1956 BigTwin 30 hp Rebuild Inprogress

Well I got all the title stuff worked out, so I bought the manuals from Ken Cook and I've started slowly to go through the motor. I've read a ton on the forum including "Awakening a Sleeping Outboard" and the engines "Top Secret File" among other online stuff.

I'm not very happy with the Ken Cook manuals, which is supposed to be a copy of the originals, the service manual seems very general. Not what I was expecting. These motors seem very complicated to me as a newbie and I'm not sure the service manual will give me the help I need.

I drained the lower end oil and it had water in it. I removed the cover and evrything appeared good, no metal bits or pieces, no corrosion. To me it seemed like it all looked very good. I removed the entire lower end tonight and looked at the water pump. The impeller looked very good. I'll probably still replace it, but it looked good. I removed the flywheel and was suprised to see that the coils, points, etc looked brand new. I'm not sure if someone recently replaced them, but I'm encouraged with what I'm seeing, but I've got a lot to learn. I removed the carb and it's just sitting there, plan to rebuild. All the wiring and fuel lines will need to be replaced.

The one thing that's on my mind right now is the water in the lower gear case. It seems that the parts manual shows about three different seals, not counting the ones on the drain plug, vent plug, and pivot head screw. I'm a little confused looking at the parts manual trying to figure out what seals to replace. Is there a kit available where you get all the seals you need and would that be the way to go?

The plans is as follows:

1. Pull the lower unit and replace the water pump impeller.
2. Change the lower unit lube and fix leak in l/u.
3. Rebuild the carb.
4. Convert to a fuel pump, but after reading everything here I'm still a little confused on how to get it done.
5. Replace fuel lines.
6. Pull the flywheel and clean and set the points and maybe replace points and condensors.
7. Replace ignition, battery, and other wires.
8. Give any grease fittings a fresh shot of grease.
9. Fire it up

So any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I have a feeling I may wear you guys out trying to get this motor running. I think I've got a pretty good one, but I'm a little intimidated.

Re: 1956 BigTwin 30 hp Rebuild Inprogress

HELL-O Imsmith---you might want to get A BETTER MANUAL LIKE YOU SAID ,TRY [ OLD OUTBOARD MOTOR service manual- VOL 2 #1st edition- BY Intertec-As for parts try-- iboat or lang --I know parts are sometimes hard to comeby ,I AM ALSO GETTING READY TO DO A OVERHAUL [ ROYAL SCOTT 43.7 ] Thank the LORD for the SCOTT GUY.COM he has all the parts

Re: 1956 BigTwin 30 hp Rebuild Inprogress

Concerning the leak in the LU, you may want to bring it to a outboard shop and have them pressure test it to ID the leak...it may just be as simple as a vent/plug gasket. If not, I would replace all the gaskets with a kit I believe is available here at iBoats. The seals you would need are: Driveshaft seal, props haft seal, o-ring on the prop seal retainer, shiftshaft seal, spaghetti seal (between the two halves), vent/plug screw gaskets, and pivot pin gasket. The kit may be generic and may contain extra seals...just to confuse beginners. Also, the removal of the shiftshaft may require an improvised special tool...do not skip the replacement of this o-ring if you overhaul the LU!

Replace the impeller!

Do you have a "pressure tank?" If you do, you may want to consider getting it serviceable...they're pretty cool!

As far as replacing all the wires, I would just clean/shine up the contact ends, unless there is obvious damage.

You've got a nice looking motor, but before you spend a lot of money, do a pressure test on the cylinders to see the numbers.

Have fun,

Mas

Re: 1956 BigTwin 30 hp Rebuild Inprogress

ALso, use a sealant called 3M #847 on the spaghetti seal!

Mas

Re: 1956 BigTwin 30 hp Rebuild Inprogress

Good advice from Mas - also, note that you have a 6 volt starter/choke system on that motor. Did it come with a wiring harness and solenoid box? If so, and it's original, you will fry the starter solenoid and choke solenoid with a 12 volt battery. Many people convert them to 12 volt systems by switching out the two solenoids. The 6 volt starter will handle 12 volts in short bursts. Just don't crank it too long. Or just get a 6 volt battery. I'd keep the original pressure tank setup. That's how they were designed, and I've not had any problems with pressure tanks in over 50 years of using them.

Re: 1956 BigTwin 30 hp Rebuild Inprogress

Oops wrong thread!

Mas

Re: 1956 BigTwin 30 hp Rebuild Inprogress

Had some really good success today. Compression checked showed: 105 top, 103 bottom. A good friend of my dad was in town today and he came over and looked at the motor. With his help we were able to determine that the motor had a spark. We lubed up the cylinders real good and used a little carberator cleaner and we were able to get it to run for about a second or two by pull starting. Pretty exciting for me. I'm fixing to order a gear case seal kit, carberator kit, and I'm going to figure out what wiring I can make to replace the old.

lindy46 said:

Good advice from Mas - also, note that you have a 6 volt starter/choke system on that motor. Did it come with a wiring harness and solenoid box? If so, and it's original, you will fry the starter solenoid and choke solenoid with a 12 volt battery. Many people convert them to 12 volt systems by switching out the two solenoids. The 6 volt starter will handle 12 volts in short bursts. Just don't crank it too long. Or just get a 6 volt battery. I'd keep the original pressure tank setup. That's how they were designed, and I've not had any problems with pressure tanks in over 50 years of using them.

Click to expand...

I'm shopping for a choke solenoid now. I'd talked here on the forum about my starter solenoid. I understood that the starter could run on 12v, but I didn't make the connection that the starter solenoid needed to be changed, so thanks for the heads up.

Mas said:

Oops wrong thread! Mas

Click to expand...

Is it still a good idea to use the 3N #847?

Re: 1956 BigTwin 30 hp Rebuild Inprogress

Glad to hear you got the motor to kick! It's a lot of fun...isn't it. Before long, you'll have a dozen stray motors in your shop.

Stay away from carb cleaner/ starting fluid...no lube...which two strokes require!

Yes...3M #847 for the spaghetti seal..it might be kinda hard to find , but that's what you should use. I got mine at Grainger. I've seen it on eBay too!

Mas