several questions-'94 200xri ff powerhead rebuild

[rprinzo]

im in calif, has anyone used TMS marine and have an opinion?are there better options?
im in search of a set of 18488 c5 heads,ill buy a good set right now.solid motor mounts,lightweight flywheel,

this is my first time delving into the modded outboard world, id like more power and keep the reliability that this motor has given me, this is the first rebuid for this motor,and its not broke,just tired and it has a stripped spark plug hole.any help or direction would be greatly appriciated. powerhead is ready to unbolt and send.tia

[25two.stroke]

I would not send a powerhead that far EVER just for a freshen up. Any outboard dealer should be able to put rings, reeds, bearings and possibly bearings in that. Shoot, I'd rebuild it for you too if you needed it. Driving down to Rodeo is a lot quicker than unbolting it and shipping to the midwest. I would only send it that far if it was going to a reputable builder to get ported and pumped up.

Heads are easy, I might have a set and if not you can possibly find a peppered set, have them cut a little and then bolt them on for a little more power. I may have a light flywheel for you and I have a contact who has solid mounts for sale: hes on here as Crescentbar and he has them listed somewhere in the parts for sale area of this forum.

Wait and see people's opinion here on TMS and send it if you feel comfortable...or mayeb you can build it yourself. If you have any questions then you can call me later 510-418-4911 Jacob

[rprinzo]

I would not send a powerhead that far EVER just for a freshen up. Any outboard dealer should be able to put rings, reeds, bearings and possibly bearings in that. Shoot, I'd rebuild it for you too if you needed it. Driving down to Rodeo is a lot quicker than unbolting it and shipping to the midwest. I would only send it that far if it was going to a reputable builder to get ported and pumped up.

Heads are easy, I might have a set and if not you can possibly find a peppered set, have them cut a little and then bolt them on for a little more power. I may have a light flywheel for you and I have a contact who has solid mounts for sale: hes on here as Crescentbar and he has them listed somewhere in the parts for sale area of this forum.

Wait and see people's opinion here on TMS and send it if you feel comfortable...or mayeb you can build it yourself. If you have any questions then you can call me later 510-418-4911 Jacob

no way in hell its goin to a dealer, and tms will do a complete rebuild, includes shipping to and from my front door,with a lifetime warrenty on labor, for 3 grand, have it back in 3 weeks. no sales tax. to good to be true?

[25two.stroke]

Ok I definitely gotta know why you are so strong against dealers? Honest question, why do you say no way to them?

Lifetime warranty on labor means nothing really...its parts that fail down the road, not labor, and thats how they cover their ass. Lifetime warranty on labor is the same as a month warranty on labor...if your labor fails its gonna not run or blow up real quick. If it holds together for 3 years and blows then it wasn't a labor problem and they charge you to fix it. Simple as that. I warranty my work for 200 years. Even though I don't do much work (aside from draw).

3 grand is not too good to be true depending on what is included in the rebuild. Ive done rebuilds that consist of new rings, bearing and gaskets for 1000. That stuff is cheap. Easy rebuild/freshen up when nothing is wrong. Its when it threw a rod, squeaked a piston, pitted the crank etc. that makes it expensive. You never know what you are gonna have till you tear it apart. I NEVER give a price (only ranges) until I see the innards: weather it be a powerhead or gearcase rebuild. You just never know what you are gonna find even if its running.

[rprinzo]

ill answer you,but first do you work for a dealer?
my bad,warrenty is parts and labor lifetime
includes all machine work(bore,hone,flatten all mating surfaces,polish crank),pistons.rings,bearings,gaskets/seals to reinstall,impeller and manual,shipping both ways

ive been researching this project and have yet to find anybody in california willing to do it,and i dont wanna play parts games or waiting game. i want it done the way things got done back before lazy and excusses became the way to do business. i need my boat back this summer. dealers have one thing in mind,SELL NEW, and when it comes time to back theyre products, nothi but finger pointing and lies. sorry,thats my opinion.

