I replaced My old two stroke with an old two stroke.

[fastasfox]

If you didn't read my post (it was going so well then bang)
then give it a quick read and the following will make sense.

When I posted about the demise of my old clamshell mariner, Ribnet's members sprang into action with suggestions and possible replacements.
A forum member called Tinker posted an add off ebay that I hadn't seen, as it was a fire damaged 5m Humber.
The buy it now price was £2000 but I put my best bid in and despite being the top bidder the boat failed to sell.
I opened up a conversation with the seller. I asked him if he would just sell the outboard on it's own...he said he would, but then he added at the end of the message "are you sure you don't won't the whole boat £1200. I replied £1100 and I will take it off your hands ( I had a feeling he just wanted shut of it after the fire. After a short while he replied Sold...so I arranged to collect it.

The agreed price was subject to it being a runner and I made it clear that at the price point I wasn't expecting it to be perfect but if it was scrap then I need to know as it was a long way to travel (Lesmahagow Scotland).
Another member (beamishken) asked me if I needed him to pop and have a look as he lived not too far away he would do that for me....cheers Ken.

It was decided that Ken and I would view the outboard together as two heads are better than one and Ken has experience in the industry as a marine engineer.

The boat was damaged by a battery fire in the console and this in turn wiped out the remote and guages as well as bursting the tubes (right where the baffles are) and this was game over for this seller.
The hull is in perfect order, as was the trailer and more importantly the outboard was untouched.
Ken and I met up at a truckstop I know and we followed the owner down to where it was in storage...not the best day weather wise as it started to rain.
I did a little research before looking at the optimax and I was told to check the fuel pumps for water. There are two pumps ....high and low pressure and fuel contamination is a killer for the optimax, so as Ken and I agreed we checked for water by opening the bleed screw up and pulling the bottom fuel line out and Ken was happy to report it was clear and had no water in it. I then fired up the borascope up, and all three cylinders were in good nick with zero scoring or pitting. We than ran a compression test and not only were all three cylinders an even compression, but they were also where a healthy engine should be (around 110 psi on the 75hp)
The power tilt worked but we stopped short of firing her up as there was too big a risk of pulling in contamination as the fuel line had been sat in water. We also agreed that at this price then even if it turns out to be a dud then I could get back my money easily in parts....let alone the trailer hull and A frame.

This all took place last Saturday and after a 10 round trip I popped her in storage next my boat.
I had a quick look at her on the Sunday, but I was keen not to spend too much time on it as I was both tired ( I drive for a living) and I needed to spend time with my wife.
The powerhead and everything else under the engine cowel is in pretty good condition though.

My Plan is to use this outboard to get me by whilst I save for a newer four stroke yamaha 80/100.

I will first make sure she operates as she was designed to do, then I will give it a 100hr service as a base I can start the maintenance from. Then I will set about refreshing the lower half with some general cleaning and paint.
Whilst the outboard is still pretty old it is half the age my clamshell was....so a step in the right direction.
I don't know if it's just me, but I love stuff like this...it's a tinker's dream.
It's sad really because a lot of the salt damaged could have been mitigated by looking after it a bit better.

So early summation on the outboard is that it has been kept on a mooring most of it's life ( not ideal but common) as the steering is locked up and the lower engine mount is shot. I think I can replace the engine mount without removing the lower unit and leg and I should be able to free up the steering ( could even be the cable) as it was cut to separate the fire damaged console.

I have posted a few pictures, so let me know your thoughts...was it worth it?

Thanks again to Ken ( if you ever need something doing down my end then just let me know) and Thanks to Tinker....we shall no doubt meet up on a run someday and I will buy you a drink.

have fun.....Foxy.

[spartacus]

Quite the road trip!

That was great of beamishken to accompany you.

Looking forward to seeing this 2-stroke brought being back to life with a bit of TLC. What’s the plan for the hull?

[fastasfox]

Originally Posted by spartacus

Quite the road trip!

That was great of beamishken to accompany you.

Looking forward to seeing this 2-stroke brought being back to life with a bit of TLC. What’s the plan for the hull?

I will list it...starting at 99p
Also the A frame should fetch around £100
And the trailer should be worth £300 +

[smallribber]

Looks a good purchase. For that money I don’t think you can go wrong.

