So ladies and gentlemen, i have a i should say good problem first but such a really hard decision.I have a 1993 20hp 2stroke mercury and a 2002 25hp 2stroke mercury in my possession.The issue is i don't know which to keep so i need help here as i am going to post pics of each and what i think of them and i will take the majority rules formula and apply it to my decision because i am having a hard time with this choice. Number 1,a bit about both.
1.) The 1993 20hp 2 stroke mercury i got off a gentlemen who's dad used to own it but passed near 20yrs ago or so and this merc has sat in storage since with only 25hrs or so on the engine,i mean so clean you can eat off the engine.The motor sat so long that like the coils got brittle/impeller and all that stuff on the water pump was all in great shape along with the carb and gaskets,etc....I being a maintenance freak replaced everything because i wanted to,not that all of it needed to be,i put new coils(needed)wires with boots(needed),all new fuel lines and fuel filter/new thermostat and gasket(needed)/all new carb gaskets,needle etc....New tank and line,lower unit oil and lower unit drain plugs are new and the little round gaskets/new prop and cleaned and re greased/New plugs/new tilt pin/complete water pump rebuild not just the impeller/new key,washers,gasket,metal plate,water pump housing,impeller,all 4 bolts to hold the housing were new and replaced and i cleaned everything in the lower unit i mean cherry spotless,i also cleaned the entire engine top to bottom several times till it was cherry spotless/new pull cord/If i keep this one i am upgrading to a 25hp carb also so that will be completely new/That about covers i believe all of what i did,please keep in mind it did not need all of this done but some was def needed.
My intention was to keep this one for sure till i got lucky twice and found this 2002 with only 3hrs freshwater use on it, i bought a 2002 package used only a total of 3 hrs to resell and make a good profit because i got it at an unreal deal,the engine is not even broke in yet.The guy bought it back in 02 and he has a very ill son at the time that he thought would get better in time but never did but he held on to hope that one day he would and they could use the boat together.That never happened and he got worse, i told him i was sorry.So he just wanted it out of his yard because it reminds him of the times he won't be able to have with his son,terrible.He just gave me a price and i told him it will need a few things which was the truth,so we agreed on a price and that was that.He has all the original manuals for all 3,Boat,motor and trailer to my surprise.So it needed a few minor thing because even with no use sitting in the fl sun and in the elements things do happen like the tiller got lose due to a plastic washer getting brittle and fell out,the motor hadn't been run in 14yrs and i pulled the pull rope and she fired up in 2 pulls to my amazement.The fuel filter on the engine was just full of gunk but the filter itself did it's job and i mean nothing got into the carb or system because i ran it today and man it runs like a rapped ape,it screams. Didn't miss a beat after 14yrs.I took the lower unit off to change the impeller and the impeller was i mean perfect,nothing wrong with it as it looked like brand new so i just left it alone,only takes a few minutes to replace when needed anyways.
2.)2002 25hp 2stroke mercury with only 3hrs on it.All i have done to it was clean it up spotless,checked the compression which was perfect of course,changed the lower unit oil and plug gaskets to what i use in all my outboards,Royal purple lower unit oil,doesn't seem to need anything else.
Also i read about what i just found on the side of my 2002 mercs power head,it reads (MERCOSIL UPSIDE DOWN),They starting making that power head after 1993 which is what my one merc is and doesn't have the mercosil stamp on it but my 2002 has it and that is what peaked my interest on what it is,if you don't know what this means you should read all the posts,forums and articles on NIKASIL VS MERCOSIL power heads and you will learn so much if you have a merc 25hp from 1994 and up,or any outboard with this stamp i urge you to read about it because it could save your engine from having issues in the long run from all i have read.Nothing real bad it's just that the Mercosil power head is so sensitive that it needs extreme care and maintenance,the nikisal power head was made from 1993 back and is the engine of choice for most merc owners from what i have read,to fully understand check it out unless most of you know about this then that would be a good thing.
So here are some really good pics of both and please chime in what you think i should do as far as which one i should keep.
PLEASE IGNORE THESE PICS AND SCROLL DOWN FOR BETTER PICS,SORRY.SWEET ENGINE THE PICS FROM MY 1993 THAT I PERSONALLY LIKE BETTER BUT I WILL CONSIDER WHAT YOU GUYS THINK IS THE BETTER LOOKING ENGINE.THEY BOTH RUN LIKE RAPPED APES AND FLAWLESSLY SO NO ISSUES THERE.THE 25 HAS MORE POWER OUT OF THE HOLE AND RUNS ONLY LIKE 1.5MPH FASTER THEN THE 20.
