Looking to buy first inboard looking for some help

I was looking at a 86 supra comp and had some questions. 1st the temp gauge was only at 150 is that odd i was thinking it should be higher? 2nd sterring was harder to the left then to the right what might this be? last when i shifted it to reverse it seemed to have a lil delay before enguaging is this normal? Thanks any more comments on the boat would be great Thanks

Unless the steering was way harder one way, or the delay was longer than a couple seconds, that all sounds normal.

It doesnt have power steering. The natural rotation of the prop pushes the boat right. So left is always harder. If you let go of the wheel at 40MPH the boat would spin right

The temp at 150 sounds about right. My boat runs about the same. I think most thermostats fall in the 140 to 170 degree range.

In addition to what Jay said about prop rotation, many inboards are intentionally set up to pull slightly to the right. This is often accomplished by filing (beveling) the right trailing edge of the rudder. The reason for this is that most people find it more difficult to maintain a straight line (i.e. with a skier in the slalom course) with neutral steering.

If you don't like the rightward pull, or if it is harder than you wish, it can be offset by filing (beveling) the left trailing edge of the rudder. It doesn't take much to change the steering characteristics to your liking.

Are you sure there's really a delay in reverse? These boats shift really smooth, and it takes a little longer to get the boat moving backwards (due to the shape of the stern), so it might be hard to tell if there is a delay, or not. If there really is a delay, then that would be a red flag in my mind. I'm not familiar enough with the transmissions to know how big of a problem it would be.

I'm on my first inboard this year, too, and I love it! Good luck!