Is it worth enquiring about a retube on the hull. If you get the engine goung well I would not bother with a four stroke

[tinker]

Great news, bringing something back to life is always rewarding and you get to have a tinker with it all which is my favourite part, atm. Good luck with the project, keep us posted on your progress.

beamishken, what a helpful guy he sounds, first class 👏.

[fastasfox]

Originally Posted by Easedalenovice

Looks a good purchase. For that money I don’t think you can go wrong.

Is it worth enquiring about a retube on the hull. If you get the engine goung well I would not bother with a four stroke

It's a 5 meter Humber so I know a re-tube would be £5000 plus vat and as I own a 5m Tornado that is very similar to the Humber It wouldn't make sense for me to take that on....but if someone was looking for a good base hull to do a rebuild project then this would be a great starting point.

[fastasfox]

Originally Posted by tinker

Great news, bringing something back to life is always rewarding and you get to have a tinker with it all which is my favourite part, atm. Good luck with the project, keep us posted on your progress.

beamishken, what a helpful guy he sounds, first class 👏.

My absolute dream would to have a large double height workshop complete with pit...surrounded with my tools and a radio on in the background....tinkers paradise lol.

I have a good starting point with this outboard as the powerhead is in super condition.

[Steve509926]

Hi Foxy, hopefully you've got the basis of a good OB. Do we assume you will be documenting the stripdown and rebuild? Looking forward to it if you are.

[willk]

Originally Posted by tinker

beamishken, what a helpful guy he sounds, first class 👏.

I've always been impressed by the willingness of certain RIBnetters to help others out - it's a big ask to have someone eat into their precious spare time to assist and always great to get the help.

[fastasfox]

Originally Posted by Steve509926

Hi Foxy, hopefully you've got the basis of a good OB. Do we assume you will be documenting the stripdown and rebuild? Looking forward to it if you are.

I put it this way Steve.....I have hope for it.
As I come across problems and indeed improvements I will feed that into the ribnet machine.

[fastasfox]

Originally Posted by willk

I've always been impressed by the willingness of certain RIBnetters to help others out - it's a big ask to have someone eat into their precious spare time to assist and always great to get the help.

Yes indeed and the best part is if Ken ever needed help with something down my neck of the wood's I would be happy to help...as I would with all forum members.

[Matt]

I quite like the optimax motors.

The most frustating thing is that while the ECUs on them are good, to *really* diagnose any issues, you do need a DDT. I have a borrowed one that I use on mine, which, for example, told me that it was air injector no.6 playing up a while back rather than just "Injector Fault".

[fastasfox]

Originally Posted by Matt

I quite like the optimax motors.

The most frustating thing is that while the ECUs on them are good, to *really* diagnose any issues, you do need a DDT. I have a borrowed one that I use on mine, which, for example, told me that it was air injector no.6 playing up a while back rather than just "Injector Fault".

It's like modern cars too....I had a headlight out on my bmw....now back in the day you would pop to your local garage with a couple of quid and buy a new bulb.....but now NOOOOO I had to purchase new headlight £540 a headlight module £120 and I had to have the new module coded to the car £60 .....£720 and a new bulb £12
And I had to do the work myself....bumper off and all....mental.

The problem of course is whilst for most cars you can buy an odb reader but for boat engines they are not readily not so readily available.

[Matt]

Nah, it's not that bad. In the "old" days you'd be guessing - but merc did OK and now it's pretty good at telling you what the issue is - and most of the optimax parts are pretty easy to work on. So it's not just "buy new", it's "this is the bit you need" - they did a good job, IMVHO. No idea what the new stuff is like though.

I hear you re. the cars though - I have just sold my old RS6. Now have a mini Cooper S - and have immediately bought myself bimmerlink and the dongal to enable diagnosis & coding etc.

[fastasfox]

okay...I have now had an afternoon going through the replacement outboard and the steering mechanism is turning out to be quite the problem.

As previously stated, I suspected that the boat had been kept on a mooring whilst it was in Poole (that's where the previous owner purchased it from). As a result of it's time in the salty brine, the lower half of the outboard has suffered.

