1953 Goodyear Seabee 12hp issues.

[Inept_Mechanic]

My friend and I recently got the outboard mentioned above, and we've been having some issues with it - half the time it'll lock up on the second or third rotation when pulling it over (yes, our arms are destroyed) and the other half of the time it'll fire a few times and then sputter out immediately. Very rarely, it'll run for a few seconds and then die like it's out of fuel. We drained the fuel it came with and mixed our own just to be sure it wasn't that, and it does the same thing. Adjusting the timing seems to do nothing, which has me wondering if somehow the timing is jumping all over the place, but I couldn't find enough info about it to determine if that was a possible problem and I'm not gonna tear the thing apart without knowing what I'm doing. The engine is in good shape otherwise; when it's not removing cartilage from our shoulders at breakneck speed it pulls over strong and even, and the water pump is the strongest I've seen on any of the outboards we've owned. Wish the transom lock engaged in neutral, but it seems it's specifically designed to not do that.

 

[racerone]

What do you mean by ----" the strongest water pump I've seen " on this motor.-----Pull the flywheel and see if coils are rubbing against magnets.-----Check and see if magplate bushing is loose / worn.----How did you adjust the timing on this motor ?

 

[Inept_Mechanic]

What do you mean by ----" the strongest water pump I've seen " on this motor.-----Pull the flywheel and see if coils are rubbing against magnets.-----Check and see if magplate bushing is loose / worn.----How did you adjust the timing on this motor ?

What I mean is that this thing pushes more water than the other outboards I've owned, combined. It's healthy.

I'll start pulling the top end apart, when I get the chance. We adjusted timing with the timing lever - set it to start, fast, slow, nothing seemed to make much of a difference.

 

[racerone]

Does spark jump a gap of at least 1/4" on a test device?-----Checked for cracked ignition coils ?----Post a few pictures of this motor.