1998 225 Merc Motor HELP!!

**nitro_rat** · 05-18-2018, 05:42 AM

Definitely a Frankenmerc! I wouldn’t trust whomever has been working on this in the past for you. Looks like they know just enough to be dangerous! Maybe not dishonest, but definitely not trustworthy!

**bullet123** · 05-18-2018, 05:52 AM

I have talked to Brad a couple of times. He just wants a reliable motor to go fishing with and don't really want to dump more money into it. After seeing lower unit and pictures of motor, I think its in his best interest to trade it in or maybe sell it on here. He will have 3 to 4 thousand in it to buy a proper lower and to have the engine fixed right.

**nitro_rat** · 05-18-2018, 06:18 AM

Here’s to wishing Lauren and Brad the best of luck in getting their boat back on the water!

**Lauren** · 05-18-2018, 06:39 AM

Our main problem with selling this motor is that nobody around here wants it because they know nothing about it. The marine dealer we picked it up from yesterday gave us a really good deal on a 2014 250 pro max and if we didn't own 2 houses right now we would have had them put that on the boat instead of bringing this piece of junk motor back home!

We still have the original lower unit that was on the motor Trent. Brad had talked to a welder who actually builds boats about welding some kind of plate on there that the original owner had cut off and he said he could do it but several people told brad the unit would be fine once he found the prop that worked best with it.

**nitro_rat** · 05-18-2018, 06:43 AM

Don’t do it. That lower isn’t safe. If you want to save it put the guts in a new case!

**Lauren** · 05-18-2018, 06:44 AM

Originally Posted by Varmint

that looks like one that needs to be torn down,may not have a matching front 1/2 on it,if it has good compression,I'd just tear the front 1/2 and crank bearing ,I'd be interested,to see,if it has dowel pins in the front 1/2,or somebody just bolted one on,without any machine work. do the block/front case 1/2 numbers match ?

Where do I find these numbers? My husband isn't home to ask lol but ill pop the cowan off and look.

**bullet123** · 05-18-2018, 06:47 AM

Hard to tell from picture, but I think its missing the area where you put the bolt up through cav plate. Not good

**Lauren** · 05-18-2018, 06:48 AM

Before he put this lower unit on he tried to find somebody who could put the guts in our old lower unit.. when it froze and busted all it did was push the guts out, there was no physical damage done to housing. He couldn't find anybody around that would be able to rework the old lower unit.. is it something that can be done?

**Lauren** · 05-18-2018, 06:50 AM

Originally Posted by bullet123

Hard to tell from picture, but I think its missing the area where you put the bolt up through cav plate. Not good

We can't use the dolphin fin with this lower unit because there's nothing to bolt it to. As soon as my coffee is finished I'll take some pictures

**bullet123** · 05-18-2018, 06:56 AM

Originally Posted by Lauren

Before he put this lower unit on he tried to find somebody who could put the guts in our old lower unit.. when it froze and busted all it did was push the guts out, there was no physical damage done to housing. He couldn't find anybody around that would be able to rework the old lower unit.. is it something that can be done?

Yes it can be done. Internal damage will determine cost. If its a sportmaster it is more than likely worth fixing.

**bullet123** · 05-18-2018, 07:03 AM

You don't need a coned lower unit on your boat/motor setup anyway. Not needed unless you are busting 80+ mph. You could probably sell your original broken lower (if its a sportsmaster) and buy a good 2.5 fishing lower and have money left over. The lower you have on the boat now might have some value if somebody was looking for some 4 hole CLE internals.

**Lauren** · 05-18-2018, 07:09 AM

It's the original lower unit and I believe they did tell us it was a sportmaster, I'll take a picture of it. I could careless to go 65+ lol I've been thrown from the seat several times but when we were looking for a lower someone told us that gear ratios are different...
I would love to just sell the motor as is but don't even begin to know how-to advertise it

**Lauren** · 05-18-2018, 07:17 AM

Click image for larger version.

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Here's 2 different angles of the lower unit

**nitro_rat** · 05-18-2018, 07:23 AM

Yeah, if you keep it I’d just throw a 1.87 geared SEI (aftermarket Chinese) gearcase. Used to be about $800, not sure what they’re going for now but they have a no questions asked replacement warranty.