99 Fountain Lightning PROS and CONS?
 

Hey guys I have a buddy who is going to look at a 99 lightning with 500 EFI motors in it. Motors have 480 Hours on them. Anything particular we should be looking at or should know with these motors or with anything else with the boat? Any help would be great.

Salt or fresh water ? at almost 500 hrs those engines should at least have the heads freshened up if not already done, headers would also be a concern if its a salt boat, I don't really know the boat ( other than there fast ) but a moisture meter should be used to check the stringers and transom. Those engines are probably Mercury's best packages ever, if properly maintained.

Boat has only been used in freshwater. He is going to have a boat survey done but doesn't want to waste money if there are some know issues that he should be looking for before he has the survey done.

Most high performance motors (merc blue motors) should have heads done every 300 hours. If there is no good documentation on when they've been done do it. Also for peace of mind is have the headers pressure checked. A leaky header will grenade a motor. The 99 is the big step. Staggered or side by side? Believe that was the last year you could get a side by side 42.

Looking at 38 or 42? I have a 2000 38 SXS w/ 500's. Great motors and yes with that many hours they need to be refreshed. When mine were refreshed I have a Arizona speed and custom tune, throttle body and aluminum heads with a computer tune set up for it. Making 588hp and 600ftlbs. Pushes my 38' 83. Go for a test drive and drive the hell out of it!!!

So I guess this is a 35 lightning and the current owner says it does about 85-86

Speaking from my recent experience. I test drove a 2000 29' fever with a "factory sealed", the seller touted, 500 EFI. I did notice a leak around the water pump with some duck tape on the hose. Other than that the boat was very clean and hit 70. The hour meter read 450. Being lured in by the boat itself, engine sound and this being my first boat purchase, I really had a hard time looking for reasons why not to buy it. Moving ahead, 3 hours into my second time out on the boat, i dropped an exhaust valve and was able to motor back to the trailer. That was in the last week of July. When asked about the maintenance records he did show me a receipt for a new XR drive and some misc. parts installed during the past season for about 13 grand. Figured I would have the motor looked over in the off season. Again, he was telling me all about the bullet proof race motor and it being facotory sealed. Finally just last week, March 1, my mechanic sent me a video of the motor all rebuilt and running on the bench. Should be going back in the boat in a few weeks. Thank god it was winter here so I didn't mind the wait. My lesson learned was a facotry seaed race engine with 300 plus hours on it is nothing to brag about. It simply shows an owners budget constraints that this sport does not support. I am into the rebuild for about 18 grand. Basically I replaced every part, New headers, of course they failed from the get go...Water pump, alternator, oil pump due to the leaky water spraying on everything. Sure, I could have reused the flywheel, but at this point, after 15 years of service, I don't see the point of reinstalling anything that has that many hours on it. So honestly the only thing we reused was the block. Even had to put in a new intake manifold. This sport has taught me that 100 dollar bills get passed out like a bag of M&M's. Gee, and I thought back in July, maybe 5 grand to get the motor back. That was just the deposit, not to mention the stereo upgrade, 2nd battery, replace all bellows, seals, gaskets and anything else I can think of while the engine is out. I always laugh, thank god it wasn't a twin, and now i have better than factory new Blue motor, new outdrive and a rockin' stereo. Then next season maybe I can get a Kick Ass paint job, Donzi like, I am a fountain guy but they do know how to paint a boat! Then after that I will upgrade to 35' which looking back I could have bought last summer with a pair of Black Motors and been ahead of the game. Tell your friend get a survey, He will need 2 sets of headers, $6500.00 top ends and misc parts times 2. I'm guessing another 15 grand. If he can convince the owner of this. He can work him down on the price. I know I made my deal with the usual "Auto discount" Had I known what the engine was in need of I would have worked a Used Marine Boat dicount in the purchase price. I have no regrets though. If your one to second guess your buying decisions, this sport in not for you. Good luck, see you all on the lake.