1961 gale 5hp worth doing anything with?

[Chevyls6]

Hello gents,

I recently was given a 1961 gale 5hp twin. Is this unit worth spending any money fixing?

 

[brim_buster]

If you got it for free and its in decent shape and you put 100 bucks in it than you have a 100 dollar good running motor. Check compression, check for spark and go from there. You can still get parts for them

 

[Chevyls6]

It seems like a nice motor for as old as it is. Cowling is in good shape and seems to have low hours.

Definitely needs 2 coils but may possibly run for testing purposes with the ones on there.

both cylinders came in at 70psi. Is that normal for these?

As far as i can tell the powerhead shares a lot of parts with a 1961 johnson/evinrude 5.5

 

[F_R]

Gales were great running value motors by OMC (Johnson/Evinrude). Fix it and run it another 60 years.

 

[Chevyls6]

For being a budget motor its pretty wild how they built it. The budget motors of today cant compare lol. All the brass pieces alone would break the bank.

 

[Scott Danforth]

its going to need two coils, a lower crank seal and check the bearings for pitting.

 

[Chevyls6]

Were the lower crank seals a big problem on these? I did notice that there isn't a shift rod connector so im guessing that youve gotta take the powerhead off to get the shifter unhooked.

 

[racerone]

Yes ----You have to remove the powerhead to replace the impeller.-----Now I say that is brilliant design.------There is no connecter / adjustment on the shift linkages so it is correct all the time.

 

[Chevyls6]

sure does make maintenance hard tho

 

[Chevyls6]

update: I threw a set of junky coils on from my 1965 evinrude parts motor.

I got it to start and run in a barrel for about 10 minutes. It was pumping water and idling despite the sketchy coils.

Seems to run smoother than my 9.5 lol