'57 Lightwin Progress

[1stgenbird]

Last month I picked up a Lightwin for $10.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=484462

I have been tinkering with it when I have a chance and getting it back into working mode hopefully.

When I pulled off the flywheel the ignition system was quite deteriorated so I removed everything, cleaned up the plate, and installed new coils, points, and plug wires.

I replaced the impeller which really needed it. The drive shaft was so coated with gunk I had to clean it off with carb cleaner before I could get the impeller off.

The most time consuming job was removing the seized transom screws. I soaked them for days with PB Blaster with no luck and I ended up snapping them off when trying to free them. So I picked up a pair of screws on ebay and drilled the old ones out, tapped the threads, and installed the new screws.

Got the head back on with a new gasket. I had to pickup a inch-lbs torque wrench for that job.

The tank had some old gas in it so I drained that, swished some new gas around the tank and drained that, so now it's pretty clean inside.

Next step is to rebuild the carb which I hope to do this weekend barring any honey-do list things that come up.

Attached are some before and after shots of the ignition.

 

[wbeaton]

Re: '57 Lightwin Progress

Looks good. Try to tuck the black wires on the coils in a little closer to the coil so it doesn't rub on the flywheel.

 

[1stgenbird]

Re: '57 Lightwin Progress

Thanks. I did push them down a bit after I shot the photos just for that reason.

 

[JB]

Re: '57 Lightwin Progress

Nice work, 1stgen. That was one of the greatest outboards ever made. Looks like you will have her back to like new.

 

[raczekp1]

Re: '57 Lightwin Progress

first before any investment i would do compresion test.it shows how motros heart looks like

 

[1stgenbird]

Re: '57 Lightwin Progress

I am into the investment already but looking at how clean the cylinder and walls are, I have no question that compression will be fine. I don't think this motor has seen a lot of use.

 

[1stgenbird]

Re: '57 Lightwin Progress

I almost wanted to try this out before rebuilding the carb as the exterior looked so clean but decided against it. Good thing I did pull the carb apart. it was caked full of crap.

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: '57 Lightwin Progress

Yuk! Unfortunately the same thing may be in the fuel tank.

 

[1stgenbird]

Re: '57 Lightwin Progress

Fuel tank is spotless as I mentioned earlier in the thread. No worries there.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: '57 Lightwin Progress

Good thing you checked. Clean the @#$#@ out of it and get a new carb kit and float and she'll be good as new. You should be able to get them right here at iboats. Keep us posted.

 

[1stgenbird]

Re: '57 Lightwin Progress

I already have everything I need. Carb kit from iboats but float from another source since iboats only had cork floats which I did not want.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: '57 Lightwin Progress

This may help once you've got all your parts for your carb.

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/06/columns/max/index10.htm

 

[1stgenbird]

Re: '57 Lightwin Progress

Thanks for the link. I had read that article awhile ago but it was a good refresher to read again now that I'm rebuilding another carb.

 

[1stgenbird]

Re: '57 Lightwin Progress

Since a particular carb rebuild kit's application may span a number of years where carbs may vary, I assume it is normal to have parts left over that are not used. I just rebuilt the carb seem to have o-rings, extra Welch plug, metal lock type washers, and a couple of packing washers left. I know I used all the parts I required (I hope).

I should know this since I rebuilt the carb of my 57 fastwin last year and seem to remember stuff left over also.

 

[mstahl1171]

Re: '57 Lightwin Progress

If you followed your shop repair manual diagram...you should be fine. I had the samething with my Johnson 150...came with 3 different gaskets and screws.

 

[1stgenbird]

Re: '57 Lightwin Progress

I scrubbed out the carb, liberally soaked it with carb cleaner and Deep Creep, blew it out with compressed air, Deep Creeped it again and re-assembled it with new parts, including a plastic float and put it back on the motor. I the repair I planned to do has been done at this point. I just need to button it up and fire it up this weekend.

 

[1stgenbird]

Re: '57 Lightwin Progress

It runs!

Just before I started it I did a compression test and both cylinders read 65psi. Really good.

Put in some gas and 4 pulls later it fired up. I ran it for a minute in a barrel but having no neutral, the prop splashed water out of the barrel faster then the hose would fill it. So I pulled my 18hp off my boat, put this on and it's off to the lake tomorrow for a shakedown cruise.