1981 evinrude 6hp, frozen engine, is lower end salvadgeable?

bronsonj

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Apr 27, 2012
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Hello all,

I have a old E6RSM evinrude. The internet tells me it is a commercial 6hp from 1981, but I can't find hardly anything else on it. I opened her up and she is chock full of corrosion and the power head is frozen solid.

So I thought maybe I can salvage the mid section and lower end. I have removed the power head and so I have a couple questions.

First, when I turn the driveshaft by hand, it turns rough. Does that mean I need to worry about the gearbox, or could it just be something with the impeller or maybe this is normal???

Second, I am thinking the motor is just a heap. It is very heavily corroded. I had to keep spraying penetrating oil on the bolts for two days before I unbolted the motor and I still ended up wringing off two of them. Maybe I could soak the engine for a week in mineral spirits or CLR and I might end up with something rebuildable, but it would still need carb attention and spark and whatnot. So I am looking for your seasoned opinions. Is this engine as I first assumed, a heap worthy of the garbage can, or is it worth the time and effort to see what I can do with this?

By the grace of God I am a tinkerer, but I have never worked on boat motors before. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
Joe
 

Joe Reeves

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Feb 24, 2002
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13,262
Re: 1981 evinrude 6hp, frozen engine, is lower end salvadgeable?

If the inside of the powerhead is a mass of corrosion, rust, salt, etc.... consider the powerhead junk. Save what you can in the line of accessories, powerpack, flywheel, whatever and scrap the rest.

Pertaining to the lower unit... drain the unit of its gearlube. Remove the skeg and inspect the gears, etc. That should tell the tale.
 

bronsonj

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Apr 27, 2012
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Re: 1981 evinrude 6hp, frozen engine, is lower end salvadgeable?

Thanks. I figured as much but I couldn't toss the powerhead without confirmation.

I don't have any info on the dissasembly, but I figure I will just wing it. Then I read another thread on this site about someone dissasembling a lower end and there was a bolt that should not ever be removed and is a big pain if it is. That was a different lower end, but before I start into this lower end I had to ask. Is there anything that I need to know to avoid before I start?

Thanks again,
Joe
 

bronsonj

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Apr 27, 2012
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Re: 1981 evinrude 6hp, frozen engine, is lower end salvadgeable?

Also, I did look at the manuals and diagrams sticky on top of the Johnson/Evinrude forum, but my 1981 6hp isn't in the subsequent page searches. For 81 it jumps from 4.5hp to 7.5hp.

Anybody have a pdf they'd like to share on the lower end? If not, can I just assume the 7.5 is close enough?...
 

Joe Reeves

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Feb 24, 2002
Messages
13,262
Re: 1981 evinrude 6hp, frozen engine, is lower end salvadgeable?

The 6hp skeg is attached to the main lower unit housing with a series of screws.

It also has the philips screw which is actually a long shoulder bolt type screw in the skeg. This screw needs to be removed in order to remove the skeg.... it is easy to reinstall when the lower unit is upside down so don't be concerned about it. The graphic below is close enough to guide you.

70_6HPLU-1a.jpg
 

nwcove

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May 16, 2011
Messages
6,293
Re: 1981 evinrude 6hp, frozen engine, is lower end salvadgeable?

if your motor is from the 1980,s it has the one piece gearcase, and the gearcase head will have to be removed to get a look inside,
 

bronsonj

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Apr 27, 2012
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Re: 1981 evinrude 6hp, frozen engine, is lower end salvadgeable?

Well, I decided to rip the power head open anyway. I took off the electronics, pulled the flywheel and removed the coil/etc that was underneath it. So I had just a block and I stuck it in a 5 gallon bucket full of deisel. Figure deisel will clean and act as a penetrant. It's been submerged for just over a week now. This weekend I am going to dig it out and see if the deisel helped any.

for the lower end, the gearcase is a different color and it looks like it was a donor from something else. Odd thing is, it is a split case but right where the split is it has an extra pair of stabilizer fins going out to either side. I have looked on Google images to try and find a lower end like that, but found nothing. It is also a 3 blade prop on that lower end, so maybe it was off of a 7.5 ot 8 instead of a 6hp? dunno. But I will be playing with the lower end this weekend too and will know about the gears and impeller after that.

Thanks for the schematic and the advice gentlemen. It's been a big help.

Joe
 
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