1.) The 1993 20hp 2 stroke mercury i got off a gentlemen who's dad used to own it but passed near 20yrs ago or so and this merc has sat in storage since with only 25hrs or so on the engine,i mean so clean you can eat off the engine.The motor sat so long that like the coils got brittle/impeller and all that stuff on the water pump was all in great shape along with the carb and gaskets,etc....I being a maintenance freak replaced everything because i wanted to,not that all of it needed to be,i put new coils(needed)wires with boots(needed),all new fuel lines and fuel filter/new thermostat and gasket(needed)/all new carb gaskets,needle etc....New tank and line,lower unit oil and lower unit drain plugs are new and the little round gaskets/new prop and cleaned and re greased/New plugs/new tilt pin/complete water pump rebuild not just the impeller/new key,washers,gasket,metal plate,water pump housing,impeller,all 4 bolts to hold the housing were new and replaced and i cleaned everything in the lower unit i mean cherry spotless,i also cleaned the entire engine top to bottom several times till it was cherry spotless/new pull cord/If i keep this one i am upgrading to a 25hp carb also so that will be completely new/That about covers i believe all of what i did,please keep in mind it did not need all of this done but some was def needed.
My intention was to keep this one for sure till i got lucky twice and found this 2002 with only 3hrs freshwater use on it, i bought a 2002 package used only a total of 3 hrs to resell and make a good profit because i got it at an unreal deal,the engine is not even broke in yet.The guy bought it back in 02 and he has a very ill son at the time that he thought would get better in time but never did but he held on to hope that one day he would and they could use the boat together.That never happened and he got worse, i told him i was sorry.So he just wanted it out of his yard because it reminds him of the times he won't be able to have with his son,terrible.He just gave me a price and i told him it will need a few things which was the truth,so we agreed on a price and that was that.He has all the original manuals for all 3,Boat,motor and trailer to my surprise.So it needed a few minor thing because even with no use sitting in the fl sun and in the elements things do happen like the tiller got lose due to a plastic washer getting brittle and fell out,the motor hadn't been run in 14yrs and i pulled the pull rope and she fired up in 2 pulls to my amazement.The fuel filter on the engine was just full of gunk but the filter itself did it's job and i mean nothing got into the carb or system because i ran it today and man it runs like a rapped ape,it screams. Didn't miss a beat after 14yrs.I took the lower unit off to change the impeller and the impeller was i mean perfect,nothing wrong with it as it looked like brand new so i just left it alone,only takes a few minutes to replace when needed anyways.
2.)2002 25hp 2stroke mercury with only 3hrs on it.All i have done to it was clean it up spotless,checked the compression which was perfect of course,changed the lower unit oil and plug gaskets to what i use in all my outboards,Royal purple lower unit oil,doesn't seem to need anything else.
Also i read about what i just found on the side of my 2002 mercs power head,it reads (MERCOSIL UPSIDE DOWN),They starting making that power head after 1993 which is what my one merc is and doesn't have the mercosil stamp on it but my 2002 has it and that is what peaked my interest on what it is,if you don't know what this means you should read all the posts,forums and articles on NIKASIL VS MERCOSIL power heads and you will learn so much if you have a merc 25hp from 1994 and up,or any outboard with this stamp i urge you to read about it because it could save your engine from having issues in the long run from all i have read.Nothing real bad it's just that the Mercosil power head is so sensitive that it needs extreme care and maintenance,the nikisal power head was made from 1993 back and is the engine of choice for most merc owners from what i have read,to fully understand check it out unless most of you know about this then that would be a good thing.
So here are some really good pics of both and please chime in what you think i should do as far as which one i should keep.
PLEASE IGNORE THESE PICS AND SCROLL DOWN FOR BETTER PICS,SORRY.SWEET ENGINE THE PICS FROM MY 1993 THAT I PERSONALLY LIKE BETTER BUT I WILL CONSIDER WHAT YOU GUYS THINK IS THE BETTER LOOKING ENGINE.THEY BOTH RUN LIKE RAPPED APES AND FLAWLESSLY SO NO ISSUES THERE.THE 25 HAS MORE POWER OUT OF THE HOLE AND RUNS ONLY LIKE 1.5MPH FASTER THEN THE 20.
