The Engine!!!

Finally!!! I found what I hope will be a reliable, trouble free, great looking motor for my Zip.

I had been searching ebay and craigslist almost daily for short shaft engines for months. I found an ad that said "outboard motors for sale" on craigslist. After clicking it the ad said 7.5 and 40 hp short shaft motors for sale. No pic of the 40 but the 7.5 looked very nice. I emailed the fellow and he emailed me back a few hours later with pictures of a great looking 1975 Mercury 40 short shaft and control box. He said it ran great and had very high compression and that he had restored it after finding it in great condition in long term storage. It has elec and manual start.

I went up to Wadsworth, OH near Cleveland to see the motor, a 5hr drive. I looked the motor over. The wiring was in excellent shape the motor was VERY clean and freshly painted. The control box was in great condition. Then we started the motor and it purred along at idle both in and out of gear and the throttle response was instantaneous. It sounded very healthy and strong. We agreed on a price and did the paperwork. Then, loaded the motor into the bed of my truck and sat it on a sleeping bag for the ride home. This morning I made a stand for it and its ready to go! I really like the look of this motor, I am quite excited!