of rebuild of coarse...

As far as the longevity I find them ( 280's ) to be very durable . I have 2 engines coming in from Europe next week ( a modified 260 belonging to Rob Strick and a modified 280 belonging to Scott Gibbons ) both were raced over in Europe in santioned ski racing events in the open ocean ,the 280 was pounded for 2 complete seasons and gave the guy zero issues and won several major races as the 260 was freshened each season and won his class.

Good luck,
Jay @ JSRE

[omega_679]

Thanks Jay for the info. I am having a leakdown test done this week. Also compression and checking the DDS for hours and RPM the engine was run at. My hull is heavy as all Stratos VT's are and it takes a lot more HP to get the air packed under them. Thought about going to a 300 but price for the 300xs is a lot. I understand about the fuel consumpsion between the 280 and 300 and haven't doen the math YET. The 300 promax is another choice but the weight comes into play also. Just re did the transom and floor last yr and re-enforced the transom thinking I would go to a 300. This 280 is a great price and I know how it has been run. Decisions I guess.....thanks again

[bigtis]

I had a little over 200hrs on my 2001 280. Bores were all straight and clean, nic was excellent. I have a ROS 8600rev ECU. I always run my motor richer than required. It is my weekend enjoyment mota and I have had no problems except for my own inexperience. Had to pullstart the mota because the starter gears teeth were gone. used a rope then broke the alternator belt. Had to get towen in. Other than that, my mechanic said that it was fixin to throw a rod though because the bearings had soooo much time on them. Other than that, he said that runnin it as rich as i do saved my but come rebuild time. it's like 1000 bucks to get the block renicked. I put new wizard top pinns from JSRE. your mota if original 2001 will need the same. Like Jay stated 100hrs or so is usual. also depending on use. My mota doesn't spin, so therefor will likely hold up a little longer than say a, "lil prop spinning mota." my mota normaly stays in the mid to high 7's. Hope this helps a little. Jay's the man.

[Michael J Giesler]

Jay I have a question for you I have a 2001 280 sport on my grandsport I was told that 2002 were top pinned a mine was side pinned I did a leakdown last year motor was still strong I always let it warm up and always let it idle down I've run mine for 20 miles wot about ten times a year mostly I run on my 90 acre lake that I live on. plus I use merc high perf oil and non-reformulated 96 octane gas was mine built on wednesday or was I just lucky thanks.

[Jay Smith]

Kudos to ya Michael,
Sounds like your doing everything you can to preserve the life of your engine. The month of the year of the transition from the side pin to the top pin pistons seems to be always a bit sketchy. The leak down test is, as a rule of thumb , to check the health or seal of the bore/ring combo ( worn and or leaking bore / ring seal cause by ring wear or Nicom/Nik damage ) , although if a pin is contacting the bore and creating an escape path for compression the test will also indicate that too. Those pesky locater pins have destroyed more of the newer High Performance engines than anything I can think of. If I had an engine that was suspect of being a side pinned engine , maybe I'm bias because I have seen SOOO much carnage and sometimes TOTAL destruction they cause to blocks ,I'd convert to top pin PERIOD as soon as my time and or budget permits. Some claim the old adage "I can't afford to convert right now" my comeback is when the failure ocures ( and IMO its not IF it's WHEN ) "You can't afford NOT to" , believe me I do these things weekly and the damage that can be caused is astronomical to repair and can vary from as a simple low dollar conversion and rebuild to as far as a complete replacement of the short block...Most of these catostrophic failures happen with the boat utilizes twins or triples , with the multi engine applications the operator/owner seems to not be able to detect the on going failure due to the noise of the second and or third engines and run until a more complete destruction has ocured...Hate to scare ya but you asked my opinion...It sure is easier on the "Arse National " to convert before it dislodges and destroyed at the least one bore/piston....

Good luck,

Jay @ JSRE 1 281 576 5088 cst

[omega_679]

Jay, can you tell me by the ID tag if this motor is top pinned? Thanks

[Jay Smith]

The easiest way for me to tell for sure is use a bend-o-lite and move any piston to BDC you should be able to see the small round pin at the crown edge on the intake side of the piston...You might call your serial number in and find out IF ya trust the information as facts ....

Jay

[John Richied]

I don’t believe your engine is top pinned…
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[chad202]

I have a question. I assume Mercury use nic and titanium rings is because they very hard and "less resistance" than a steel bore. If this is correct, and a 260/280 are properly lubricated, and run within normal rpms range, why should they only last 100hrs before re-ringing. Also, Mercury gave a 1year warranty on the 280, not limiter to hours????

[Jay Smith]

I'm not an expert on the subject Chad but this is how I see it:


Nicom / Nic is a coating that ia applied to Aluminum OR cast iron sleeves. It seems to the touch to be VERY smooth but guess what its NOT. The coating is SOOO hard that it has to be cut with a diamond cutter /hone. Once its honed and a crosshatching is created the ring passing across it is vulnerable to the wear quickly from this non yielding surface. In other words the fresh cut nicom/nic has microscopic TEETH that can't or won't yield to the ring passing across it so the ring is in a constant wear situation and the looser of this battle is the ring. That is the reason for the short hours service life verses steel bored engines. After the coating on the Tia ring is worn off ( Its just a THIN coating ) it exposes a steel ring which then can and does wear the hell out of bores if left un attended ..Unlike a steel / cast iron bore that the high side edge of the crosshatching is quickly worn down by the ring the nicom bores are harder to knock the abrasive edges or "teeth" down by the ring abrasion. So the scaraficial part is the ring and thus yields a low life run. Also if the motors are ran until the coating the gone the steel ring will damage the Nicom/nic coating beyond repair and has to be recoated. That is why its imparative to do the maintaniance at the proper time to insure extended life if the engine.

Jay @ JSRE

[bigtis]

I have a question. I assume Mercury use nic and titanium rings is because they very hard and "less resistance" than a steel bore. If this is correct, and a 260/280 are properly lubricated, and run within normal rpms range, why should they only last 100hrs before re-ringing. Also, Mercury gave a 1year warranty on the 280, not limiter to hours????

it's alot cheaper to rering every so often, versus waiting for something to blow, then spending $$$$$$$ on sleeves maybe and a nic job, which I believe is around a grand for the block. As Jay stated if left unnattended for too long the damage becomes catastrophic. Just a hole lot more economical to freshen up versus REPAIR. Let's go ride Chad. sold the XB2002 and got a XR2002. i can hang now. Still got the little mota on though.

[chad202]

Thanks Jay. What about Titanium rings and not just the titanium coated?

[bigtis]

I'm not an expert on the subject Chad but this is how I see it:
Jay @ JSRE

For sure the best explanation i've seen yet. Thanks Jay.

[Jay Smith]

All Tia rings have but a THIN Tia coating Chad ... As does tooling,( drill bits , end mills, incerts ) its a very thin coating, not solid .And once it worn off the parent metal it was applied to is now exposed and is your rubbing agent against the bore wall or material to be cut..Thats why when the coating wear off and the gold is no longer present and all you see is a steel ring and its very abrasive to the bore..

Good luck,
Jay