selling an old knackered engine

[Phoenix of Hamble]

I'll be removing an old Ford Lehman engine shortly... its pretty knackered, having been underwater (although run since).... how do I go about selling it?.... or is it a case of scrapping it?

Its going to be bloody heavy, so not sure how to get it to a scrapyard... suspect it'll be too heavy to get in the car!

What have others done?

 

[vyv_cox]

When I replaced my Bukh with a Yanmar the dealer took the old one on part exchange. Otherwise I would put it on Ebay and let the buyer worry about how to move it. I sold a big floor-standing pillar drill on Ebay, the buyer arranged transport on a tailgate truck. I recently did a failure diagnosis job on a four-cylinder Volvo which arrived on a palette, once again a tailgate truck with a manual forklift brought it and took it away later.

 

[Bobc]

Ebay, or call up a scrap metal dealer to come and collect it.

 

[lw395]

Engine crane and box or flat bed trailer can be the most DIY-friendly way of moving it.
I would ebay it.
If you can offer some means of getting it onto a trailer, that might be a plus for DIY buyers, so chatting to anyone who has an engine crane or similar might pay off?
Or see if a reconditioning place will make you an offer for it?

 

[parbuckle]

"Boats & Outboards" seem to target larger kit free ads but watch out for scammers. You can easily hire engine lift and high top van.

 

[sailorman]

"Boats & Outboards" seem to target larger kit free ads but watch out for scammers. You can easily hire engine lift and high top van.

+1
thats where i sold my 4108 & the TMP gearbox split the 2 items.
the gearbox had been rebuilt 10 months earlier the engine smoked so much it was difficult to see across the marina ( rings at a guess)
got £500 each for them. the gearbox had cost £1100 to rebuild so that chap from N I got a real bargain

 

[Tomaret]

Buy a trailer and join that happy band of travellers who seem to go from one Boat Jumble to the next with some knackered kit, driven either by the triumph of hope over experience or the sheer enjoyment of spending late winter Sunday mornings in muddy fields. At least you'll be talking to others who suffer the same delusions in the hope of finding a bargain amongst the worn out stuff others have ripped out of their boats (or others). It's a hobby, of sorts.

I'm in the latter group, but not yet in search of a knackered engine. I've got my eye on one of those, and it's already installed in my boat.

 

[ianj99]

+1
thats where i sold my 4108 & the TMP gearbox split the 2 items.
the gearbox had been rebuilt 10 months earlier the engine smoked so much it was difficult to see across the marina ( rings at a guess)
got £500 each for them. the gearbox had cost £1100 to rebuild so that chap from N I got a real bargain

That's a good price for the 4108. I will be selling mine when I've fitted the new one from Marine Power in a month or so. It doesn't smoke, good starter, good oil pressure so should be worth at least £500 minus gearbox.

 

[Tam Lin]

Don't scrap it, someone somewhere will want it. I put my old Volvo md2b, which was partially dismantled, on Boats and Outboards and several other free ad sites and sold it very quickly. A guy came with a trailer all the way from Lancashire for it. I got enquiries for months afterwards even when I had thought that I had cancelled the advert!
There is a company on the south coast that buys old engines and reconditions them, Think this is them http://www.marineenterprisesltd.co.uk. I expect there are others.

 

[sailorman]

That's a good price for the 4108. I will be selling mine when I've fitted the new one from Marine Power in a month or so. It doesn't smoke, good starter, good oil pressure so should be worth at least £500 minus gearbox.

It was 11 yrs ago

 

[ianj99]

It was 11 yrs ago

What did you replace it with, and how much better than the 4108 was it?

 

[sailorman]

What did you replace it with, and how much better than the 4108 was it?

Nanni 4150 37.5 hp
I had to increase the pitch of the MaxProp as i had more revs at the previous setting, the engine is rated @ 3000 rpm. The 4108 was running at 3k WOT which i reckoned was outputting around 38hp

The Nanni has given me 11 yrs of trouble free use, all i have replaced in that time is 2 injection elbows, the last one in august 2014 & now some 1130 hrs

 

[ianj99]

Nanni 4150 37.5 hp
I had to increase the pitch of the MaxProp as i had more revs at the previous setting, the engine is rated @ 3000 rpm. The 4108 was running at 3k WOT which i reckoned was outputting around 38hp

The Nanni has given me 11 yrs of trouble free use, all i have replaced in that time is 2 injection elbows, the last one in august 2014 & now some 1130 hrs

I've set the pitch on my 17" Kiwi prop to give a quiet cruising speed of 6kts and 2000rpm with a clean hull. Max rpm is 2500 (about 30ish bhp and not on WOT but backed off 50rpm to avoid smoke/overload) with that pitch and is about the hull speed.

