Long time lurker,
Here's my situation: second owner of a 1996 Wellcraft Excalibur with twin 502's and Bravo III drives. Not sure of exact times on the motors.
This past winter, I suspect I had some damage due to freezing. You may have heard we had power outages here in TX - my marina was out for three days. So my wonderful bilge heating setup failed.

The story is longer, but I think it's really just time to re-power. I'd prefer a shop that offers turn-key replacement engines with a warranty and stellar rep.... Closer to Dallas would be better... My plan would be to have to local mechanics do the remove and replace, and I'll handle the shipping and deal with the engine folks.

Recommendations are appreciated.

Any help would be very appreciated...

I have located RPM Performance and Machine in Ft Walton... I guess I'll give them a call to start...

Eddie Young at Young performance, Mt. Juliet Tennessee.

Padraig

+1 eddie young is the most knowledgeable, and fair person in the performance marine industry ive dealt with. Hands down.

that being said he isnt cheap. Do lots of research.

Not cheap but does it right and doesn't bull **** you. Cheaper in the long run. Plus if you have a problem long after the work is done you can contact Eddie and he will help. Been there done that.

Padraig

If you've got freeze damage, then most likely your most cost effective option is to buy new or reman longblocks. The first thing you should do is find out if the blocks are cracked and the extent of any damage. If you are using someone local to do the swap, you better make sure they will stand behind their work. If there is a problem after install, it will become a blame game.

https://daytona.craigslist.org/bpd/d...313524488.html
Buy two new long blocks with warrenty.
Kansas City plant.

Just down the road from me............Eddies a good guy and friend but he's almost 700 miles from Dallas.........

Does BUP do that type of work? At least he's close.

Who is BUP?

Thanks for chiming in, folks...

The comment re. one shop doing the remove / replace, and the other the rebuild - is absolutely valid. The service department at my marina, after originally providing fair and good service, tried to pull a fast one on me, and has lost my confidence. So I don't trust them with rebuilding the motors. Any other mechanic that does work at the marina has to pay the marina a 20% surcharge... So, that's who I'm dealing with.
They are my only option to get the motors out of the boat.

And yes, I'm aware that I may have block damage. If I ask the locals to pressure check the block, they will undoubtedly quote me full Mercruiser retail for new longblocks...

I've sort resigned myself to the reality of paying them to remove the engines, and shipping them to somewhere for a rebuild. Not happy about the engine builder not being local - it basically means that there will zero warranty on any of the work.
I realize there is no cheap way to get this done. I just can't risk buying more problems...

I'm open to any suggestions... What would you do if you were in my shoes?