1963 Fastwin 18HP hard to pull over with rope start

[dodge trucker]

but it spins right over with the electric start. How high should the effort be in pulling th recoil start?
I had a '82 Johnson 25 HP that pulled over easier than this one ever did.

We have had this 18 HP for ~30 years, has only been on the water a handful of times over those years, has mostly sat.
problem #1 being that the boat that we got this motor with was stolen from my brother's yard about 15 years ago (luckily I had the motor here or it would have been gone too) the controls and wiring harness though, went with the boat// so I have no harness with which to utilize the elec start; it has always pulled over hard even when I was "stronger" as a teen when my Dad got this boat/ but when we could start it by pushing a button we didn't worry about it.... but now I have to start it manually or "hot wire" the starter by putting the jumper cables straight to the starter motor which isn't practical on the water....
so what can I look for to determine why it pulls over so hard manually?

 

[F_R]

I'll take a chance and say it is normal.

BTW, your '82 was a de-tuned 35hp. My guess without looking it up is that it was de-tuned by lowering the compression....which would make it easier to pull.

 

[nwcove]

if the motor has excellent compression it will pull over a bit on the hard side but it should have the feel of compression, not friction. take the plugs out and try pulling it slowly to " feel" for anything more than the impeller friction, maybe even remove the rope start and slowly turn the flywheel in the correct direction . ( remember to ground the plug wires to prevent an errant spark from doing something you wont expect!)

 

[twocyclemania]

I had a similar problem when I was working on my 59 18 hp evinrude. It has been a great motor that I've had for years but I hadn't used if for a while and it was a bit hard to start (in the barrel) so I was pulling on it for a while. I noticed that it was getting harder to pull and I thought that maybe the pistons were getting dry. I shot a little outboard oil into the the plug holes (with the motor in a horizontal position so to get oil all around the rings), spun it over and it seemed to turn more smoothly. I would imagine that if a motor doesn't start after a reasonable time it may not get the lube it needs. Just my experience. I'd like to hear what others think of my comment. Hope you get it going!

 

[dodge trucker]

I had a similar problem when I was working on my 59 18 hp evinrude. It has been a great motor that I've had for years but I hadn't used if for a while and it was a bit hard to start (in the barrel) so I was pulling on it for a while. I noticed that it was getting harder to pull and I thought that maybe the pistons were getting dry. I shot a little outboard oil into the the plug holes (with the motor in a horizontal position so to get oil all around the rings), spun it over and it seemed to turn more smoothly. I would imagine that if a motor doesn't start after a reasonable time it may not get the lube it needs. Just my experience. I'd like to hear what others think of my comment. Hope you get it going!

I last had it going in a barrel about 3 years ago it had a bad fuel pump so I replaced it with a used but supposedly good newer style one and it didn't look quite right and as I remember it leaked a bit, motor still ran really good (but it was in a barrel not on a boat) When I get back to it I need to order an impeller and lower seals.
Earlier this summer I found a NOS fuel pump that looks identical to the original, only it didn't come with the gasket. As far as I remember that's all I needed to do to this motor. At that time I cheated and started it with a battery charger right to the hot lug.
I would like to find an electric start harness for it eventually, though as it was rigged to the boat that we got it with, it was hooked up to cable steering and 2 lever control box. Even if I got an electric start harness that is made to use the engine as a tiller motor that would be great.

When we got this motor back in the 80s it had a cracked lower gear case and skeg and was swapping gear oil fo water. I tried a couple different lower skegs and still had the issue. (though I never bought a seal kit) As of a few years ago I did swap out the whole lower unit. and I *think* I finally solved that issue.

being a 63; would this be a 24:1 motor or a 50:1 motor? I used to know but forgot. (I have always run 24:1 in it)

 

[Sea18Horse]

Late to the party. I assume that has the "easamatic" Or whatever Evinrude calls their pull-start system with the oblong pulley? Is it timed correctly? If that pulley is 90 degrees off or so it could be really hard to pull.

Cheers........................Todd

 

[kbait]

Actually the 'easamatic' or whatever they called the oblong pulley system gets 'timed' by rope length so the rope is pulled just a short distance before engaging pawl to flywheel. Once pawl is engaged, it always does it's job (making it easier to pull over the two compression pulses every flywheel revolution)... just need to have the rope the correct length so you don't have to pull the handle more than a couple inches to engage.. hope this makes sense.

And an 18 of that vintage w/excellent compression should be a bit hard to pull.. but if tuned correctly, should start pretty much immediately.

Good luck!