Lot of stuck motors

[Wayne Roberts]

Its kind of too late now, I'm sort of committed now.
I just got back with 7 more motors and an SK tool chest full of gaskets, plus about 300 small props.
I figure two more trips and it'll all be gone. So much for the Saturday deadline I guess but I think they're just glad to see it go.
The way I look at it, if I get tired of it or can't sell any of it off, the scrap yard is only a few miles away.
On top of what I brought home in the trailer, my trash guys found me another pair of motors, one is an early 70's 4hp that's also seized, but it came with a minty 3 gallon Quicksilver brand fuel tank, the other an 80's 7.5hp Honda 75 with a gutted lower unit with all the parts in a bag tied to the side, plus a nearly new looking 4 gallon Honda fuel tank to go with it. Not a bad trade for a couple cold bottles of water.

In reality, I likely already am ahead of the game in selling the electric shift motors. Apparently people still use those. For me its mostly 1980's era motors all the way.
I got one another of the 35hp Johnson motors freed up today, after a few days soaking with Evaprorust down the plug holes, with the motor laying plugs up, it turns and has 135/138 psi compression. I stuck it on the back of my old boat and it fired right up with one pull. Its missing the tiller and has no electric start but it even pumps water after cleaning out the telltale hole with a wire. Its say J35RLCTS on the tag, so its an '83 tiller model built without a starter or alternator in 20" length.

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Now all three of my boats have 35hp motors on them.
I pulled the lower unit to change the impeller but it looked good so I left it for now but I did change the oil in the lower and pressure and vacuum test it.
I was going to rundown to the river for a quick test but I forgot I had laid a sheet of plywood across the seats in this boat and there's 6 motors stashed in there under its cover. Its time to build a motor rack in the shed I suppose. I have all the steel HF stands but they'll take up too much room.

The 30/35hp count so far for OMC motors is up to 9 all between 1977 and 1986. With no 1984 models and only one Evinrude from '85.

Sounds like a fun hobby/business you have there putting new life back in these old motors. I use a 1987 Mercury 35hp on my 16 ft Alumacraft and a 1962 5 1/2 hp Johnson on my 12 footer. They both work fine........62 model consumes more 2 stroke oil as it has a 24 to 1 ratio but that said they both run fine........

 

[mirrocraft16]

There's a ton of money there in parting those out, its trying to sell them whole, epecially not running that'll be a waste of time.
I find two types of buyers, those that never and cannot work on their own motor, and likely buy only running motors and run them till they won't go any further and buy another, and those who do their own work and are trying to make their motor last forever as cheaply as possible. The latter likely knows that anything they do to revive their old motor is far cheaper than buying a new one and they don't care to take on an unknown project, unless its dirt cheap with no real risk.
The going rate for a non running used motor that's not seized with good compression generally seems to top out around $50 to $75 or so. Once in a while you may eek out $100 on something super clean looking. Stuck motors rarely even get any replies. In some places they're even not worth much in scrap, considered either general scrap or if you lucky dirty aluminum but for the most part they're just scrap.

The same motor that won't sell whole will often bring $200-300 for the lower unit, $50 for the carb, $10-$15 for the flywheel, $75 for the ignition plate, maybe $20 for the used coils if they're still good, and $20-$30 for the used prop. If the motor is stuck, then the power head in general is junk to most, if its not, and the bores look decent, then maybe the block, the pistons and rods, etc can be sold separate but it'll take time, often years to unload it all. Once in a while you'll get two buyers who will bid up an item but its rare these days. Do enough of them and have 400 or so items listed at all times and you will make money but its nearly a full time job and you will end up with more that won't sell then parts that do.

 

[oilsmoke]

The way it works is that used motors are worthless until you want to buy one, then all of a sudden they're worth $2k.
The problem lately is that there's more guys who can't afford to boat or fish who called it quits than those who need motors or gear. There's far more stuff for sale than there are buyers with money. Then the few buyers who WANT a motor are broke and can't afford a motor or are simply looking for those desperate sellers who's wives told them to sell it since your not going to use it and have been hounding them for the past four years about it because that money could be used to buy her a new purse or some worthless junk she thinks she needs.

All of my life I've been the type to sit back and wait for a deal, its served me well. But I'm not in the minority. Most who don't buy new, will never pay fair price and like me, only buy it when its too good a deal to pass on. That also excludes seized engines, salted up disasters, and dented boats. I look for that deal being sold by some widow who is selling her dad hubbies rig for what he told her he paid for it 30 years ago that's spent its last 30 years in a nice warm garage being cared for and obsessed over by some anal obsessive compulsive owner who kept it like new year after year ready to go at a moments notice.
Something that describes my current boat.
Gone are the days where I'd roll the dice on a $100 boat laying in the woods or left for dead because they needed room in the driveway or their kid took it out once and it never ran again.
Life is too short and I'm too old to deal with all that, but I'm cheap too.
Its served me well all these years, no reason to change now.

