Small end bearings - outboard engine

[lizardland]

Hi Folks,

my first post... I'm fairly new to driving RIB's and I've been looking at buying something cheap to a. fix up and b. get some experience in. I've seen something that fits the bill but it comes with the warning that the small end bearings need replacing. I'll admit, much as I'm happy rummaging around car engines and the like, I know nothing about boat engines. How serious would this be in an outboard?

Cheers,

Stuart

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by lizardland

Hi Folks,

my first post... I'm fairly new to driving RIB's and I've been looking at buying something cheap to a. fix up and b. get some experience in. I've seen something that fits the bill but it comes with the warning that the small end bearings need replacing. I'll admit, much as I'm happy rummaging around car engines and the like, I know nothing about boat engines. How serious would this be in an outboard?

Cheers,

Stuart

Depends. What outboard and how old?

[9D280]

At a high level, the crank bearings will be similar to a car engine, the main difference being the fact that an outboard is sat on it's end, which means stuff like lubrication is different. (for a 4- stroke).

Other main differences are outoboards only have one gear ratio and no clutch, so they spend a lot of time at High RPM, which is something most cars don't. (no clutch because the propeller - water interface acts like a torque converter in an Auto car) . Cooling is the last main differnece, as an outboard doen't need a radiator as it just pumps sea water round the head & squirts it out the exhaust.

As Nos says, the details are down the the make & model of the engine, just like any car.