[25two.stroke]

I work for a dealer one day a week, but hes far from the conventional dealer. I'm sure you've heard stories from gone fishin cause you are in the Sac area or Bucks Outboard. Maybe you have even heard about Eagle Marine in Martinez or Kieth at Outboard Pro shops...all of those people I have heard terrible things and I can't believe they are allowed to carry the Mercury name. Thats all aside the point. I work for a guy who has been a merc dealer since 1980...hes been a marine mechanic his whole life and its your traditional mom&pop shop that doesn't really make money, they just make it by, try to get everyone's projects done, and make every customer happy.

If they are putting a lifetime warranty on the parts and work thats one hell of a deal. If its legit. I have no personal experience with them, so maybe someone else here can help. A lot of people here build their own stuff though. Thats where I am...I work weekends at the shop but I spend WAY more time building my own stuff. I don't do performance mods for customers cause we aren't allowed to...but I build some crazy stuff for myself. I didn't mean to try to solicit your business, I don't need any more stuff to do. But I would do it or show you how if you wanted just cause you are close. I hardly have the time to build my own stuff

$3000 including shipping and tax is a good deal if they are gonna hone all the cylinders, deck the block, surface the heads, put new bearings, rod bolts, rings and pistons. Then bench run it, flow test those injectors, and test the frequent failing electrical parts. I would not say thats a super deal or too expensive, its about right for a shop that specializes in rebuilds to do a thorough job. Its just a matter of if they do a thorough job.

Like you said about dealers I would have the same opinion on professional re-builders. I would be worried that they were gonna screw me like a car service shop. If I knew nothing about the guts of my powerhead I could send it off to them and they find it has racing rods or something nice in it...they tell me the rods are bad and I need new ones...meanwhile they take them out and sell them on the side and put stock rods in it. Then you would never know and they made twice their money on a set of rods you didn't even need. Or the same thing could happen with pistons. Take em out, keep them, and tell you that you need new ones. Thats all I would worry about my powerhead being halfway across the country at a shop I had never dealt with. I would much rather have my powerhead at a local shop where I can walk in any say and see it torn apart and any bad parts they find. Thats just my opinion.

[bullet123]

You said impeller....Are you shipping entire motor? Shipping will be atleast $500 round trip, so they are actually doing rebuild for $2500

[rprinzo]

You said impeller....Are you shipping entire motor? Shipping will be atleast $500 round trip, so they are actually doing rebuild for $2500

no,the just include a new impeller,im assuming to cover theyre ass if someone put it back together on an old one and it overheats.thats just an assumption

[rprinzo]

I work for a dealer one day a week, but hes far from the conventional dealer. I'm sure you've heard stories from gone fishin cause you are in the Sac area or Bucks Outboard. Maybe you have even heard about Eagle Marine in Martinez or Kieth at Outboard Pro shops...all of those people I have heard terrible things and I can't believe they are allowed to carry the Mercury name. Thats all aside the point. I work for a guy who has been a merc dealer since 1980...hes been a marine mechanic his whole life and its your traditional mom&pop shop that doesn't really make money, they just make it by, try to get everyone's projects done, and make every customer happy.

If they are putting a lifetime warranty on the parts and work thats one hell of a deal. If its legit. I have no personal experience with them, so maybe someone else here can help. A lot of people here build their own stuff though. Thats where I am...I work weekends at the shop but I spend WAY more time building my own stuff. I don't do performance mods for customers cause we aren't allowed to...but I build some crazy stuff for myself. I didn't mean to try to solicit your business, I don't need any more stuff to do. But I would do it or show you how if you wanted just cause you are close. I hardly have the time to build my own stuff

$3000 including shipping and tax is a good deal if they are gonna hone all the cylinders, deck the block, surface the heads, put new bearings, rod bolts, rings and pistons. Then bench run it, flow test those injectors, and test the frequent failing electrical parts. I would not say thats a super deal or too expensive, its about right for a shop that specializes in rebuilds to do a thorough job. Its just a matter of if they do a thorough job.

