1971 85hp EVINRUDE - electric shift?

[cturboaddict]

I just purchased a boat that im restoring. I was hoping that i could get my hands on a larger used motor, but im unsure if i will or not.

Anyhow, I currently have an 85 horse evinrude on it
Model number is
85 0193A
(has a stamping on the cowl that says starflight)
I was unsure what year it was so i did some searching and i THINK its a 1971 which would make sense seeing my boat is a 1972??
On to my question, my throttle lever box says "selectric" on it. Now does this mean that i have an electric shift model? The control box also has a white wire hanging from it loosly not connected to anything.
Now from my research i seen, that if it was an electric shift the model number would end in a "ES" not an "A"...
Can anyone help me out?

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: 1971 85hp EVINRUDE - electric shift?

ES and ESL are Johnson designations, your motor is an Evinrude, although the number should be 85193A, not 85 0193A.

In the Evinrudes of this year range, the third digit is the designator for the year ... ie: 85192A being a 1971 Evinrude 85hp motor.

Your motor is hydroelectric shift. The white wire has something to do with the start circuit. I don't know if the '71 ERudes had a neutral safety circuit or not, but yours might have been bypassed.

If, by chance, you are mistaken and the wire is gray, that is the lead that provides a signal from the rectifier to a tachometer.



???

 

[cturboaddict]

Re: 1971 85hp EVINRUDE - electric shift?

Well, im not sure that the wire is gray (ill take the plate off to look underneath to see what it looks like) but its coming out the back on the side where the cable and wires are heading towards the motor. Actually, its spliced into a gray wire via connector inside the plate......

Anything i should know about these motors? What lowers will fit on it, as my skeg looks like a metal beaver got to it...

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: 1971 85hp EVINRUDE - electric shift?

The engines were strong, reliable engines in their day. Your engine will be as good as the maintenance provided by the prior owners. Your (85/100) powerhead is a small bore block, 92 cubic inches, smaller than the 125 of that same year and of the more modern 99.6 cubic inch models. They suffer from discontinued parts (lower unit) and from expensive replacement parts (amplifier) for those that are still made. Few folks still work on these older models, esp the electric shift components. I ran a similar small bore 72 100 hp model for years, and really liked it, even the electric shift. Never gave me a lick of trouble. (maybe I was lucky.) You can check out the factory parts list for the engine on the web, at Bombardier's outboard website: epc.brp.com. If you need an original factory service or owner's manual you can contact Ken Cook Co., in Milwaukee or on the web. These engines make a lot of torque and use any of today's BRP props.

 

[cturboaddict]

Re: 1971 85hp EVINRUDE - electric shift?

Thanks, thats some nice info... Actually i havent really heard anything bad about them. I just thought it was a little underpowered for my boat. Im worried about the electric shift, but you never know.

As for the lower, apparently someone hit something with it and broke a peice of the skeg off and bent it just a small bit.. I thought maybe i could beat it back into place and possibly just grind it down to make it look better.

I havent really had it "running", but i had it started when i bought the boat. Fired up just fine after sitting for a year. Under the cowl looks great, and the only other thing wrong with it that i know of right now is that the trim acts up a bit..
Really it only operates slowly, and really likes if you help it up, and when totally up, it will slowly come down as your trailering. (cant get it to the "latch position" as the cowl jambs into my splashwell before that angle. Havent had it out in the water, but hopefully soon.
Got the deck out of the boat, stringers pulled, splashwell cut out, transom (open, not ripped out yet), new stringers glassed and going in tomorrow along with new side ribs, and new decking here, just not glassed and dropped in yet, and new knee braces fabbed up ready for glass, along with some minor hull repairs. Then after all that good stuff is glassed in and ready to go, TIME TO FABRICATE an interior and set up the motor....

 

[cturboaddict]

Re: 1971 85hp EVINRUDE - electric shift?

The engines were strong, reliable engines in their day. Your engine will be as good as the maintenance provided by the prior owners. Your (85/100) powerhead is a small bore block, 92 cubic inches, smaller than the 125 of that same year and of the more modern 99.6 cubic inch models. They suffer from discontinued parts (lower unit) and from expensive replacement parts (amplifier) for those that are still made. Few folks still work on these older models, esp the electric shift components. I ran a similar small bore 72 100 hp model for years, and really liked it, even the electric shift. Never gave me a lick of trouble. (maybe I was lucky.) You can check out the factory parts list for the engine on the web, at Bombardier's outboard website: epc.brp.com. If you need an original factory service or owner's manual you can contact Ken Cook Co., in Milwaukee or on the web. These engines make a lot of torque and use any of today's BRP props.

BTW- so are there any interchangeable lowers?

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: 1971 85hp EVINRUDE - electric shift?

Any marine dealership can probably fix the skeg on the lower unit. Dealerships buy factory skegs and reweld them in place of the old ones if they are damaged badly. Look like brand new afterward.

 

[cturboaddict]

Re: 1971 85hp EVINRUDE - electric shift?

Really dont want to deal with a dealer to fix it. Id rather fix it myself if possible. Im dont have a welder to do something with it, so thats out of the question. So i figured at least smoothing it out would work? But who knows??
Im not looking for mach speeds in the thing, as it just wont do it anyhow. But im hoping to at least cruise decently...