7.5 hp Sea King, Air-cooled? Purchase Info?

Hello oracles of the outboard world,

I was at the auction again today and I couldn't keep my hands off of my wallet...again. I saw this motor and thought to myself, "Boy, that might make a nice poor man's kicker on my 16 foot deep-v. And it looks interesting to boot!" Well, after scouring the internet and finding some like it, but never finding "it", I decided to consult the experts. For starters, the pictures are really all I have to go buy at this point in time. Auction rules dictate I can't pick it up yet, so I won't have the #'s for a couple of weeks . I really want to get this on my boat so if anyone can help me get some info, it'll be tuned and ready right after it arrives!

7.5 hp, Ward's Sea King. I noticed a lot of fins on the motor, does it happen to be air-cooled? Does anyone know the year of the motor or where I could possibly find a manual? I scrolled the ebscohost site to no avail. It would probably help a little more if I knew what I was looking for. In terms of parts I'm hoping I can find a carb kit for it, also.

As always thanks for the help!

Re: 7.5 hp Sea King, Air-cooled? Purchase Info?

That motor was built for Wards by Clinton. There are lots of threads concerning Clintons on this forum. Yes it is air cooled----sort of. The exhaust and mid section are water cooled. And if the water pump doesn't work the hot exhaust overheats the powerhead.

I hate to say this, but your deep V boat most likely requires a long shaft motor, and that Clinton isn't going to work on it. Measure your transom. 20+/- inches is long shaft. 15 +/- inches is short shaft. Your Clinton is for a short shaft boat.

Re: 7.5 hp Sea King, Air-cooled? Purchase Info?

Gonna need a water pump impeller.
They run great.Just try to keep them in an upright position.
I had one and it didn't like to be laid down.J

Re: 7.5 hp Sea King, Air-cooled? Purchase Info?

I figure I'll send the info to Laing's and see what exactly they can send me. I won't have the model # or year until it gets here I suppose, but just out of curiosity, does anyone happen to know if this has the prop shaft mounted or drive shaft mounted impeller? I've found some that appear to be the correct impellers, but I figure to be sure I should let Laing's find the parts. I could probably get them cheaper elsewhere but I figure getting the wrong parts and buying parts twice is even more expensive. Thanks for the info folks! Think a carb. kit would be a good idea? (I assume Tillotson carb.?)

Re: 7.5 hp Sea King, Air-cooled? Purchase Info?

Most times if the carb can be taken apart it won't need a carb kit.
Unless it so corroded it can't be saved.
Never saw a motor with an impeller on the prop shaft????
Who makes that motor?

Valley sales in Prudenville,Mi. He specializes in the old/obsolete.
Valley Sales(989) 366-8178

That's where I bought my impeller for that motor.

Re: 7.5 hp Sea King, Air-cooled? Purchase Info?

Most times if the carb can be taken apart it won't need a carb kit

Click to expand...

I have never seen a air cooled Tecumseh that didn't need a soak & blow and complete rebuild kit.
Trouble is the set forever and this gas just turns to jelly blocking the jets behind the welch plug and making the viton seat or needle sticky and generally fouling and plugging every thing, of course it could be that I just get crappy carbs.

Re: 7.5 hp Sea King, Air-cooled? Purchase Info?

Well, from what I can tell, Clinton made this motor. I'm not sure who made the carb. I found that a lot of the Sea Kings have Tillotson carbs, but I've been having trouble finding out which motor I have exactly because I don't yet have it in my hands. Sorry. Thanks for the info on the parts place! That's great and it's a short/moderate drive from home!

I suppose with that being the case, I'll just hope for a "moderately" dirty carb . I'm the kind of guy who over fixes/engineers everything, so I would love to have a carb kit. However, you're probably right. If it's not totally gummed up, it may not even need new gaskets n stuff. Right now I'm scouring town for a gallon or so bucket of carb cleaner! All I've come up with cans so the search continues...

P.S. - Apparently, from what I've read, there was a set of Sea Kings which had an impeller mounted to the prop shaft inside of the gear case. I didn't believe it until I saw a parts diagram and sure enough...there it was. Upon much more research it turns out that the motors with this feature were probably manufactured in the early to mid-50's. I know Sea King had some pretty terrible motors for a short period of time. Maybe this was it...

Re: 7.5 hp Sea King, Air-cooled? Purchase Info?

Right now I'm scouring town for a gallon or so bucket of carb cleaner!

Click to expand...

87 octane 10% ethanol is about as good a carb cleaner as you want...sure beats 20$ a gallon for B12

Re: 7.5 hp Sea King, Air-cooled? Purchase Info?

Thanks mrcrabs, even with high fuel prices that's going to save me a bundle .

Re: 7.5 hp Sea King, Air-cooled? Purchase Info?

Those Sea Kings with the wobbler pump on the prop shaft were made my Gale. I already told you that yours is a Clinton. They have a chintzy impeller on the drive shaft. Your carburetor may be a Tillotson, or it may be a Walbro. Can't tell you without looking.

Out of respect, I won't comment on the terribleness of the Clintons. Except to say they are a lawn mower on an outboard lower unit. Hey, lawn mowers run too, don't they? OK, OK, more accurately, they are a Clinton chainsaw engine. Some Clinton chainsaws ran.

Re: 7.5 hp Sea King, Air-cooled? Purchase Info?

they'er not all that chintzy, from what I have seen nobody ever chages one until some guy buys it at the garge sale, and if they do get eat up its mostly due to the "chintzy" drive shaft seal below the water pump letting grease up there, but mostly they just rot from old age and then corrode the pump housings from setting 20 years in what ever they were last run in.
The last 9.9 twin I got had been run in a old outboard mechanics test tank full of grey metallic greasy crap and then let to set for 15 years, I had to scrap that grey cruddy grease off the lower to even handle it.

for me the defining deference between lawnmower engine and marine engine is how the timing advance is handled and if its internals are built for 5000+ RPM @ WOT now the chainsaw thing I might agree with....LOL... I wish my saw had the guts of my 3 hp tanaka

Re: 7.5 hp Sea King, Air-cooled? Purchase Info?

Well, regardless of chintzy-ness, I got a pleasant surprise when I picked up a pair of '85 5hp Eska's for $40 last night. The guy included a slightly stripped down (missing gearcase and recoil starter) Clinton Beaver (?) 7.5 hp motor free of charge which he told me was a parts motor. This free parts motor looks strikingly similar to the Clinton that I was asking about when I started this thread.

Long story short, I just got a free parts motor for this Sea King. I suppose if it's chintzy, I'll take a random free parts motor as a sign that it still wants to be fixed up . (I'm pretty excited about those twin 5hp Eska's, too, but that's for a different thread in the future!)

Re: 7.5 hp Sea King, Air-cooled? Purchase Info?

you did gud on that deal...sweet now you can wast your money on parts with the rest of us

Re: 7.5 hp Sea King, Air-cooled? Purchase Info?

Also, F_R, just out of curiosity what is it, in your opinion, that makes the Clinton motors mechanically inferior to other motors of similar size? Are you speaking strictly of components of the lowers units on Clinton's? It sounds like you're implying the powerheads themselves are crappy, in which case I'm pretty curious as to why.

Re: 7.5 hp Sea King, Air-cooled? Purchase Info?

LOL mrcrabs! I justify my hobby by saying it's relatively inexpensive, so long as I only look at the costs individually and make sure never to add them up .

So far it's been a pleasure to be in the same boat as you folks, even if it's taking on some water!