As to the state of most ramps these days, it goes from bad to worse, with the best ramps being the dirt ramps in the game preserves but leaving a vehicle too long is inviting trouble, unless you have something so rough and covered in bait and tobacco juice they won't go near it. A well rusted trailer is the best guarantee it'll be there when you return, a few missing lights helps too. I leave my doors and windows open if its not going to rain, it tends to shout "There's nothing here worth taking" pretty loudly. A pile of spent buck shot shells in the back does wonders too, no kid wants to be confronted with a returning hunter with a shotgun.

A buddy of mine keeps an old pair of handcuffs locked to the back bumper and a long length of rope tied off to something solid that's been dragging for miles. Plus a well used Bumper Dumper and black trash bag lying next to it full of 'mud'. Never open a tied bag sitting next to a toilet seat.

When you encounter strange folk at the ramp, he says just stare at them, don't smile, just grin and mumble. He'll sit in the boat awhile while it warms up and sharpen all his bait knives all while staring at them just grinning. You'll be surprised how fast that'll clear the docks out early in the morning. Most people don't want to deal with crazy, even fewer want to deal with grumpy and crazy, and no one wants to deal with a fat, grumpy, slightly crazy with a shaved head, with a twisted grin and box of sharp knives dressed in coveralls and no shirt looking like a larger version of Butterbean at about 6ft 4in tall. Add in an old smokey 1950's West Bend motor that billows smoke at idle and they just don't stick around for very long.

Sometimes when we're bored, we go fish off the docks just to see how fast I can make them all leave. Apparently I scare people too, at least that's what I've been told. The ZZ top beard under a bald head and my favorite skinning knife on my belt does sort of make a statement I suppose.

Another buddy of mine has an all black later model Suburban with dark tinted windows and he'll pull up to the ramp and just sit there facing them fishing. They rarely stick around to see what's going on.

 

[hoarder]

Sounds like a fun hobby/business you have there putting new life back in these old motors. I use a 1987 Mercury 35hp on my 16 ft Alumacraft and a 1962 5 1/2 hp Johnson on my 12 footer. They both work fine........62 model consumes more 2 stroke oil as it has a 24 to 1 ratio but that said they both run fine........

I'm not sure its ever going to be much more than a hobby, from what I'm seeing lately, it not worth putting much into any used motor here because things just don't sell for much.
While condition is everything, I highly doubt going through and getting a motor up and running for resale would ever bring enough money to cover the cost of parts or my time when I see newer motors selling for cheap.
There's been one guy who must be dumping a huge collection who has been listing older motors two and three in a lot for $50 to $100 for the lot now for several years on CL, each time they sit on there for months. They are mostly older than what I have here but still likely viable motors or collectables.
I'm contemplating getting a huge trailer for storage of this stuff, there's definitely enough to fill a 53ft trailer and I have a place to park it for now. That way I can bring one or two home at at time to either part out or sell. It'll give me my shed and garage back. I'll leave the keepers in the basement for future use.
Ive also decided that anything below 10hp or over 50hp will go away first, and anything older than the 1970s era motors also goes with maybe the exception of a few big twins and a couple 9.5's, but even they may go. So may the 9.9 model OMC motors, I've got plenty of old Chrysler 9.9's to keep me in that size motor for years.
I do have a guy who wants two of the 50hp Merc 500's, he's supposedly on his way down from RI tonight for two complete 50 hp short shaft motors. And I have someone who wants all the 3hp Johnson motors so they may be gone this weekend too. Those will be going to up to Maine. It'll stoke the fund for a trailer, maybe even pay for it all.

 

[hoarder]

After nearly two weeks now, I've had a chance to sort of check out most of these motors, minus a few that were missing parts or too far stripped to bother with, most that were 'stuck' have freed up fairly easily with only four being truly seized to the point that they're damaged. A good many are stuck at the lower unit not the power head, and simply turning them over and working them free got lube back to those with bushings up top vs. bearings. Four were missing the spacer behind the prop, or where miss assembled pinning the prop to the housing, and 92 of them would turn simply if I pulled the cover and worked them back and forth a bit by hand. I did manage to check compression on about 1/2 of them so far and most that were stuck show no issues. I poured a liberal amount of oil into every one so they don't stick again. A few look never run, but are missing parts.
Of that bunch, there's a 78 Johnson 6hp short shaft tiller that's still in its foam but minus the lower unit. There's 7 Sears Gamefishers that are also missing their lower units, a few are missing their ignition parts, all are missing their tilt pins. There's a mix of 9.9 and 15hp models. There's one super clean looking 110hp V4 that fired up accidentally on the stand simply when I grabbed and turned the flywheel getting ready to check compression. I had hooked up the fuel but not the controls yet, I had pumped up the the fuel bulb to look for leaks and still needed to find the controls and hook up the water, I put both hands on the top of the flywheel to turn it a bit because the starter bendix was engaged. When I turned it past one compression stroke it sprang to life.
The only thing I can see wrong with it is that it doesn't have power tilt. Too bad my biggest boat is only rated to 60hp.
Its also not all salted up.

