Could someone tell me what is considered high hrs on these engines. Looking at a used 2001 flame with 386 hrs on the engines. What would I be looking at cost wise to freshen them up when needed. Thanks

200 - 250 it should have had the top freshend up. Or coarse for the right deal you could have that done yourself. Great boats I had an 01 myself. Check this out.
http://unlimitedmarine.com/boats-details.php?id=283

At 400 hours you will need a total rebuild, Might as well out it in the budget. Need Lifters, rings, bearings, springs, gaskets. DIY for $2500 an engine. You pay somebody else, probally $4500 an engine. Only DIY if you know what you are really doing. DIY not knowing, $7500 per engine, you still be paying the guy who knows what he is doing.

Great Boats!

Linster,

Where did you get the information on the 400 hr figure? I spoke with a guy at Arizona Speed and Marine who stated he's seen these engines run just fine with better than 2000 hrs on them. He said a lot depends on how they have been run and maintained. Recommended a compression check etc. Thanks

That's not realistic. They way these boats typically get run, 300 on the heads/valves/springs/lifters is plenty. The bottom end will last longer if it's properly maintained. Even there, I would not go beyond 500hrs. @ 2000hrs, , I want what he's smoking ........
Steve

Merc says 400 hours max between rebuilds on my motor. Being that the typical performance boater puts about 60-100 hours on their motor a year, that would put your re-build interval at between 3 and 5 years. This seems completely realistic.

I plan upgrades and/or maintenance on the motor just about every year.

Chris

It absolutely depends on how hard they are run, Merc assumes that you are running these at WOT and you will probably wear & stress everything out by 200-250 hrs.

You can also get over 500 hrs on these motors if you are not hammering it very often, hard not to want to do but I know many guys who have well over 4500+ hrs on these motors without any problems. just my .02

JB, I think you meant 450+ hours on these. I have seen people get 400+ but the biggest problem is Mercury used the GM head gasket. On every 500 EFI that I have rebuilt, over 15 now, the head gasket is about to blow. I used cometic on all rebuilds. The rings are GM low tension metric. They crumble on disassembly. I replace them with Speed Pro regular tension. Springs are the big enemy also. I see a few broken inner springs often. I guess the answer is do you take care of it during the winter or hope to not break until the end of summer?? Any way I agree how you run it determines. Most people I know are WOT.

Oops... Yes 450+ Thanks for the correction Linster. It is always temping to want to run at WOT.

Linster,

Are you the mechanic that did the rebuilds on Jima97's Flame. I have been talking with him, and I spoke to John at Unlimited about it. Sounds like a real nice boat for a 2001. I guess the drives have not been freshened. What would you recommend where they are concerned? Thanks