I was lifting this motor off and...............

Using the adjustable height work bench we removed the power head. Eventually found a stuck valve in #1 causing the zero compression issue.
Pictures are poor under shop lights at night.

Well if you had any brains and were running a 2 stroke then you wouldn't have such problems...just a slew of other ones LOL!!

Actually I've heard that is somewhat typical for Crosley engines, don't know if that applies to the marine-ized versions as well. Do the Bearcat/Homelites use shims for valve adjustment?

Something about sitting for the last 16 or so years. Actually I think it would have freed itself it I had just started it but hard to tell when you can't see inside. Shim under bucket. Probably only have to do this once in my lifetime. Actually quite simple and reliable. Oh yeah, and no smoke, smell or oil sheen!

Sitting that long would certainly do it! As with any 4 stroker, you'll always have at least 1 intake and 1 exhaust off it's seat at rest which will lead to corrosion of valve face, seat and cylinder...that's why it's best to (temporarily) remove the rocker arms, pushrods or cam (as the case may be) when you plan on long storage intervals...this also helps spring tension in the long run too. Of course you should fog the engine before that as well.

Now having said that, you may only have to do that once in your lifetime but what if you get reincarnated? Then you'd have to do it all over again. Don't you just hate that when that happens? LOL

These motors are quite advanced for their time considering the inexpensive cars they were in. Actually the Crosley motor was only 44Cu In and the outboard is 59 with almost double the horse power. They are overhead cam and the head is a single unit with the cylinders so no head gasket leaks to worry about. The cam is bevel gear driven too so no timing chain issues. The more I learn the more I like these motors.

Yup, aluminum crankcase section, forged crank (IIRC, just for the marine versions). The car hot rodders convert marine cranks for car use. There have been many crazy morphidites built on these motors, V8's, flat 8's etc etc. There was even an Italian version with twin cams that spun over 8,000!