Both the 50 and 55hp run as found, fuel and a bucket of water and both ran and idled fine for 20 minutes each. At one point yesterday I had four of them running in the driveway, two on ears, one in a barrel, another in my recycle bin on a cart.

The 50 and 55 hp motors are keepers, one may find its way onto my other Mirrocraft outback.
The 110 would be fun on an 18ft Starcraft, maybe a cabin model too.
I did sell a half dozen of the used power tilt units, it seems they bring more than whole motors here. At $650 a piece the six I listed were sold in three hours. Parts are all I see that sells because they're cheaper to ship.

So far though more emails lead to no shows then buyers and one guy really thought that if you drove over here I'd let it all go for $500 cash.
Like a buddy of mine once told me years ago who had a junk yard that was going under due to lack of customers and EPA regulations, "I'll dig a hole and bury every last one of them and get rich selling the dirt instead." Which he did, (To about 80 properties over 30 or so years leaving massive strip mined pieces of land and just walking away from the property).

 

[TAB]

I answered an ad which a buddy of mine pointed out to me yesterday. It was some old guy in his 80's who's come into some health issues.
His daughter is trying to get a head start on clearing out all his things that he's accumulated.
I was told he had a garage full of outboards and that he at one time owned a boat and outboard dealer somewhere up north.
I called the number, got the daughter on the phone and found out the place was closer than I thought, maybe a 20 minute ride or so.
I headed over there with my car and trailer not knowing what to expect other than being told that none of them have been run or in the water in at least 10 years, some maybe a lot more.
When I got there the woman met me outside where her and some kid were sorting through old books and magazines tossing them in a recycle tub. She leads me into the garage, which looked ancient, as did the rather run down Victorian style house that hadn't seen paint in decades.
I was in shock as soon as I walked in, the place is wall to wall outboards, ages that range from the late 60's to late 80's or so.
The majority of them are OMC big twins, 77-83 models with a few later 30hp motors. There's a row of 6hp motors that's got to be 20 foot long, a few older 50's era Johnsons, 18-25hp, and about 30 late 60's early 70's 9.5hp OMC motors.
There's only a few mercury motors, all are 35-40hp twins from the 70's or early 80's.
There's a few 80's model OMC V4's, mostly 90 and 115hp models, a few 115hp Mercury motors from the 90's, and a half dozen OMC triples all mid 80's models. That's just the tip of the iceberg, and I'd take up pages here trying to list them all.
Off the bat, there's no less than 500 motors there.
With one big issue at hand, nearly every last one I tried with a recoil was seized. The old guy was in the house and I talked to him for a bit and he said every motor ran when he put it where it sits, but he had a major stroke and hasn't been out of the house in 12 years.

Its an all or nothing deal, take them all or don't bother. What surprises me is that the garage is dry, on high ground with a metal roof, it don't leak, and its not damp. I did pull a few off the rack and tried harder to turn them with the cover off but the few I tried were locked tight.

While no doubt even parts are worth something my experience lately with selling used motors here, even later model running motors is not good. Cash for anything is hard to come by lately and boats seem to have become the first thing they forgot about.
Moving them all is doable but storing them is another thing, they will pack my two sheds, both storage trailers and likely my basement until I either sell or tear them down for parts. With the glut of parts I see on fleabay lately, I'm not too confident things will sell fast enough to bother. In the end, its all still worth scrap, removed the glass covers, load like cord wood, and take them right to the scrap yard for a quick payout. I just really hate to toss what could possibly be a lot of good parts, expecially lower units and carbs. Nothing 'looks' corroded, and most motors are super clean looking but stuck is stuck and its not often a motor that's seized comes out of it 100% even if soaking it frees it up.
The first one i tried was one of the older 18hp motors, but there's zero movement even when i tried to pry the flywheel teeth around with a big screwdriver I found on the wall. There's also a good number of unmarked lower units, piled up in the corner, probably a hundred or so.
I saw no electric shift models, or anything from that era in those sizes. The larger motors are all newer than 1980 or so,
After checking about 25 motors all I tried were seized.
I'm torn between just going there and hauling them for scrap, or going there and bringing them all home and taking the time to break them all down for parts and taking only the easy parts, lowers, carbs, covers, etc.
This is the fourth place I've found like this in the last two years, but by far the closest. I had something similar about 80 miles from me about 10 years ago but all those motors were antiques and nearly every last one ran as found. This is very different.
I still have most of the motors I went and got way out in PA a few months ago, the few I did list garnered no attention when I had them on FB and CL last month.

