www.iFourWinns.com

Hi I have a 1989 18 horizon 2.3 litre omc bow rider . I love the boat should I worry about the motor and out drive? It has always been serviced runs great but i hear bad stories about omc parts. It has a ford motor. Any ideas or thoughts ? Is there any thing I should look for in my old four winns. I have no rott and the boat is well kept.

As long as the motor is running well and the outdrive is working properly, don't wory about. Enjoy it.

That 2.3L motor is sort of a high strung thing...they like to rev quite a bit higher than the Chevy based 3.0L.

I have a lot of helm time in a 1990 170 Freedom that had that 2.3L motor. I gave it my share of abuse. It seldom missed a beat. In my opinion it was actually a pretty good motor for marine use.

Now, when something does go wrong, be prepared to either spend a lot to repair or replace the entire drivetrain. General maintenance items shouldn't be anymore on you boat/motor than anything else. It is when a serious problem develops that you may need to consider what the value of the boat is. Unfortunately, in many cases the costs to replace the motor or outdrive outweigh the value of a functioning boat.

If the boat is solid without any rot, keep it well maintained and just enjoy using it.

_________________
Current Operational Boats:
'04-Four Winns 180 Freedom 150 HP Evinrude
'72-Chris Craft Commander 31 Sedan Twin-350Qs

Welcome to the boat forum, the way I understand it is "If it aint broke don't fix it" just maintain it and most importantly enjoy it. Life is too short for what ifs

_________________
Ardy
Adelaide South Australia
Red H180 3.0 Merc

Just enjoy it, I have an older OMC powered FW also and it's been surprisingly little trouble, I have a good OMC trained mechanic and I have kept up with all the maintenance. In fact the most trouble I had with this boat (rot) was because of FW's crappy construction methods, nothing having to do with OMC. If you really like the boat, you can do a complete re-power at some point, replacing the engine and drive with something like a Merc 3.0/Alpha, one of the most common power packages around. But that's only if it has no rot, and still meets your needs. What I do, is start looking for parts way before I need em, that way I have time to find things that are out there, but not so readily available. The only things I can't get are the OE one piece manifolds, but I bought an extra set some years back so that's covered.....

_________________
88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Keep up on the maintance and run it till it breaks!!! A well maintained outdrive will run a LONG time without breaking. Enjoy it (mine has a 5.8 with a OMC Cobra outdrive and I use it every season and not once has the thought will this be the one where the outdrive gives up the will to live). It runs as good as any boat out there and is just as enjoyable as any out there (if not more so).

But I tell you what, I'll make you a deal. If you are that concerned about it, give me your address and I will take your headache off your hands for you. You won't even have to pay me to take the boat with those ***** OMC parts on it. No really, Its ok, I'll do this for you free of charge. Just think, no more sleepless nights worrying about it. I will just do this because I like to help people out. pm me if you want to take me up on this (very generous offer).

_________________
'90 Horizon 220 5.8

HEY!!! WAIT A MINUTE!!! I think you stole that from me, on the other forum...

I did (and I would do it again given the chance) lol

_________________
'90 Horizon 220 5.8

Works for me!

Depends if its a late model OMC (Standard COBRA)... these are common and there are parts... anything else, make sure not to tear it up or face up to searching for parts....

_________________
2007 FW Horizon 200 5.0GXi/SX-A

An 89 is definitely a Cobra, the parts that can be hard to find are some of the parts that are unique to that engine, like exhaust manifolds and risers. I got an extra set of the one piece manifolds used on my V-6 back when they were still available, and I'm glad I did...I paid about 400 each for the one piece OE units, now if you can find them they are 1200 new...the ones I replaced in 04 are still good and I have that extra pair for the future (salt water so they don't last forever).
There is now a 2-piece conversion for the V-6 models but it costs about 1200 for the parts. If I had one of the 2.3 Ford models, I'd just try to keep an eye out for parts that are likely to need replacement and build up a stock of spares. I have a spare starter, thermostats, thermo housing, hoses (another thing that's good to buy when they are still out there, because there are unique hoses on these models that can be hard to find in the aftermarket)....

_________________
88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II