is my motor too small?

Hello everyone,

i have been messing around with this older boat / motor that i bought a few years back, managed to get it running but it barely moves! i could probably swim faster then it!

with the warmer weather now here i'm again tempted to fix this motor. here's a little info i have on it:

Model 33552 (8 or B can't really tell...)
Serial C465162
Evinrude Ski-Twin electric start
33Hp 4000 - 5000 RPM.
it's a long shaft.

when i last check the compression (last year) it was around 115psi each cyl (both pretty much the same)
new plugs and both appear to be firing well, they are a nice coffee color (with 2 creamers lol!)
carb was cleaned last year, it was just a bit gumed up, a little carb cleaner and all was good.
new oil in foot.

it starts well, idles good after it warms up a bit. shifts good.
i have asked around locally and some people say it should be big enough for my boat, others say its a bit under powered..

the boat is a 14foot fiberglass with cable steering. 4 seats.

have a look at the pics and tell me what you think.


http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/7521/dsc02505x.jpg
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/1280/dsc02505a.jpg
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/3864/dsc02506e.jpg
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/5321/dsc02507c.jpg
http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/6728/dsc02508q.jpg
http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/9200/dsc02509y.jpg
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/7018/dsc02510n.jpg
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/4739/dsc02511d.jpg
http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/3562/dsc02512nql.jpg
http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/25/dsc02513y.jpg
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/1740/dsc02514y.jpg

Re: is my motor too small?

Either it is sick or you are a heluva good swimmer. It should get around 25 MPH.

My best educated guess is that it is not running on both cylinders. Check the ignition system. Compression is good.

Re: is my motor too small?

i will get a spark tester and see what i find. the plugs do look a nice tan though. but still.

any idea what year this motor is?
incase i need to order parts.

Re: is my motor too small?

Did yo ufully disassemble the carb and clean? Did you just spray it out?

If you didn't run a wire through the jets/orifice you may still have a fuel restriction. Atr you reaching proper rpm's on the motor?

Could the prop be slipping?

Re: is my motor too small?

I had a 33hp johnson on a 14 foot glasspar lido, a fiberglass runabout. I stripped the lido down a bit on the weight to make it more "fishing" friendly, losing maybe at most 100lbs. Long story short, when the motor was running at its peak, I was topping out at 26-27 mph. Your evinrude 33hp should have no problem pushing that boat, and 24-25 mph sounds about right.

It may be a lost cylinder when under load. My 33hp had that problem at the beginning. Had spark, ran smooth at idle, but when under load, I lost a cylinder. The prop slipping may also be an issue. If your motor revs really fast when you open the throttle under load, but doesn't go anywhere, a spun prop might just be the problem.

Re: is my motor too small?

the carb was completely taken apart, i also ran a small wire (strand from a wire brush) through the jets. compressed air afterwards too.

i have a parts motor, a 28hp johnson, i tried that prop on it but could tell easily that it was spun, it would rev high very quickly as soon as i hit the gas.

the engine doesn't sound like its reving. the rpms go up but not like my brothers 20hp johnson does... i checked and the linkage is moving freely and the throtle is fully opening in the carb.

thats 2 now that have sugested spark problems so i'm leaning in that direction and will start by getting my hands on a spark tester. may pickup a puller too and have a look under the flywheel.

Model 33552 (8 or B can't really tell...)
Serial C465162
can anyone tell what year this motor is?

thanks for the advice everyone!

Re: is my motor too small?

I believe it's a 1965. Here's a link:

http://www.marineengine.com/manuals/evinrude/#e33hp

The OMC 33hp motors are nice motors. I have two of them (Johnsons). One of them I bought as a parts motor, but will actually try to get it running again and change it to a tiller. I liked how it performed, sounded, and looked on my runabout and will put the second one on my Lund aluminum fishing boat when I am fishing with others besides myself. If it's a clean motor, it's worth getting it running. But that's my own opinion. I like tinkering around with outboards.

Re: is my motor too small?

