Re: reed valves
Re: reed valves
$200 is a smokin' hot deal for an intact, not-frozen 1500. The lower unit alone is worth more than that if you were to sell it on ebay. Not to mention the distributor, if it's an older model.
Like the O.P. said, reed valves are an unlikely diagnosis. There could be a myriad of other things, ignition to fuel, tuning/timing, etc, making the motor run rough.
When you get the motor, pull all the spark plugs and spray a light lubricant such as WD-40 in each spark plug hole. Turn the flywheel over by hand and see if you hear any nasty clanks or bangs.
Connect up the wiring harness, add a battery and do a compression check.
The safest way to do so is with the key off; run a jumper from the Pos batt terminal to the terminal on the starter solenoid with a yellow wire attached. This allows you to power-up the solenoid and will make the starter run without the ignition being energized.
If you use the ign key to crank over the motor, be sure to stick a spark plug back in every plug wire and solidly ground each plug against the block. You don't want any spark plug wire to fire without having a path to ground, it's bad for the ign.
Doing it this way is also a good way to check for spark while you're at it.
After you do a compression check you'll have a better idea of whether it's worth time and $$$ to do any more with the motor.
Next step after that would be to introduce fuel, water, and attempt to fire 'er off. That's of course assuming the carbs aren't a mass of 'goo' inside!
Here's a good 'sticky' from this site's "Engine FAQ" with info on 'waking up' a motor that's been 'sleeping' for some time:
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=158086
There's a heck of a lot of good info in the FAQ directory, so you might want to spend a few minutes (or hours or days!) cruising thru all the collective knowledge and wisdom there.
HTH & let us know what you find.............ed
