Do Hours really matter?
 

I found an AWESOME Donzi 22 ZX...It is in AWESOME CONDITION, everything looks brand new, who ever had it took amazing care of it. It has a 7.4l MPI engine....The only problem i see is that it has 412 hours...but it dont show...

SO do hours really matter? How much longer untill the engine needs rebuilt? And how much would a reubild cost using all forged internals (basically making it a 7.4l MAG)...Thanks guys!

Heh...412 hrs...what year? I bought mine with 1091 hrs...all original except for scheduled maintenance (manifolds/risers/etc.). The guy took great care of it. I've put another 40hrs on the meter since I bought it 6 mos ago. There were a few things it needed that were obvious upon purchase, and another issue that wouldn't have been discovered even with a survey.
Get it looked at by a professional and see what receipts/service records show.

Only on boats.:evilb:

if they show the real number of hours, it gives an idea, but you can still have a beaten engine in just...couple hours! get a mecanical inspection BEFORE.Trust me...

Going by your Screen name "Want Speed"...you'll be upgrading that 7.4 to something bigger very soon. Great motor if kept in stock trim. Buy it if it's what you want ...Summer is on the way Happy boating!

If you have all the records for servicing and maintenance etc (or a few recent ones)...that will help out, especially if it was well taken care of. The flip side of the coin is how the boat was run over the 400+ hrs.

I figure it will need rebuilt after a season or two...How much is an average rebuild replacing the crank, rods, and pistons with some forged items??

Can anyone give me links to rebuild kits that include these? thanks!

If it has oil pressure and sounds good go boating. Stock engines will go for a long time.

I am looking for a marine surveyor to check it out..and if it checks out its MINE...eventually maybe after this season I will rebuild the engine with forged internals, and slap a procharger on her... :)

My old boat looked like new with about 450 hrs. Always kept indoors, and very well maintained. The only thing that was starting to wear out was the swivel shaft on the gimble ring. Check the drive for side to side play. The guy who bought it couldn't believe it was so clean.

I hope teh marine surveyor will check that out...right? thanks for the heads up tho... Here are some pics of her:

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j1...a-foredeck.jpg

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j1...toverview1.jpg

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j1.../s_a-cuddy.jpg

Someone could have left the ignition key and run the hour meter. Boat may not have that many hours on it.

That happened on an old outboard boat I had. I am assuming the hour meter still works off of the key on newer boats.

yeah that is what i was thinking as well...my buddy did that to his boat over a week or so when he was on vaca...the battery ended up dying, and his hour metter had a BUNCH of hours on it...He ended up getting a new one, setting it to the Title and then using it from then on...

But form thos epics does that boat look like it has 412 hours!?

If you have it properly checked out they will be able to tell you how many hours are really on it with a scanner, hour meters are always inacurate.

Words of experience my friend? :):drink:

You might want to talk to Johno about changing out from the 7.4. The year he bought the boat, it ran every single time he put it in the water, but he has the need for speed, and it was a lot of trouble, and a lot of bucks. He currently runs an outboard.

Instead of tying to hop up the 7.4, you'd be much ahead to find a low hour 502 mag, 496 or something of that nature. Just be sure it says Mercruiser on the engine. There are too many horror stories on here about non Merc engines. I found why Merc engines cost so much.............because they are worth it!

so what you mean find a used Merc 502 and swap it out?...

Something of this nature?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MERCR...QQcmdZViewItem

I think it would be more cost effective for me to just rebuild the 454 with forged internals and put a procharger on it...total of about 5k-6k for 500hp (85+mph boat) whihc is all i am looking for...

does anyone sell Forged 454 Rebuild kits (pistons, rods, cranks, bushings, bearings, ect...)?

If you want someone to talk to you about getting parts, you may want to join so they can PM you, or give out an e-mail address. Most parts pricing and things like that are usually conducted that way here. It is more of a courtesy to everybody here in case you are able to negotiate better pricing and what not.

sounds good jayhawk...I personally dont have a credit card though...

my email tho is [email protected]

I'm pretty sure nobody's worried about your credit card number:D You'll find a wealth of knowledge on here and everybody very much willing to share it. As far as being reachable, most people use the PM function to discuss pricing of parts and such rather than air a negotiation. All I was saying was that if you're actively looking for parts and prices, you should make yourself available via PM. Anything payment wise beyond that is up to you and whoever you're working with.

As far as rebuilding the 7.4, all the parts are available to do what you want. I'm not sure, money wise, if you'd be better off buying a used/reman 502 or rebuilding the stock 454. It really depends on what you can buy a new short block for. I would guess you can get a stock reman 502 mag short block in the $3500.00 range from a reputable builder. To have yours re-done with new crank, rods, pistons and the like might be a little cheaper, but probably not a huge difference. If it were me, I'd probably go with a reman 502 short, and have my heads reworked and choose a good cam.

If you are going to swap everything, it's actually cheaper to bore and stroke it than find stock forged parts.

I've been on several 496 boats with high hours, the one I ran last summer had over 1,000 hours. I ran 2 in the virgin islands that i can think of off the top of my head, one had about 2,400 hours the other had over 3,200.

These engines were typically kept under 4,000rpm but were constantly run with heavy loads. (12 people loaded on the bow of a boat and a huge 37ft parasail dragging behind it) The biggest thing about the VI boats was year round use/maintenance. They weren't allowed to sit and corrode, and they had a captain and mechanic working to keep them in top shape.

Often higher hours can be better than lower hours if properly cared for. Hardest thing for a boat is to sit, get the crap run out of it, then sit some more. Most people do this routine several times a year without doing pre-run checks, checking hose clamps, fluids, etc etc.

One other thing, when you run a boat every day, the smallest change in sound/power etc will be very quickly noticed, if you run a boat once a month its much harder to notice small changes that could indicate problems starting to develop.

Of course the hours matter. It is a very nice looking Donzi, but you know he didn't just idle around for 400 hours. It most likely is a great boat and you could use it right away, but you should expect to work on the engines and drives in the very near future. Best of luck.

Nice rig.

400 hours on a 454 would not scare me after it passed a leakdown test

That's exactly what I did with my '98 22zx. I bought the boat knowing that it had engine issues for way cheap. It turned out that the block, while pretty from the topside, was crusty enough to be a bear to disassemble. I kept my ear to the ground and got a great deal on a 502.

To answer your original question, I don't believe in hours as a measure of condition. If I was looking at that boat, took it out and had it run well, the hours wouldn't mean much. One of my friends can't get 200 hours on his 496 without blowing it up. My 502 has unknown hours (estimated between 400-500) and I don't think twice about running the hell out of it. Go test drive the boat, see what kind of speed it gets (should run around 62-64) and check to see what kind of work has been done on it. Use the hours to negotiate price, but don't worry about them that much.

Is that boat in St Joseph MI. If not they have one that looks alot like it. I bought a cruiser with 500 hrs on it over another one with just 45 hrs on it. I would prefer having something that was used more consistent than just looked at. A leakdown test will tell it all. Great looking boat. Good luck.