1965.. cool thanks for the info.

got my hands on a puller and 3 grade 8 bolts, flywheel came off pretty easily.
everything looks pretty clean but i can tell right away that someone had been in here before. one coil had been replaced at some point, its a black one and looks brand new, the other one looks like the original, pale green in color and the metal area that runs near the magnet on the flywheel looks rusty and pretty worn down. both plug wires look really old and a bit brittle with a few squished sections.

my stator here:
http://img8.imageshack.us/i/flywheeloff.jpg/

here is the stator off my parts motor (28hp johnson)
http://img190.imageshack.us/i/partsmotornicecoils.jpg/

swapped both coils, condensors which looked newer then mine, would have used the points too but the crank seal on this parts motor was leaking and the points were a little oily looking. ran out of time today but still plan on putting new plug wires from the coils and new caps. want to clean up the points and set to proper gap .. 0.20 i think i read somewhere???

also, anyone know how much to torq the flywheel nut?

if anyone has any advice now would be a good time to hear it. LOL!

Re: is my motor too small?

gap at .020 is correct. The flywheel nut is torqued at 105 ft lbs or 110 ft lbs, I believe. I would have to check my manual. If you don't have a manual, I'd get one. For the novice, Seloc is pretty good. Of course, the original shop manual is best, but from what I understand, the original assumes you have some basic knowledge of working with outboards in general.

Re: is my motor too small?

so, i swaped the coils from my 28hp johnson donner motor, took the condensors too. used my old points as they looked the best, but removed them and cleaned them up with a flat file. set the point gap to .020 (thanks jdsgrog) and checked for spark, got nice big blue spark at my plugs!!

torqed the flywheel and started it up in a barrel. ran pretty good, we took it to the lake and it moves along much faster now, maybe not 25mph but i would say pretty close with myself (270lbs) and my nephew (155lbs).

went back on the water today and brought along my sister and her friend..... the boat did not like this extra weigth at all, it really plowed through the water... played with the level of the motor (forget what thats called..) moved it up, and lowered it, made little difference, front of boat stayed really high out of the water....

so i'm guessing its just too much weight for the little 33hp to push? LOL!

next, gonna browse the site for some info on how to adjust the carb,, high speed, low speed settings, i never played with these as of yet..

Re: is my motor too small?

Does that engine have a high speed adjust or is it fixed? If it's adjustable you really need to adjust it to get full speed. It makes a HUGE difference...

BTW, very clean motor inside. Looks good.

Re: is my motor too small?

yep... a high and a low speed adjustable jet.. i found info on this site on how to adjust them, next time im out on the water they are going to be set.

and it makes sense too, as when i had the full boat load i could really smell excessive fuel / exhaust... so i can imagine the high speed needs some adjusting, HAHAHA!

Re: is my motor too small?

When I adjusted the high speed needle in, the motor went from 22mph to 26-27 mph with just me in the boat (220 lbs). You'd be surprised by the how much change there will be.

With the weight issue, having extra people in the boat will make a difference, and the way these older and smaller runabouts distributed the weight, if you have two people in back, fuel and a battery, plus the motor (nearly 600lbs towards the rear), it tends to plow. Once I get my "repairs" done on my runabout, I'm going to put smart tabs on to hopefully get better performance.

Also, with that many people, you may need to think about getting another propeller with lower pitch. I believe the standard was 11 1/2" or 12" pitch, but I have seen them sold as low as 10" pitch. Though you will lose top end, I'm sure it will get you out of the hole better and go faster then what you have been going. I actually have an original Johnson 4 blade prop with a 10" or 10 1/2" pitch that was made for outboards in the 15-40 hp range (I believe). I haven't used it yet, but I know I probably will in the future, especially if I plan to pull some kids on a tube.

Re: is my motor too small?

i have another prop, it came off this 33 ski-twin that im using now but the hub is spun.... i know its a higher pitch but its pretty corrorided and i can't read the numbers anymore. lots of meat left on the prop though, maybe i can get it rehub'd?? i will get the numbers off the one i'm using now and post back later.


what are smart tabs?
i will try and search for it.

Re: is my motor too small?

look up the nauticus website. They have videos to explain their usage.

http://www.nauticusinc.com/