The steering cable had been cut and at the time I thought this was why it was stiff, so I disconnected the link rod, but no Joy. Now when I say stiff, what I really mean is seized....solid. Next step was to get some wd40 on top of the swivel tube, before setting about the grease nipple with a gun full of lithium grease. The problem is because the bottom Bush has disintegrated, the grease came out of the bottom joint but not the top.
I have got the steering moving, but nowhere near as free as it should be.....my old Mariner steering you could move with one finger.
So this is my dilemma, do I cut my losses and sell it on as spares or repairs ( I don't think I will lose money as the powerhead is in tiptop shape) or do I pull the powerhead off and set about the steering tube and refurb the saddle bracket with new bushing and mounts?
The latter of the two is a big job, and I imagine it will fight me every step of the way....you know, snapped studs and the like.....not to mention the fact that I have never pulled the powerhead off an outboard before.
The parts for the refurb ain't cheap either....but then what is in this hobby of ours!
The right thing to do would be to repair the fault properly and repaint the castings, and push myself to learn something new......but this will definitely mean the end of my season.
So what are your thoughts....what would you do? ( excluding chucking money at the problem)
Here are a few pictures including the rusty cast iron steering arm. Just a bit of simple maintenance would have stopped this you know.

And BTW someone mentioned this outboard was 30kg heavier than my old one... I can tell you that most of that extra weight is on the massive engine hood and the full length Cowell....that is heavy all on it's own.

[spartacus]

You’ve hit your first hurdle unfortunately.

I suppose this comes down to your level of confidence to undertake the work as to how to proceed. Do you definitely know you’d get interest if you sold it? What then, a better 2-stroke until you’ve saved for a newer 4-stroke?

What I would do is price out replacement parts, refurb saddle, new tilt tube, etc. If you’re going to the bother of replacing them, then don’t cut corners would be my approach, plus you’re learning new skills.

Also what tools do you have? Pneumatic air hammer would be useful, as would full socket set, engine hoist, but possible to do it without. Irwin carbide drill bits, Draper easy outs, propane blow torch, etc. PlusGas penetrating release is miles better than WD40.

[spartacus]

Originally Posted by Matt

I hear you re. the cars though - I have just sold my old RS6. Now have a mini Cooper S - and have immediately bought myself bimmerlink and the dongal to enable diagnosis & coding etc.

Almost essential to have software for cars now. I’ve got ISTA for BMW which isn’t very intuitive, and VCDS which runs across VAG (Audi, VW, Skoda, etc). Then you get into dealer level diagnostics such as ODIS for Audi due to component protection.

[fastasfox]

I have a tree and block and tackle lol.
lot's of tool's built up over the year's...rattle gun stud extraction set, carbide stud grinders pullers etc.
You can either be Rich or Resourceful.....and I ain't Rich.

[beamishken]

I think it would be a shame to throw the towel in at the first hurdle but on the other hand I can see why you wouldnt want to get into a big repair straight away.
The way I'd go would be do the bare minimum to get it useable, if you heat the siezed swivel bushes they start to soften (melt) & free off once free enough to be useable I'd get it on the boat & see how it goes if it runs great then you know its worth the effort to strip & fix properly in the winter. If it runs like a 3 legged camel then punt it as spares. Even selling as spares if it starts & runs even rough you'll get more money so worth the effort to get running. Mercury engines in general suffer less with snapped bolts that the Japanese engines. Not sure if they use better stainless or better ally but they seem to come apart better.
Also remember with it being an optimax when its running right it will be better on fuel than an old school 2 stroke so in some ways better than a conventional 2 stroke.
I definitely think you need to evaluate how it runs further before digging into a big repair

[tinker]

Problem is that your not planning to keep it so how much time and effort do you want to invest. If the compression figures are good and there ain't to many rusted bolts then it maybe worth a few hours and some cash to get it running OK, you kept your old outboard for years so why not keep this one for a few?

My instinct would be to follow beamishken's advice, get some heat on the emulsified grease and try and pump fresh grease through it, clean the rust up, treat and paint and then run it with a pony motor up and down a river or around slack tide. Once you have built some confidence up in it you may see things differently and keep it for 10 years....