Hey! I am back, with the same boat, same engine and some stories, I just re-read my thread here and all of your replies were awesome again, thanks for that!
Figured I'd give an update here as to how things have gone/been since I asked these questions 3 years ago.
I'll start from the beginning and maybe if someone comes across this thread it will help them, maybe I can still get some help too!
After my final post I started to still have some problems, some were still as described, mainly fuel issues.
I still seemed to always have to blast it out from idle after starting or it would die going lightly into gear.
That was ok for the purpose of just being able to use it but it bugged me and isn't right.
I learned how to deal with it like an old car, changed some things when I had time, reality is it only gets used a handful of times a year based on work and frankly reliability, I'd probably run it more often if I didn't have concern for the reliability.
It's been useable for my needs and the hickups have been manageable enough that I don't worry about it for occasional use, I've just had to do some funky things like WOT take off and manage throttle.
Last year camping on the lake (luckily my parents were there with their jet sled) my wife and kids were on their way up and I had to go to the middle of the lake for cell service to find out when my wife would be at the dock.
I drifted for a bit, 45min, went and pumped the ball, full advance and choke to start it. It started and I jammed WOT to take off and it died instantly and would not restart.
Got a tow back to my camp sight and had the parents pick up all our incoming campers that were depending on me to pick them up. (Same 10mph lake)
After a day of not even wanting to look at the boat I decided to go dig and could find anything wrong... until I pulled the distributor cap and found the rotor in pieces, I didn't know until that point that the whole shaft has to be replaced, it's one assembly!
Yikes, that year my parents had to leave a few days before the camping trip was supposed to end for everyone, some people had only been there a day.
So, that year I told my parents to go and we would be fine, I hiked a 3.5hp trolling motor in with 5 gallons a gas 2 days later and made 3 incredibly slow full loaded trips across the lake to get everyone, their things and my boat back on our planned exit date.
This was last year.
I found a man that was employed as a outboard mechanic for 5 years already when this motor was new. 1973.
He has since retired many years ago, lives in the middle of no where and does repair and sells used parts on the side. After talking with him I figure forbthe small amount he wanted to charge for parts and labor I'd just take the boat the 45mins to him and happily pay him.
He replaced the shaft/rotor and the bearings (cause of failure) cap and some distributor parts, re timed it and loosely set the idle circuit so I could adjust on the water the next day, plus I got a used prob/perfect prop for $700 and the expert eye and the conversation was worth it more then anything.
Was still having some idle issues after getting to temp, it was running much better but still a little off but did everything I needed it to for our lake trip the next day.
(Different lake) lots of chop and wind, was fun at times but couldn't ever go WOT without breaking passengers backs and spilling their drinks!
Used it and parked it for the winter thinking I'd just have to do some minor adjustments this year, last week in fact.
Last couple years I've been fortunate enough to steal my buddies slip on the willamette for a week or two before he puts his boat in the water, It's been great to drive through the city and go hang out all day on the Columbia's sandy beaches.
This year same thing, I get the boat in the water, expecting I might have some problems traveling at wide open throttle for awhile or may have an occasional slow down pump the bulb, manageable but not right but we we still get there just fun and be ok.
Nope, not this year.
I launched the boat the day before, drove up river for a short trip, seemed ok, parked it in the slip and went home.
Next day, loaded up two kids and four adults and off we went.
Thinking all the work that had just been done would have solved all my problems and maybe I'd just have to make some idle adjustments.
(I also days prior shortened my fuel lines, made the primer bulb in a permanent vertical position just to be "as it should be")
I was wrong about how well it would run, soon as I could it WOT from no wake I was on it.
It ran great for about 20min then started to loose RPM and I'd have to back off the throttle to keep it running, the problem got progressively worse.
I'd stop a couple times and pump the ball hard and take of WOT (seemed to help) I could just go into gear and progressively increase the throttle but the results were not as good.
This trip takes an hour each way running at 20mph.
Had to stop a few times and tinker, got my buddy to pump the ball and made it to our spot on the Washington side of the Columbia.
The trip back was worse, I did a hole shot leaving the beach to make sure we made it across the bar (you don't want to be stuck in a shipping lane) and it ran good, this time at 3/4 throttle for about the same amount of time.
