Universal Atomic 4 engine- what's it worth?

[holzbt]

An Atomic 4 with rebuilt carb, alternator and starter. It's been laid up for a few years but turned over by hand every 6-8 months. Engine ran perfectly when removed from boat but it needs repainting. Anybody care to offer some price ranges of what it's worth?

Thanks,
Roger

[Dan McCosh]

I was talking to the guy who rebuilt my Gray 112 about used engines. What is (blank) worth? "$100" he says.
"But it's in good running condition, so many hours, etc."
"Still $100."

What he was getting at was that a rebuild is a rebuild, and the condition at the starting point is irrelevant. Hence they all are worth $100, then you rebuild them. Scraping a couple of extra years out of an old engine that was replaced by something else doesn't alter the picture much.

FWIW, a rebuild of an Atomic 4 is in the neighborhood of $2,000, around here.

[Vince Brennan]

Ditto. A rebuild IS a rebuild.

(Y'know, that's one of those words that just NEVER looks right.)

[Cuyahoga Chuck]

An Atomic 4 with rebuilt carb, alternator and starter. It's been laid up for a few years but turned over by hand every 6-8 months. Engine ran perfectly when removed from boat but it needs repainting. Anybody care to offer some price ranges of what it's worth?

Thanks,
Roger

An engine that is not in condition to run is a big question mark. The fact that it ran before it was pulled isn't much help in prooving it's worth.
An engine that is in a state to be run can have it's cylinder pressures taken and it's oil pressure checked. Even that isn't a guarantee but it's a lot better than nothing.

[holzbt]

The engine was removed because the boat was being broken up. The owner no longer had time to use it tried to find a new home for the boat with no luck. He didn't want to see it rot away and broke it up after 2 years of storage. A mechanic recently looked over the engine and gave it the thumbs up. I'm asking because it's collecting dust in my shop and a friend of a friend has been asking about it.

[Figment]

Freshwater cooled or raw water cooled? HUGE difference in the future of the machine.

If it was freshwater cooled, get $600 up front.
After a year, get another $600, less whatever he's spent on parts.

If raw water cooled, half that.

[Larry P.]

Roger I might be interested. Email me, ldpasciut@optonline.net

Antigua has an atomic 4 that needs work. Maybe replacement is better.

[Tylerdurden]

A compression and leakdown test can tell a lot on if its a good buy or not. The next in line is parts availability. Most rebuilds I see are poor as the person doing the rebuild did not have the experience to do the job. When you figure the time and cost of doing an install one needs to be sure. Get what you can but don't expect much unless you get lucky.