A friend of mine just purchased a boat in Florida that has a 2003 Mercury Racing 90hp 2 stroke. The problem is he can't find much info on what if anything makes this motor different from a regular Mercury 2 stroke 90hp motor. So what makes these motors different?

He did all the normal check out with an independent mechanic. It has good compression and is very clean.

I've been to two county fairs and a goat breeding.
Never heard of a racing 90.

Send pic so we can see motor

Typically "race" engines aren't listed as horsepower, only displacement.
But I guess if you put a racing decal on it, that in theory makes it a race motor.

I've seen a Merc Racing 60 but never a 90. How about a pic and a serial number

Thanks guys, I suspected as much. Someone stuck a Mercury Racing decal on the side of the cowling. The only thing that gave me pause is it's listed as a 90hp motor, but it legitimately pushes the nearly 19' fiberglass bay boat to 38mph at not quite full throttle and an aluminum prop w/2 guys in the boat. The boat is a 2002 Key Largo 186 Bay Model.

Those performance numbers are about as optimistic as that Racing Decal.

S'what I thought as well, but that's what the GPS unit is reporting. I'm really beginning to wonder if it's actually a 90.

90 is the largest 3 cylinder motor merc made in '03. If it's a four cylinder, it's not a 90.

Here’s the serial number plates and the GPS readout.



I’m still scratching my head.

All I can say is just get on with your bad self. I ran 90 mercs on my saltwater boats, they outperform expectations for sure.

Color me impressed

the registration pulls up as sold to a guy in Deland, FL as a saltwater engine.

built and sold in 2002.. 90hp ELPTO

I'd be getting a SS prop on there and running it!