Then it was lots of stopping, pumping, trying different take off methods and getting to the point where WOT wouldn't work or if you pumped it, it would work until the bow started to come down and it would start to die agin.
About 5mph was all I could do, running on empty now from pumping the ball so much I was getting worried that we'd run out of fuel at 5mph to get back to the marina.
I had my buddy pump the ball every time he could hear the rpms start to drop (at times the ball was going flat and it have to squeeze it the other way to get fuel in)
But we made it back to the slip and the sun was just going down.
The next day I decided to get after it, I was concerned (even though I thought I'd checked) that there was a check valve in my tank, there wasn't :-(
What I did find was the fuel pick up was about 14" long and my tank is 24" long, the way that I had to orientate the tank the pick up exits from the front.
Do the math, no fuel at the pick up when under 2/3 and bow up.
One problem down, I moved the vent line from the rear of the tank to the front and the pick up to the rear.
Shortened the pickup so that it's about 1/4" from the bottom and point straight down as opposed to its original diagonal, that should keep it from ever sucking air.
Then on top the fuel pumps, something had to be wrong there as well, at least I assumed that if the ball is going flat it's upstream.
The bottom fuel pump had a cracked checked valve, if it was a top hat, it's the one that is upside down.
So rebuild both fuel pumps with all 4 check valves and fired her up, she seemed good but a little off.
I started playing with the idle screws and had not so good results.
In the end I ended up turning them all in and and back them all out 1.5 turns, seems to run perfect after that.
Today was test day, I ran at WOT for about 10 minutes and occasionally I'd hear a little RPM drop, one time I backed the throttle of and I could feel it pick up a little more speed after just a seconds delay.
After that it seemed to run a little better at WOT and would take off from idle anyway I wanted, I did feel like a couple of times at WOT the rpm would drop a little, could be river current but 3/4 throttle was flawless.
I decided to stop the boat and restart, it fired right up, turned it off again and drank a beer.
I did nothing but turn the key, it would kinda start and die, I advanced the throttle and it fired right up.
Turned the advance off and it ran fine, continued testing throttle up, down slow speed, slower speed, reverse for a minute then forwar them reverse and it all worked fine.
So much so I ran for 1/4 mile all the way into the slip at just a notch above forward and parked the boat with out even having to get out!
So far so good, so now I am sitting here on my boat thinking about a couple things.
1. The loss of rpm at WOT.. floats and needles?
2. The fact the motor was warmed up and I had to use advance to start it after 10minutes
3. The way I set the idle circuit... is it right.
4. I have this fear that pulling into the marina that my engine will die, it seemed to work just fine but I don't have a tach and I am wondering if I should bump the idle ever so slightly.
I know that was along story but I think it adds to the history of this thread and what I've done and found and hopefully it can/will help others.
Figured I'd give an update here as to how things have gone/been since I asked these questions 3 years ago.
I'll start from the beginning and maybe if someone comes across this thread it will help them, maybe I can still get some help too!
After my final post I started to still have some problems, some were still as described, mainly fuel issues.
I still seemed to always have to blast it out from idle after starting or it would die going lightly into gear.
That was ok for the purpose of just being able to use it but it bugged me and isn't right.
I learned how to deal with it like an old car, changed some things when I had time, reality is it only gets used a handful of times a year based on work and frankly reliability, I'd probably run it more often if I didn't have concern for the reliability.
It's been useable for my needs and the hickups have been manageable enough that I don't worry about it for occasional use, I've just had to do some funky things like WOT take off and manage throttle.
Last year camping on the lake (luckily my parents were there with their jet sled) my wife and kids were on their way up and I had to go to the middle of the lake for cell service to find out when my wife would be at the dock.
I drifted for a bit, 45min, went and pumped the ball, full advance and choke to start it. It started and I jammed WOT to take off and it died instantly and would not restart.
Got a tow back to my camp sight and had the parents pick up all our incoming campers that were depending on me to pick them up. (Same 10mph lake)
After a day of not even wanting to look at the boat I decided to go dig and could find anything wrong... until I pulled the distributor cap and found the rotor in pieces, I didn't know until that point that the whole shaft has to be replaced, it's one assembly!
