Hi
An older guy out here has a '72 Mercury thunderbolt 80 hp for sale. This is in a very upscale neighborhood and the boat it came off of (also a 72) looks brand new too. He upgraded to larger motor. The thing looks NEW inside and out - I mean I've never seen an old motor look like this. Guy said he used his troller primarily. It starts and idles on muffs and shifts fine. Now the problem. Lube looks a slight milky - not bad but it's there. He says motor has always been great, compression should be fine and doesn't want anyone messing with it / screwing it up. So limited on testing it. Even the controls and hookups look new.
He's selling pretty cheap, and figures that will afford any issues someone might have.
So, is this model worth getting into? Do people still work on these? Would gear lube issue be prohibitively expensive? Just looking for some insight not familiar with nuances of these older motors.
Thanks for any thoughts
An older guy out here has a '72 Mercury thunderbolt 80 hp for sale. This is in a very upscale neighborhood and the boat it came off of (also a 72) looks brand new too. He upgraded to larger motor. The thing looks NEW inside and out - I mean I've never seen an old motor look like this. Guy said he used his troller primarily. It starts and idles on muffs and shifts fine. Now the problem. Lube looks a slight milky - not bad but it's there. He says motor has always been great, compression should be fine and doesn't want anyone messing with it / screwing it up. So limited on testing it. Even the controls and hookups look new.
He's selling pretty cheap, and figures that will afford any issues someone might have.
So, is this model worth getting into? Do people still work on these? Would gear lube issue be prohibitively expensive? Just looking for some insight not familiar with nuances of these older motors.
Thanks for any thoughts