I'm seeing repeat ads that have been up for years for the same motor over and over again. There's a few that look super promising for cheap but they still go unsold. particularly over in PA. FB seems to have become a dumping ground for dead ads or unsellable items because the response rate to inquiries is about 1 out of 50. CL is closer to 50/50 but there's been fewer and fewer items listed there lately. I guess people stopped trying to sell things? There's really no other option here other than a few free papers that don't allow pics and you have to rely on someone actually picking up that paper at the supermarket and reading through 10k unclassified ads and finding your outboard for sale.

Another thing I saw there besides the motors and the two huge tool boxes, is a shelf full of older new old stock Mercury parts. Probably half a pickup load worth of them or so. Boxes of distributor caps, rotors, gaskets, bellows, etc. Those I do know will sell but those are easy to ship and are good eBay fodder in the winter.

I thought about borrowing a buddies big truck if I do this, but that will mean lugging every motor up a ramp into a dock height truck, and back down again and it'll have to be done in one day so the truck can go back to work during the week. If I use my car and small trailer, I can haul them safer and about 20 at a time or so with loose parts in the middle. (The motors can hang on the side rails). I get the stands too so that'll help with storing and sorting them if I go that route. If it were only say half that were stuck, the plan would be easier to figure out.
I'm just not thrilled about the idea of junking up my place with more outboards. The woman didn't say there's a dead line but she wants an answer by next week or she said she's going to call a scrapper to clear it all out.
The tools are likely worth as much or more than the motors but none are anything I don't already have and the two huge boxes will be a real job to get down into the basement here. I don't have an outside entrance, everything that goes down there has to get carried through the dining room, kitchen and down the hallway to the basement stairs. It took a winch, four guys, and lots of prep work to get my three bank Snap On box and milling machine down there two years ago.

Where are you located. In need parts for 62 51/2 hp Johnson. 74 50 hp evinrude 82 25 hp tiller evinrude .

 

[hoarder]

I'm in NJ but as of right now I've only parted out a few of these things. Most of the stuck motors were easily freed up and gotten running so far. I'm finding more stuck at the lower unit then up top. A few were just gummed up from sitting, a few only took a few shots of marvel oil down the plug hole and an overnight soak and they were just fine. A good many were filled with oil to start with, and that oil congealed and had to be soaked with solvent to free them up. It looked like what ever they sprayed in the cylinders had turned to grease and was like paint on the cylinder walls. On those I just turned them so the plugs were facing up and filled the plug holes with premix and let them soak. I did find a bunch of green cans with the old Clinton Engine logo on the can. The stuff smelled like a mix of gear lube and Cosmoline out of the few cans that weren't solidified in the can. It didn't seem to do any damage but it took some doing to clean up. A few that I soaked free dripped that crap out of the exhaust for a bit after getting them started. It was likely in the exhaust housing as well. On the brite side it likely kept them from any real damage.

I sold the only early 60's 5.5hp I had, it was one of the few that ran as found. It went along with a few older motors to a guy who restores old motors. We actually made a trade, newer for older motors.

I have a few 73/74 model 40hp motors, all of them are complete, manual shift tiller motors. I think the Johnsons are long shaft and the Evinrudes are short shafts, or vise versa.

I had the one Evinrude running over the summer, I hung it on my 14ft boat for a few river test runs. It was too heavy for the boat so it went on a stand and back in the trailer.

There's also a few older 33hp motors, I had the short shaft 1966 33hp running and on the back of a buddies skiff for a few weeks, that was a really nice running motor but its pretty faded paint wise. There's a matching long shaft too but other than checking compression to make sure it was worth keeping, I've done nothing more to it.
If my boat was older, I'd have one of those on the back in a heartbeat, I always liked the look of the mailbox era of Evinrude motors.

What surprised me most though is that there's no takers for four stroke 10hp motors, I had to break down every last one of them after i didn't get a single email on any of them all summer long. I had two Suzuki motors, two 9.9hp Mercury motors, and one Honda and at $1,200, I didn't get a single serious reply on what looked to be likely never run motors. All I got were $50 offers and idiots who wanted to trade for some blown up old two stroke, or junk appliances or cell phones. The only four stroke I sold whole went to a guy who drove 400 miles to get it. No wonder all the dealers around here closed down.