Re: '54 evinrude 25hp troubles
Chinewalker, It was the ol' "hit the log" routine alright. I am going to take it apart in a few minutes and I'll post a pic of what I find. Uggh. I'm stalling on doing it because I'm afraid of what I'll find.
Dombarb,
All of the MECHANICALl shifts from the 50's to now that I know of have clutches to work the gears. Some different designs, but similar in basic mechanism. I'll post a pic of one later tonight so you'll see what I'm talking about and the one I'll show is boogered up so you'll get to see what that looks like. Yes, the 15 has it. By the way, the 50's and 60's and early 70's OMC's had split lower units that are really easy to work on if you want to try your hand at it. Some folks may not like 'em but I do. The blue paint I had mixed up (picked it out from samples in the auto paint shop). It was practically identical to Duplicolor light blue metallic if you're interested. I'll look and see what it's called if you want. I just don't like the shade of it. Was hoping for something a little lighter but I may leave it alone and just paint the stripes on it and finish it. Of course, I've stained it all up running it in a barrel so I may have to repaint anyway. I like original colors but am not that particular if I like how it looks. Oddly enough, the closer to original the more I usually like it. I'm not that high on the original green that the '55 10hp johnsons are, though. I like a little different shade of green. But I'm pretty particular because green is my favorite color.
By the way, I like lurking on threads and learning, too. I could hardly change a spark plug before the guys on here gave me numerous lessons.
I've learned enough that I can help a few folks on the really easy stuff.
Later,
JBJ
