I bought a few parts from Ralf, was always fair priced and not junk.
but yes, I saw salt water race boats. Of course salt water, the world is surrounded by salt water. Take those motors in to be remaned and your golden. Those manifolds are dime a dozen on the web. Good used ones.
Sorry for your troubles.
Oh yeah, Ralf owns a charter business in the Bahamas and goes there for weeks at a time.
When he gets home he may call. Best of luck

Is the exhaust rotted internally? If it isn’t someone can tig weld a patch. On the manifold. then pressure test the rest of the system.
‘what is hanging off the front of the engine / camshaft? Is it a water pump? See that I would have not purchased them.
If it isn’t close enough to make a weekend trip to look at something like this I would say not to waist your time or money
friend of mine and I drive Tennessee to look at a 38 scarab that was 2 good to be true and the engine parts in it were even better based on the pics he sent .
when it was all said and done we drove there and drove back empty-handed because this was the most ragged out 38 scarab I had ever seen had a lot of decent parts in it but they even look ragged out and if you paid with PayPal I would do a claim if you did it with a credit card I’d call your credit card company
If he’s not trying to work with you

Cam driven sea water pump impeller.

The only good part is I did actually get a pair of engines. I will work with what I have. And after a little tlc and extra money they will work. My biggest complaint is the exhaust being trashed. Yes I know that there are more out there, but at what cost. I didn't find out he was 40fasthawk till all was done and he gave me his email. For me this is the second time I bought engines from the classifieds on here. The first one was actually a good deal and at a much lower cost. And yes I knew the price was to good to be true, but when he said one needed refreshed that made more since. Over the years I have met some pretty good people out there that have helped me. I try to be an honest person and fair with people. It just sucks to get burned. Hopefully he reaches out and make it right before going down the legal path.

I banned him from the forums for various violations. Moderators have no way of banning him from the paid classifieds.
Not sure if IB has a way to ban or cancel his account in the Classifieds or not.

he has more items posted now in the classifieds.

https://www.offshoreonly.com/classif...ht-o79765.html

https://www.offshoreonly.com/classif...pe-o79695.html

https://www.offshoreonly.com/classif...ll-o79799.html

I drove to his shop in Clearwater and touched and looked at what I was buying.
​​​​​​Items listed currently have been there for years for sale.
Buyer B Ware.
Must go and see for yourself before money changes hands.
B38

Don’t let the dust fool you !! They are in perfect shape !! LOL if that ain't a red flag
Ad Number: 79695
Price: 10000
First Name: Ralph
Last Name: C.
Company Name:

Company Website:

Phone: 727-243-2219
Phone 2:

City: Clearwater
State: FL
Zip: 34660
Make: Mercury
Model: ITS
Condition: Demo
RALPH is 1 of the BIGGEST Scammers out there ..BEWARE !!!

Must be a water and soap shortage. Takes just as long to type that bull sh!t line as it does to rinse them off

These items are usually on ebay also.