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Force Rebuild

force4johnson

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"Well, I am a new boat owner w

"Well, I am a new boat owner with an old boat. I have an 1989 Bayliner with a Force 125 outboard. The # 4 Piston ate a ring and looks like the surface of the moon. The cylinder I think can be bored. Can I bore the cylinders and square the head and replace one piston and oversize the rings on the other 3 with any luck?"
 
"Yes, you can - just finished

"Yes, you can - just finished up a rebuild on a 1990 90 horse - ate the number 2 piston.

Went with 30 over, and picked up new pistons, rings, bearings and rods - 550 bucks all in (and that was for all 3), including having the holes bored - but you can bore just the bad cylinder.

If you have to do anything more than hone the others, I would go with oversize pistons as well in the other cylinders - in the long run, it's well worth the cost...."
 
"Thank you for the info...the

"Thank you for the info...the other cylinders look pretty good, still have good cross hatch and no real evidence of scratching so maybe I will get lucky. I bought the engine with the boat this way. The engine is clean and well cared for except for a little carbon."
 
"Force has a very poor reputat

"Force has a very poor reputation. I have found them to be "reasonable" motors. They were often cobbled together with parts that had often gone by the wayside 10 years earlier, but all in all, not bad.

If your motor is a 89 model, it was one of 54 different models produced that year - and yes, I'm only talking about the 125 horse motors. Merc grabbed whatever was laying around the warehouse and bolted it on. If it worked they made as many as they could before they ran out of those parts and then started with different parts and called it a new model number - 54 times.

Their one really weak point is the ignition system. The Prestolite ignitons are poor at best, a nightmare to troubleshoot if something goes wrong and super expensive to replace.

But, if you price out a new 125, a rebuild often looks quite economical. The 90 that I just finished working on had over 2000 hours on it and had been little trouble up to that point. If you take care of them, they work well...."
 
I really appreciate the info a

I really appreciate the info and your time to write back. I am going to try and bring this engine to a good sound running standard and as far as I know that was all that was wrong but I haven't had it the water yet so I guess we will see. Thanks again.
 
new boat owner here . 1986 125

new boat owner here . 1986 125 hp force. i removed lower unit to replace water pump and the shift rod became unthreaded from the pivot point inside lower unit. why would this threaded rod be loose and what would be the proper fix???
 
Just be aware that you can&#39

Just be aware that you can't go oversize on the rings if you are not using oversize pistons....if you bore #4 and the rest are std...use std rings on those pistons.
 
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