Like you said about dealers I would have the same opinion on professional re-builders. I would be worried that they were gonna screw me like a car service shop. If I knew nothing about the guts of my powerhead I could send it off to them and they find it has racing rods or something nice in it...they tell me the rods are bad and I need new ones...meanwhile they take them out and sell them on the side and put stock rods in it. Then you would never know and they made twice their money on a set of rods you didn't even need. Or the same thing could happen with pistons. Take em out, keep them, and tell you that you need new ones. Thats all I would worry about my powerhead being halfway across the country at a shop I had never dealt with. I would much rather have my powerhead at a local shop where I can walk in any say and see it torn apart and any bad parts they find. Thats just my opinion.

well ****, now you got me thinkin. your last paragraph hit the nail on the head. and your type of shop is who id rather do business with. and i need a local shop or person i can trust. ive always done my business with jerry at bucks and we re friends but he stopped workin on the old ****. i can go in at any time with questions and he always helps with advice and procedure but i need more than that.i m a small gen contractor with too much work and not enough time and i fish on saturdays and i need the motor DONE.
i guess at this point i just need to call you

[25two.stroke]

If you tryna get it done NOW then I am not your man, but I definitely would not take all summer...you can give me a call this evening even if its just to talk. Yeah I get the weekend work deal...I've been doing that too long. I work for an architecture firm during the week, work for the shop on Saturdays and commercial fish Sundays/holidays...the work never stops.

Old stuff! Must be nice to only work on new stuff that doesn't have salt holding it together...Of the shops I named that get bad raps Bucks is the best of them all...their focus on new sales leaves a sour taste in some customers mouths while others understand it and move on. I don't like how much Hondas they sell. I would've bought a brand new boat from them when I was getting into commercial fishing but they were not too easy to deal with. And I will never own a Honda for saltwater use.

[Advantage]

I recently met and sold a power head to 25two.stoke, if your up in his area I would highly suggest to have him do your motor work. The young man is very knowledgeable and beyond his years on these old 2 stroke Mercs. You'll get a very honest and fair assessment and quote for your work needed.

[TEXAS20225]

I'm the guy who all the know it all's hate ive rebuilt over 400 200 efis(only) in my term as a rebuild only shop not counting 150,175 260 or 280 and quite a few 3.0 motors, the key to a successful rebuild is the machine work period and i went thru the painfull curve of dealer , almost a machine shop but did more pwc then v6 blocks ,maybe a machine shop but does car motors too and motorcycles then to Jim Ruck then James Perry the last who is in a space by himself the best machine shop man bar none why because he builds as many motors as any one, which leads him to the path of being a real pro this man also makes is own sleeves which he and i ventured in together i do have some know how on rebuilding. you need a rebuilder who knows how to check out a block before he starts doing anything like for out of round cylinders what works and why, or it wont work and why James clued me on on so many issues i would never had know about form just a bore it ship it shop sometimes this does not work, i did no service work in over 20 years! none! i could care less why your speedo did not work that type of service man is a special type of mechanic im not him or did i do different makes of out boards only mercury V6. Rprinzo i agree with your thought process price sounds good , one of the main things i stopped doing on blocks is when one had a hole that was blown but not damaged just had a stuck piston with heavy alum deposits on sleeve wall i stopped boring those holes because most of the time the sleeve got pushed so far out of round the register moved with it so when it is just bored the register is never going to touch sleeve again( but not allways) creating a gap between sleeve and block hence no heat transfer then boom same hole same results you are thinking correct in my opinion so keep going

[TEXAS20225]

Also i want to add the last 2/3 years i was building i quit boring at all most of the time i replaced all 6 sleeves , i bought a new 20 Bullet in 1995 and over the years i built and installed 29 motors on that boat (still have it ) from200 bone stock to 300x simply because i could

[rprinzo]

Also i want to add the last 2/3 years i was building i quit boring at all most of the time i replaced all 6 sleeves , i bought a new 20 Bullet in 1995 and over the years i built and installed 29 motors on that boat (still have it ) from200 bone stock to 300x simply because i could

so your not building anymore?

[TEXAS20225]

no i quit in 202 for real (after a man begged me to rebuild his in 2019 and so i did a really nice young man with zero motor knowledge and he knew it and did not have a mouth full of "well onetime I " many people have tried to get me to go back in but im done