1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

[Benny1963]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

your right about the elec shift parts are hard to find i have had several.
but i built a 79 70 hp mech shift the parts other than the elec shift stuff
can be got , i replaced every thing on this motor that i built from main bearings to stator and had about 500 in parts
even stuck some boysens in it

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

There are also "work-arounds" for the lack of shift switches for the hydro-electric gearboxes.

I think that it is true that owners of older outboards have to be a little more resourceful when it comes to rebuilding them or replacing worn out parts. That said, once the motors have been refurbished, they tend to run well for a long time, because they are so simple. They are also a great deal less expensive to own than the newer ones, because the purchase/rebuild cost is a fraction of the cost of a new motor, and because their owners tend to work on them, thus avoiding $70+ hour shop rates.

 

[freddyray21]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

there are all motors out there that one should avoid for lack of parts such as the electric shift OMC's . Nothing wrong with them until something goes wrong and then parts are hard to find and expensive. However, lets talk apples to apples. I run several older motors (omc) and don't have problems finding new or used parts. There are the old ball motors, but I just avoid those. Don't know why you could not find a part for a 58 fat fifty. You can't swing a dead cat around here and not hit those parts.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: 1975 Evinrude 70HP - Worth It?

Jay, You misunderstand. I have nothing against old motors, especially ones I have owned for a while. I will keep them forever. The message I an trying to get out (I guess unsuccessfully), is that there are constaints on buying an old motor. One of these constraints is that a lot of the non-maintenance parts are no longer available. if you crack a recoil starter housing for example, or recoil spring, you will likely not be able to buy one new. You might get lucky and find a used one. The same goes for transom clamps and otehr exterior cast pieces. A personal example is that I had the throttle bellcrank on my '58 fat-fifty break. It was cast white metal, and it was it's time to break. I simply could not use the motor until I got a replacement I also could not come up with a replacement that I could fabricate.

Another constraint is that some shops will not work on old motors. If you do all the work yourself, that is not an issue. However, if you are just buying an old motor it may have stuff wrong with it, that you may not know, and may not have the experience to find and fix.

Buyers of old motors need to recognize these constraints, and buy accordingly.

I'm not saying there is any issues with the availability of parts for these older motors when looking for them at your local marina, allot of marinas may not be able to get you a certain part. Now a days you can find just about anything on the internet.

Some of these mom and pop boat repair shops at least around here where I live will only work on older motors and don't want nothing to do with the computerised/electronic mess.

The oldest running motor I own is a 57 model 35hp Evinrude. The previous owner was my 70 year old uncle. He had the motor in the shop a good while back just for normal maintenance, anyhow the mechanic said that this old motor would run for a long time which so far holds trueth. The motor might look like heck but sense I cleaned the carb and did some other maintenance to it it runs like a top and shows good compression. From what I seen so far just about every part I can imagine is still available for my motor, might be new old stock parts but the parts are still out there. Matter of fact I have new old stock parts that I bought dirt cheap from a former boat mechanic and allot of the parts I can use myself.

As far as the original question goes, which I know the auction ended and you didn't win it...... it's worth every penny of the winning bid in my opinion. I paid $450 for an 85hp that is 3 years newer then the motor in subject and it needed work but nothing beyond the normal maintenance. We talked the owner down from $600, rotted boat, motor, and trailer which the trailer still can be used but has an issue. I mainly bought the whole thing for the motor.