I made a post under general and then noticed this forum. Any first post so give me a break.

Put a deposit on 86 Stinger 260 w/ twin 350/260 Alphas. I'm going to check the boat out on Sat and would like some suggestions on what to look for. I have a lot of experience w/ boats and know all the regular stuff but need to know any particulars to look out for on the Stinger. The engines have 700 hrs and freshened up at 600 hrs, what ever that means.

So if you guys have any skeletons in the bilge to warn me about now the time.

BTW, I use to post on the old Checkmate site as TAZ. Any horse heads here?

I previously owned an 1985 Chris Craft 23' Scorpion and a 86 Formula 272 SR1:

-Pull all the plugs and check compression on both motors to begin with.
- Make sure both drives shift into gear while running on the flush.
-Loosen lower unit drain plug and check color of drive oil. If milky in color the drive seals will need to be replaced (should really be checked after a sea trial).
-Consider getting a marine surveyor to use a moisture density tester on the transom and stringers in the engine compartment to check for soft spots, rot, ect...
-Trim the drives and tabs up and down to make sure everything is actuating.

Just a few suggestions to get you started. Good luck.

Hey thanks! I will check those.

The engines are very close together and the manifolds almost touch. I guess you have to access the center-line plugs from underneath for compression. I could look it up but what should the compression be..160-165?

Your looking for consistency. No more than 15-20 percent between cylinders. The numbers should be in the 140-150 psi range. When I bought my 20 Donzi Minx it had 210 original hours and compression was 160 psi on all 8 eight cylinders.

My brother in-law bought a 2000 Formula 353 w/ 500 efi motors with 590 hours. Compression ranged from 142-158 psi on all 16 cylinders.

Compression test will only indicate which is cylinder is weak. A leak down test will tell you if the problem is the rings, intake, or exhaust valve and will let you know how involved you will need to get by either pulling the head or the entire motor.