janniboy

Hello,
As my boating season is nearing to an end, North East, I have lost a cylinder in my Merc 500EFI. The engine had 460 hours without work, so I am not surprised, just sucks with the timing. It is my first week of ownership and I was planning to send it out this winter. Any recommendations on reputable shops selling rebuilt 500 EFI race motors ready to go out the door. I plan on sending mine back my for a core. The boat is a 2000, 29' Fever that was kept up very well with a brand new XR drive. This is not my first choice, but it would give me a month of Fountain pleasure. Thanks. Sorry if this a double post, also posted in "general" just trying to get a move on.

Precision

I have a few, feel free to send me a message and I can set you up.

joew.

Sorry about the bad luck. I had a similar situation and now have a spare 525 at Eddie young in line for a rebuild. He has really good feedback and has always answered my questions. This will be my first engine with him but I expect I will be happy.

As for buying another engine. There are many out there, take your time and make the right deal. I'm my opinion, the last thing you want is to rush and end up with two broken engines.

HyFive578

iTrader: (3)

Call Ron Potter or Eddie Young

fountainfever01

ATECO rebuilt mine very pleased with their work!

janniboy

Thanks. Just sent my exhaust to them for pressure testing. Motor is being rebuilt by Dorr Marine in Maine. He gave me their name. He also came well recommended. We are keeping it a 500. I'll take reliability over extra horses for now[ATTACH=CONFIG]544219[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]544220[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]544221[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]544222[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]544223[/ATTACH]

Bobbyt502

Thumbs down on ATECO. I had them rebuild my 500efi's and I had nothing but problems. I made a $22,000 mistake. They put small dome pistons (10.6-1 compression) in the engines that we discussed that were going to run on 91 pump gas. Needless to say they detonated so bad they would not turn over 4700 RPM's. no mater what size prop was on it. (I had no idea at the time that detonation was the cause) I called ATECO "Bill Lawson" he had every excuse in the book mainly blaming my boat, gear ratio, etc. Eventually he quit answering the phone and returning my calls (hiding behind his wife Joyce) I then called Paul Pfaff Engines for answers. They found EXTREME leakdown through the pistons (85%) then pulled the engines to dis assemble. They had to completely rebuild BOTH engines (at a cost of $25,000) lowering the compression to 9.3-1 and making 650HP on 91 pump gas. I called Bill at ATECO for a little financial help (1/2 the cost that I paid him to build the engines) To this day I received NOTHING. If anyone wants to call me to talk personally, call me at 702-281-9190 Bob Takach. I will be happy to discuss ATECO and there wonderful 2 year warranty (NOT) and how my complete experience was handled.

bigboat28

Bobbyt502....when was this? Recently?

twin69

Around How much are a couple of 500efi complete with exhaust worth? Both rebuilt top to bottom with 50 hours on them?

janniboy

Progress report. Currently Bill said both of my 500 efi headers failed. So i am waiting for him to order a new set from CMI. He has had them since early August so progress at the shop seems to take some time. Sometime in September I came to the realization that my motor would NOT be finished this season. Instead my builder, Tim Dorr, will take his time and shelve it. Told him we can do a test ride in early May. So now I am in search of a new alternator, newer (slightly used) intake manifold, water pump, and anything else that might decide to **** the bed next July. In the mean time I have painted up the bilge, added 2 JL subs, under the rear seat, 2 Fosgate amps, changed all the speakers, added 2 more under the front seats, changed the head unit to have blue tooth and a remote, steam cleaned the carpet, Buffed the Gel coat twice, changed the bellows, all three bilge pumps. I am looking into adding a second house battery with the BLUE SEA switch. I really want to paint the dash panel, but that looks like a lot of work pulling off all the gauges so probably not. It is getting cold around here and my boat doesn't fit into the garage....
Twin69, When its back in the boat, I will tell you what a rebuilt 500 EFI, top and bottom with some extra parts goes for. I guess I'll know in May. It ain't cheap, but it's about half as much as a Twin, so I got that going for me.