Mercury 2.5 260 Engine builders Opinion / Advice needed.

[4-MULA-V]

I recently purchased a 260 mercury powerhead from an ad on Market place in Missouri. It was described by the seller as ready to assemble or he would assemble for additional $. I asked if it had been blown up or damaged and he said no. He claimed it was a low hour freshwater motor off a twin engine rig. He said he has been in the marine business many years and also does marine surveys. I went ahead with the purchase. When it arrived I took the boxes to my local engine builder. We looked over the parts and agreed this is not what was described by the seller. The seller will not respond or offer a refund as he says the parts are acceptable for rebuild as they are. I am looking for opinions from motor builders if you would assemble a motor using these parts as they are. Let me know what you think is useable and what is not. See photos.

[rock]

That piston prolly not. I have seen worse used just not by me. Had a "race" engine sent to me once and there were no parts in the engine that I would use and I use good used parts often. I guess everyone has an opinion as to what is good.

Rock

[Stoker boy]

The Pistons looks scuffed and they are side pins.
Go to the mercury book and see if the Pistons are in tolerance.

If the Pistons are in tolerance, there was a guy named John Marles / US 1 that use to top pin the pistons.

[laser_ED]

That is not a stock mercury 260 piston, { after i posted about not stock merc 260 piston I went and looked at some of my old pistons and that is an older 260 piston,,,,,,also steel rings not gold rings which most likely points to steel sleeves????? Take a magnet and check inside the sleeve and see if it sticks,,,,,,Show us some more pics.... .P.S my old merc 260 pistons were on 5250 rods and have gold rings on them.

[25two.stroke]

Block is shot. Needs to be re-niked.
Crank will not hold an upper seal...its shot unless you can find someone to re-surface it. I doubt that is the only issue with it though. Check every journal. Looks to have had a rough salty life.
Injectors maybe, their corroded body is not really a sign of anything except that they lived some life in salt water.
That piston is a stock mercury piston from a later (141 rod/big bearing) 260. Side pinned OK if not going over 7000...I don't build with side pinned though. John Marles does still do top pinning. If I pull a used set out of a 260 and they are within spec and not scuffed I send em out to get top pinned and then save em for a budget build. But I hardly ever do budget builds...and that piston looks pretty scuffed up.
Does appear to be chrome rings, so either the last person to build it was cheap or your motor has a steel sleeve in it somewhere. Regardless you want to put gold rings back in if you are building it Nik on all 6. Looks like someone put way too coarse of a hone down those bores and scored it all up.

[Stoker boy]

From what I see, parts may be acceptable to rebuild, but definitely not acceptable to assemble.

[Mrzip]

Take your time. Get Block Re nick. Hut you some parts. Put it back together. Then you have a Nice Mota.

[laser_ED]

Block is shot. Needs to be re-niked.
Crank will not hold an upper seal...its shot unless you can find someone to re-surface it. I doubt that is the only issue with it though. Check every journal. Looks to have had a rough salty life.
Injectors maybe, their corroded body is not really a sign of anything except that they lived some life in salt water.
That piston is a stock mercury piston from a later (141 rod/big bearing) 260. Side pinned OK if not going over 7000...I don't build with side pinned though. John Marles does still do top pinning. If I pull a used set out of a 260 and they are within spec and not scuffed I send em out to get top pinned and then save em for a budget build. But I hardly ever do budget builds...and that piston looks pretty scuffed up.
Does appear to be chrome rings, so either the last person to build it was cheap or your motor has a steel sleeve in it somewhere. Regardless you want to put gold rings back in if you are building it Nik on all 6. Looks like someone put way too coarse of a hone down those bores and scored it all up.

All the above is correct,,,the sleeve you posted is nik,,,you can see where it is flaking off..Now your next question will be ,,how much money do you want to spend to make right????I could list the prices for that rebuild but it would make you sick....

[LakeFever]

Theres missing sleeve and exposed raw aluminum in the cylinder how the heck is that ready to assemble??? Thats as corked as it gets save for a hole through the block. Time to pay the man a visit and show him this thread. Gross misrepresentation of product

[25two.stroke]

7k minimum in parts and block work to build it right.