Hi, I am new here and in researching older OMC stuff, I've seen there's a lot of expert knowledge on these forums so I thought I'd pass something by you all. I'm looking at a V4 Evinrude Starflite from this era. I am not sure of the exact model number because it appears someone has painted over the area where this information would be. The main problem I am having in determining if this engine is worth my money is that it is connected to a control box that is a total rats nest of wires and is missing the key, so therefore a compression and spark test isn't going to be easy. The first time I looked at it, we tried jumping the starter solenoid with no success, so I'm not sure if the owner was trying to jump the wrong terminals or if something more serious is wrong with the electric system or if I should begin to suspect the starter. What would be the correct terminals to jump assuming I disconnected this engine from the control box and just wanted to do a compression and spark check? Another option is that I could grab another red plug OMC control box off of the project boat that the engine would go on and hook up only the main engine harness. My control box differs from the one that goes with this engine in that the bad engine that is on my project had power tilt and trim where this engine does not. I live a couple of towns over from where this engine is located so if I go over and look at it again I really need to make a decision as to whether or not I should make this guy an offer or not. His story seems to check out and the price is reasonable but as of now it's a pig in a poke and I'd rather not have yet another project engine on my hands. I apologize if my information isn't good enough. I'm by no means an outboard expert but I'm reasonably mechanically inclined and willing to learn. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks again
