"I was in a similar predicamen
"I was in a similar predicament 3 years ago. I bought an old boat to refurbish, knowing the '79 Evinrude 140 engine was shot. I looked high and low locally, newspaper adds, local shops, Ebay, marineengine.com classifieds .......everywhere for over 4 months to find a suitable replacement. The closest thing I found was a 1993 Johnson Fast-strike 150 for $3500.
In the end my local mechanic rebuilt it using 4 new pistons, a new (used) lower crank bearing carrier, machining all 4 cylinders, a new (used) head, installing a used tilt and trim unit, and all the gaskets etc required for a rebuild. He did all this work for $2100. Yep, that's a chunk of change to put into a 24 year old motor. However, I couldn't see spending $1400 more on an 11 year old motor with an unknown history. I know the '93 150 would have had better performance than my old '79 140, but I preferred to have what amounted to a new engine and saved the $1400. Who knows, the 150 could have blown up the first time I used it or it could have lasted 10 years. I wasn't willing to take that risk and pay $1400 more. Plus, my mechanic is a very honest guy and I knew he'd stand behind his work.
You might check the BRP web site, but I'd be pretty certain you can still get rebuild kits for that motor.
As Graham said, you can probably find something newer for the same or less money. However, do you want to buy a used motor with unknown hours or would you rather rebuild a motor that you knew was good for nearly 30 years?
KJ"