With the MP446 engine - 46hp @3000rpm, leaving the prop as it is (& using my PRM gearbox) I should get a few more revs on wot but not that many due to the hull speed limit, but at least there'll be a bit more in reserve.

 

[sailorman]

I've set the pitch on my 17" Kiwi prop to give a quiet cruising speed of 6kts and 2000rpm with a clean hull. Max rpm is 2500 (about 30ish bhp and not on WOT but backed off 50rpm to avoid smoke/overload) with that pitch and is about the hull speed.

With the MP446 engine - 46hp @3000rpm, leaving the prop as it is (& using my PRM gearbox) I should get a few more revs on wot but not that many due to the hull speed limit, but at least there'll be a bit more in reserve.

we get 6.4kts @ 2000rpm cruising spd,
WOT with a clean bottom @ 2900rpm 7.5kts
MaxProp is 450 m/m cant remember the pitch its set at as all details are o/b
are you sure that you really those 46 horses

 

[ianj99]

we get 6.4kts @ 2000rpm cruising spd,
WOT with a clean bottom @ 2900rpm 7.5kts
MaxProp is 450 m/m cant remember the pitch its set at as all details are o/b
are you sure that you really those 46 horses

She's a heavy old girl - 10+t, with long keel and I don't know how worn the 35year old 4108 is so can't be sure exactly what bhp is available at 2000 and 2500rpm.

According to vicprop, the same prop will require 46bhp to reach the hull speed of 7.8kts at 3000rpm, whereas 30bhp at 2500rpm with that prop produces 6.8kts - which is almost spot on.

[A 4108 is 1750cc whilst the MP446 is 2150cc and has about 20% more torque]

If I use the same figures in vicprop but half the weight then I would only need 22bhp for hull speed.

 

[sailorman]

She's a heavy old girl - 10+t, with long keel and I don't know how worn the 35year old 4108 is so can't be sure exactly what bhp is available at 2000 and 2500rpm.

According to vicprop, the same prop will require 46bhp to reach the hull speed of 7.8kts at 3000rpm, whereas 30bhp at 2500rpm with that prop produces 6.8kts - which is almost spot on.

[A 4108 is 1750cc whilst the MP446 is 2150cc and has about 20% more torque]

If I use the same figures in vicprop but half the weight then I would only need 22bhp for hull speed.

My Nanni is 1500cc & knocks spots off of a 4108. the new engine & PRM box only weighs 3 x the TMP box alone on the 4108
my marina neighbour has a Heritage 37 heavy cruising with a 30hp Westerbeke rated @ 3000rpm

 

[PhillM]

I got £300 for an old and very rust MD7a about 2 years ago.

Apparently it was going to be shipped to India where the labour to recondition it is cheap enough to make it worthwhile. I am told it could have another 20 years happy service in a fishing boat. Its worth ringing around local dealers to ask who might want it. In my case the buyer collected it as well - which was a nice bonus.

 

[xyachtdave]

I'd start off by not describing it as 'old and knackered' in your ebay advert.

Also don't mention the episode where it was under water - this really is up to the buyer to find out for themselves.

Next, miss out all the relevant information except for the make and model.

Then load the add with these pointless phrases -

'reluctant sale', 'starts first time', 'first to see will buy' and 'real head turner'

And don't forget...

'No time wasters please' at the bottom. And probably best if you don't use your normal phone number and try to meet them in a petrol station to do the deal.

Good luck!

 

[longjohnsilver]

I'll be removing an old Ford Lehman engine shortly... its pretty knackered, having been underwater (although run since).... how do I go about selling it?.... or is it a case of scrapping it?

Its going to be bloody heavy, so not sure how to get it to a scrapyard... suspect it'll be too heavy to get in the car!

What have others done?

What model is it and what's the condition of the ancillaries such as the heat exchangers/stacks? The bits may be of interest to me.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

Then load the add with these pointless phrases -

'reluctant sale', 'starts first time', 'first to see will buy' and 'real head turner'

What they really mean...

'reluctant sale', because I'm pretty sure that I'll get nowhere near what I expected.

'starts first time', usually by keeping the starter turning until the 250Ah battery is almost flat.

'first to see will buy' something else.

'real head turner' A 'real head' that's all there will turn away in disgust.