Best pair of outboards
 

what the absolute best bang for your buck when it comes to outboard motors?

year and fuel milage is irrelevant.

BTW: i have a buddy whos father has a set of 1986johnson/evinrude 235s for cheap....1000 dollars for the pair. been sitting in storage for a few years...ran great when removed...prolly need carbs built and water pumps.

Personally I like the merc 250EFI, they are thirsty, but reliable, and relatively inexpensive. Plus they are not hard to modify for more power.

i have heard good things about the merc efi engines. thats what everybody seems to lean toward. and they can be had for a reasonable price. ive seen many pairs for 5k.

any body else? im reall ylookin to do a budget build here since this is going to be my third boat......any of the old carb motors worth having?

Run them before buying. I got burned on a Yamaha EFI motor that sat too long. It runs great now but cost $$$$ to get running right. All part of this game.

i hear that!

the local outboard guru tol dme the same thing. he said the EFI motors have a tendency to clog the injectors after sitting a while and the nit runs the hole lean and burns the piston! yikes! he says it very common and hard to know unless you send em off and have the injectors tested after long periods of storage.

carb motors he said always do a rebuild after sitting long periods regardless of how it runs.

that and water pumps.

he told me that the 235 johnson was a good reliable engine but didnt turn nearly the rpms of the mercs. he said they would work ok on a bigger heavier boat and for the right price i would be happy with them for what i doing. oh yeah...and they drink fuel...lol

he wasnt sure about what is available as far as steering tie bars and such...

and body have any input??

Jim,

I Cant remember which motor we were running the day we were out(I wanna say the EFI), but yeah, ya gotta have the injectors cleaned if they have been sitting, just like rebuilding carbs.

EFI mecs could be had for $5000 a pair, but may need some work. If your really looking to go budget I would pick up a pair of 2.5 carb 200's and go from there. Newer 225, 250, and 300's are all 3 liters's kinda like comapring a big block to a small block, they dont turn the RPM's(unless modified), but are reliable workhorses and worth the extra $$ in my eyes. Not to say that there arent good 2.4 and 2.5's around, just that your gonna rebuild more often.

yeah i ve seen some of the 200 carb motors for sale around.....may look into them.

im really leaning toward going with an older set of engines for now, mainly because i can ge them so cheap. im a get the set of 235s from my buddies dad and check em out. he said i can compression test and run em prior to buyin em if i wanted so ima check em out. for 1000 bucks and another 800-1000 to have the carbs built and water pumps replaced i think i can get what i want out of em for now and maybe upgrade later. if i like this boat as much as i think i will i may sell my warlock and step up to some big block EFI motors.

anyone else have any advice ? opinions? comments? insults? observations? :thankyouthankyou:

The old OMC crossflows are good workhorse motors on a heavy boat. As said earlier they wont turn the RPMs the Mercs do even with mods. My first drag boat and motor I built was a 235 bubble back crossflow and even with a BUNCH of mods would only turn 8000 RPMs on a sub 400 pound drag boat. If your trying to keep cost down, check them out. Your compression with stock heads should be around 110 lbs per hole. Rebuild the carbs, change the reeds and of course the water pumps and have fun with them. In stock form they should turn around 5600-5800 RPMs....and yes they do drink the gas....lol........Brad.

I run two older 1998 225hp merc promaxes. Great fuel economy and 100s' of hours of run time. If you want to go cheaper 200hp carb motors can be had cheap.