Reeds?

WinnerCougar74

WinnerCougar74

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Is the only way to check reeds is by pulling them out and looking at them or are there tell tale things that indicate they are bad or broken? I have a 1974 135hp Chrysler.
 
jerryjerry05

jerryjerry05

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Bad reeds: you can have blowby coming from the front of the carb or carbs.
Snake camera. I bought a small flexible "snake" cam for my Android phone,,11$ on Ebay.
The "snake" part is skinny enough to get by the flaps in the carbs so you can see the reeds.
 
R

racerone

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What is your motor doing / not doing that leads you to ask this question?
 
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racerone

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Take it apart.----Inspect reed petals.----I believe new reeds are available.
 
WinnerCougar74

WinnerCougar74

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Found reed pedals on ebay. Didn't realize I needed 4 of the 4 pedals and 4 of the single pedals. Already had 2 of each so got 2 more. One thing I learned on these motors is make sure you have the parts before you tear something apart. Any little thing can boat anchor these outboards. I ran around fishing with the cowling off, always a good look, and saw fuel inside the cowling soo I might be getting some blow back on the reeds or maybe a problem with the float needle. I'll post my results.
 
WinnerCougar74

WinnerCougar74

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Biggest part of working on these old motors is is cleaning off the old gasket material. One set of reed blocks took me about 3 hours to do primarily because of the 50 year old gasket material. Does anyone have any good tips for removing old gasket material?
 
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racerone

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Razor blade type scraper.-----Exacto knife.----Carbide scraper.-----Homemade gasket scraper ( power hack saw blade ) is what I use.----Can't imagine it would take more than 10 minutes for me.
 
WinnerCougar74

WinnerCougar74

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Maybe I am trying to do too good of a job on it. I like doing things once. Too bad there isn't something that dissolves gaskets
 
WinnerCougar74

WinnerCougar74

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Sorry, should have youtub'ed this. I'm gonna get a scrothbrite die grinder disc.
 
N

Nordin

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I use razor blades, pocket knifes or putty knifes when removing old gaskets at smaller parts.
At lager parts/surfaces such as bottom of power head to midleg I use a tool made for removing gasket when restoring car engines.
Most important is that the surface is smooth and clean.
Some sign of the old gasket does not matter.
 
WinnerCougar74

WinnerCougar74

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Here are what the reeds look like before I replaced them. Now that they are replaced it is very hard to start when cold. It used to start up after about 2 seconds of cranking with choke actuated, button out and throttle push forward. Now it takes much longer. Idle screws are at 1 turn out. Boat runs perfectly off idle.
1. Does it look like the reeds needed to be replaced since you could see light through a few of them?
2. Is 800 rpm a good idle speed?
 

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N

Nordin

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Some light thru the reeds are acceptable but not to large gap.
0,10mm (0,004in) in my opinion is acceptable.
Remember that these Chrysler can be bloody hard to start cold, I think Frank A said this years ago.
But if you have to crank 2 or 10-15 sec until it start, does that matter?
Were the old reeds worse than these ones?
Idle 800 RPM in gear is good maybe go down to 650-750 RPM will be better.
800 RPM in gear is about 1000 RPM out of gear.
Just to be "hard" when shifting into gear, do not hesitate.
It will grind the gears.
 
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racerone

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Install a used ---Johnson / Evinrude electric primer valve.----Then hard starting will go into the history book.
 
WinnerCougar74

WinnerCougar74

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Before I replaced the reeds, "It used to start up after about 2 seconds of cranking with choke actuated, button out and throttle push forward."
 
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