Merc 800 SC good or bad?
 

any opinions on the older merc 800's? How many hours before rebuild? Reliability? Performance?


Thanks!

I was told by a engine builder they are good relieable motors based on a 572 tall deck gm block and run a B&M 420 blower with low boost.

any other opinions??

Contact el indio on the board, I think he runs them in his Apache

I LOVED mine ...... ran the snot out of them ..... other then running a bit "rich" like most Merc stuff ..... Had Sterling rebuild them at 250 hours .... one had a "cracked crank" ... the other was fine ..... ran them 2 more seasons ... then sold the boat ..... they were running fine when sold .... the new owner fried one on the KeyWest poker run shortly theree after .... never got the whole story after that . Everybody always told me 200 hours , including Merc .... Sounds about right .

What did you find that has the 800's ?????

My Slingshot was built with 800SC's. At 200 hours they were rebuilt by Sterling. Since then, I've put 150 hours on them with absolutely no problems. They're set up fat so they tend to load up the plugs with the stock TB ignition in the no wake area I have to motor through. Truth be known,I've never put a timing light on them or had a valve cover off. I tweaked the idle on one last year and once had a power steering pump loosen up to the point where it snapped the stud on the back of the pump housing about five years ago. Lots of plugs,Mobil 1 15w-50 and oil filters has been it. Last year,I removed the oil filler caps and ran my finger under the top of the valve cover looking for sludge or condensation-absolutely nothing. Sterling suggested I call them at 200 hours for a top-end redo. The motors and SSMV's have been bulletproof. The weakest link is the transmissions. For what it's worth....

Yep ...... that sounds very familiar !

BRD,
I am looking a 1997 47ft Lightning with three and also the NO Discipline OL has a pair. Thanks for the feedback.

The Fountain has them hooked to #3a drives. Do you think that those drives will be ok?

worx for us!!!!!!!!!