Look what followed me home last night

[wiliermdb]

Found this on an online classified. Was a four hour chore including driving time and removing it from the owners boat.  It's a  1987 140 VRO. Motor cover and engine are in very nice condition. Only issues with it are the lower unit and lower couple of inches of the mid section need some cosmetic work. I need to remove the  steering pivot bracket this weekend and replace the bushings and get that back to like new condition. Do a little clean up and paint work on the bracket while I have it off.

Guy showed me a video on his GoPro pushing his 18' aluminum hull 63 mph (gps) with the original 21 pitch prop. This motor should spin a 22 Raker with no problem on my CVX. I will finally be able to join some of you on here posting mid 50's for top end.

Grabbed this one, cables, control box and a gallon of VRO oil for $1000. Once I have it set up I will sell the 115 and should be able to get $700 out of it with no problem.

Now I just need to finish the rebuild of the CVX so I can mount the 140 and test it out.

[David CVX-16]

Nice find. Looks like you have scoped out the project and know the improvements to be made. Hope you finish for testing on the water before your winter. I would automatically change the water impeller and spark plugs. Getting the proper RPM's with the Raker 22" should be no problem. Check to see that the lower unit comes to a point in the front. Mine was blunt and I had to sand the leading edge to come to a point.  

After and before pictures of the lower unit.

I am in the process of raising my motor height and testing three props, Raker 22, Lightspeed 22, and SRX 23.  

[wiliermdb]

Skeg is a little worn but no cracks. Have plugs already and I have to drop the lower unit in order to remove the steering pivot/trim assembly so I will replace impeller and the water pick up screen. Change lower unit fluid and paint.

I'm going to change all the pivot and tilt bushings so I know it's new.

[wiliermdb]

Got the 140 out of the trailer this morning. Dropped the lower unit and removed the pivot bracket so I can disassemble and replace the keeper and seals. Gave the motor a good cleaning and washed out the lower cover. It's cleaning up real nice.

Will place a parts order over the weekend and I should have the bracket cleaned and painted by the time the parts arrive mid week.  Need to sand lower unit and get it ready for paint.

[David CVX-16]

Are you keeping the VRO or disabling it?

[wiliermdb]

Learning towards disconnecting it. What are you thoughts?

[V153]

Therein lies the dilemna with VRO. When it's working it works great. 'Specially the newer version(s). But if'n it stops working yer purty much screwed.

VRO may or may not deserve the 'Very Risky Oil' moniker. But just to play it safe I prefer pre-mix over oil injection.

[84carlson]

I've had 84 140 and now a 99 115 both with vro never a single issue.  I use about half the oil and I think it idles much better.  Joe

[David CVX-16]

I would disconnect it. Peace of mind. Also you can run a richer oil/gas mixture. I almost ruined my 115 HP Johnson when one of the oil lines disconnected. Disconnecting is not hard. There are articles written on how to do it, and I can send you the hard copy or the web site.

I use portable tanks in the back seat floor just to shift weight to the back for more speed, and run the two portables to the engine, plus the line from the bow tank. Just my personal preference.

[Eric_Michael]

Learning towards disconnecting it. What are you thoughts?

'92 Johnson w/ VRO and it works fine.  The controls will limit engine RPM if a sensor indicates a problem (temp, fuel, or oil), as well as sound an alarm.  I carry a couple quarts of 2-cycle oil with me in case that should happen.  Just dump in the fuel tank and get to port.  Sure, it would be in limp home mode, but I would know I am not damaging the engine in the process.

HTH,
-Eric

[GCarlover]

Looks like you got the mid section off after the LU was removed.  I had to change bushings on the 70 Merc by pulling the power head.  It would rock back and forth when accelerating.  Once it wears a little it gets bad fast.  May have a bunch of hrs.  Let us know the compression when warmed up.  Don't use after market paint.  It won't match.  My 140 would porpoise with the motor up 1 inch.  So added trim tabs and set back 1".  Don't remember which I did first.  The 87 has three warnings:  heat, tank and oil at the VRO.  My tank sender goes off intermittently so I unhooked the tank wire and watch the oil level.  Better to keep the rings clean with less oil at low speeds.  It will smoke less although they are noted for smoking at start up. How's the floor and transom work coming?
P.S. Eric, the 88 and newer had S.L.O.W.  Not on previous models.

[wiliermdb]

Took a few hours on Sunday to get the mounting bracket apart. The main issues was getting the steering cable tube out of the bracket. It was rusted and didn't want to budge. Then when removing the trim pump, one of the screws snapped. Have to drill that out later. Got most of the bracket parts cleaned and free of grease. A little sanding and I'll start painting them one by one.

Place a parts order this morning so if all goes as planned, I should be able to start reassembly this coming Sunday. Once I get the motor squared away and on a stand I can get back to the boat.

[GCarlover]

Found this useful bit of info on Scream and Fly yesterday by merc_rulz:
Ran a compression check on my johnson 120 yesterday, was idling a little rough. 3 cylinders checked in at about 130 psi, but the last one checked in at 60. I'm wondering if decarbing it will fix that or is it toast?
Rulz, your engine is probably toast, but carbon cleaner is cheap and worth a shot. It won't make it worse.
Ran some ATF through the cylinders and ran at about 2000rpm for coupla minutes, rechecked compression and all check out at 125psi. So, good to go! thanks for your help!