stevepamboukes
Seaman
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2016
- Messages
- 52
Hello! Thanks for having me to your forum. Doing some research on my new project led me here, and I've learned a lot already - but I am hopign to get baby'd through some troubles with this new project of mine.
I bought a ~17' fiberglass boat with an Evinrude 40973R outboard. First, I would like to verify this is a 1969 engine, for future research. Best way to verify engine year?
Next, I'm looking for a reliable wiring diagram. I have come across this one here (and several others) - http://www.maxrules.com/graphics/omc/wiring/67_68_40HP.jpg - but I'd like to see if someone could verify this is the proper diagram. It reads 67-68 so I'm a little unsure if I can rely on it 100%. I've played the "oh that wiring diagram is close enough" game one too many times, so I really want to make sure I've got the right diagram before I go too far. It does seem to agree pretty well with whats on the boat, except maybe some colors here and there.
About me - I have plenty of familiarity repairing and restoring small engines - except until now, specifically in the moped, motorcycle, and automotive fields. Outboards are a little new to me, and although many of the systems on this big two stroke are similar to what I'm used to, some are not, and I could use your help to check my work and assumptions as I go. Read: I'm not a complete dummy, but I know very little about boats.
Being a *cough* scrapyard *cough* purchase, first problem is NO KEY. Well, im my experience, generally no problem. I've hotwired (not stolen) plenty of small engines. I got a good battery in this thing, and got it to crank right over - simply applied 12VDC to starter relay/solenoid. However, no spark. Removed the flywheel, serviced the points (they were that classic crummy green), and zap zap zap solid spark all day. I understand that if the two black leads at the ignition switch are NOT connected, I will have spark. If you connect them, you kill spark. Correct?
Having restored spark to the engine, the next thing to do, of course, was try to fire this old thing up, right? Or at least hear it stutter on starting fluid. I put 10 gal 93 test gasoline in a 15 gal tank, very clean, and pumped it up to the engine. This whole hand-pump thing is foreign to me but I did get it to work. Granted, I think if I pumped too much, gasoline poured right out the air intake side of the carb thru some sort of overflow. Normal?
With a couple shots of starting fluid and some 2T oil right into the jugs, and the engine in a trash-can full of water, I juiced the solenoid, and after some cranking, with some throttle and full choke and she did cough up in the way you expect an old engine that hasnt run in 10+ years to start. So i did not hold a sustained idle or running condition, but she did seem to fart along ok enough for me to believe the engine is sound enough, for now. I wont be surprised if I need to pull the carb and give it a service, but... if it aint broke dont fix it. No reason to suspect is broke just yet.
I did not go too much further, because I do believe the engine was in gear! When she coughed up and ran a bit, it sloshed the hell out of my water bucket so I shut her down. So next I need to investigate this seemingly over-complicated "Selectric" shift mechanism... but maybe that is for another post further down the line.
Well, thank you for reading, I hope some of you can help me out here along the way. Once I get some of these preliminaries out of the way, I have some questions about the safety switch, cut-out switch, and of course, the SELECTRIC shifter. Thanks!
-Steve
I bought a ~17' fiberglass boat with an Evinrude 40973R outboard. First, I would like to verify this is a 1969 engine, for future research. Best way to verify engine year?
Next, I'm looking for a reliable wiring diagram. I have come across this one here (and several others) - http://www.maxrules.com/graphics/omc/wiring/67_68_40HP.jpg - but I'd like to see if someone could verify this is the proper diagram. It reads 67-68 so I'm a little unsure if I can rely on it 100%. I've played the "oh that wiring diagram is close enough" game one too many times, so I really want to make sure I've got the right diagram before I go too far. It does seem to agree pretty well with whats on the boat, except maybe some colors here and there.
About me - I have plenty of familiarity repairing and restoring small engines - except until now, specifically in the moped, motorcycle, and automotive fields. Outboards are a little new to me, and although many of the systems on this big two stroke are similar to what I'm used to, some are not, and I could use your help to check my work and assumptions as I go. Read: I'm not a complete dummy, but I know very little about boats.
Being a *cough* scrapyard *cough* purchase, first problem is NO KEY. Well, im my experience, generally no problem. I've hotwired (not stolen) plenty of small engines. I got a good battery in this thing, and got it to crank right over - simply applied 12VDC to starter relay/solenoid. However, no spark. Removed the flywheel, serviced the points (they were that classic crummy green), and zap zap zap solid spark all day. I understand that if the two black leads at the ignition switch are NOT connected, I will have spark. If you connect them, you kill spark. Correct?
Having restored spark to the engine, the next thing to do, of course, was try to fire this old thing up, right? Or at least hear it stutter on starting fluid. I put 10 gal 93 test gasoline in a 15 gal tank, very clean, and pumped it up to the engine. This whole hand-pump thing is foreign to me but I did get it to work. Granted, I think if I pumped too much, gasoline poured right out the air intake side of the carb thru some sort of overflow. Normal?
With a couple shots of starting fluid and some 2T oil right into the jugs, and the engine in a trash-can full of water, I juiced the solenoid, and after some cranking, with some throttle and full choke and she did cough up in the way you expect an old engine that hasnt run in 10+ years to start. So i did not hold a sustained idle or running condition, but she did seem to fart along ok enough for me to believe the engine is sound enough, for now. I wont be surprised if I need to pull the carb and give it a service, but... if it aint broke dont fix it. No reason to suspect is broke just yet.
I did not go too much further, because I do believe the engine was in gear! When she coughed up and ran a bit, it sloshed the hell out of my water bucket so I shut her down. So next I need to investigate this seemingly over-complicated "Selectric" shift mechanism... but maybe that is for another post further down the line.
Well, thank you for reading, I hope some of you can help me out here along the way. Once I get some of these preliminaries out of the way, I have some questions about the safety switch, cut-out switch, and of course, the SELECTRIC shifter. Thanks!
-Steve