Yikes, that year my parents had to leave a few days before the camping trip was supposed to end for everyone, some people had only been there a day.
So, that year I told my parents to go and we would be fine, I hiked a 3.5hp trolling motor in with 5 gallons a gas 2 days later and made 3 incredibly slow full loaded trips across the lake to get everyone, their things and my boat back on our planned exit date.
This was last year.
I found a man that was employed as a outboard mechanic for 5 years already when this motor was new. 1973.
He has since retired many years ago, lives in the middle of no where and does repair and sells used parts on the side. After talking with him I figure forbthe small amount he wanted to charge for parts and labor I'd just take the boat the 45mins to him and happily pay him.
He replaced the shaft/rotor and the bearings (cause of failure) cap and some distributor parts, re timed it and loosely set the idle circuit so I could adjust on the water the next day, plus I got a used prob/perfect prop for $700 and the expert eye and the conversation was worth it more then anything.
Was still having some idle issues after getting to temp, it was running much better but still a little off but did everything I needed it to for our lake trip the next day.
(Different lake) lots of chop and wind, was fun at times but couldn't ever go WOT without breaking passengers backs and spilling their drinks!
Used it and parked it for the winter thinking I'd just have to do some minor adjustments this year, last week in fact.
Last couple years I've been fortunate enough to steal my buddies slip on the willamette for a week or two before he puts his boat in the water, It's been great to drive through the city and go hang out all day on the Columbia's sandy beaches.
This year same thing, I get the boat in the water, expecting I might have some problems traveling at wide open throttle for awhile or may have an occasional slow down pump the bulb, manageable but not right but we we still get there just fun and be ok.
Nope, not this year.
I launched the boat the day before, drove up river for a short trip, seemed ok, parked it in the slip and went home.
Next day, loaded up two kids and four adults and off we went.
Thinking all the work that had just been done would have solved all my problems and maybe I'd just have to make some idle adjustments.
(I also days prior shortened my fuel lines, made the primer bulb in a permanent vertical position just to be "as it should be")
I was wrong about how well it would run, soon as I could it WOT from no wake I was on it.
It ran great for about 20min then started to loose RPM and I'd have to back off the throttle to keep it running, the problem got progressively worse.
I'd stop a couple times and pump the ball hard and take of WOT (seemed to help) I could just go into gear and progressively increase the throttle but the results were not as good.
This trip takes an hour each way running at 20mph.
Had to stop a few times and tinker, got my buddy to pump the ball and made it to our spot on the Washington side of the Columbia.
The trip back was worse, I did a hole shot leaving the beach to make sure we made it across the bar (you don't want to be stuck in a shipping lane) and it ran good, this time at 3/4 throttle for about the same amount of time.
Then it was lots of stopping, pumping, trying different take off methods and getting to the point where WOT wouldn't work or if you pumped it, it would work until the bow started to come down and it would start to die agin.
About 5mph was all I could do, running on empty now from pumping the ball so much I was getting worried that we'd run out of fuel at 5mph to get back to the marina.
I had my buddy pump the ball every time he could hear the rpms start to drop (at times the ball was going flat and it have to squeeze it the other way to get fuel in)
But we made it back to the slip and the sun was just going down.
The next day I decided to get after it, I was concerned (even though I thought I'd checked) that there was a check valve in my tank, there wasn't :-(
What I did find was the fuel pick up was about 14" long and my tank is 24" long, the way that I had to orientate the tank the pick up exits from the front.
Do the math, no fuel at the pick up when under 2/3 and bow up.
One problem down, I moved the vent line from the rear of the tank to the front and the pick up to the rear.
Shortened the pickup so that it's about 1/4" from the bottom and point straight down as opposed to its original diagonal, that should keep it from ever sucking air.
Then on top the fuel pumps, something had to be wrong there as well, at least I assumed that if the ball is going flat it's upstream.
The bottom fuel pump had a cracked checked valve, if it was a top hat, it's the one that is upside down.
So rebuild both fuel pumps with all 4 check valves and fired her up, she seemed good but a little off.
I started playing with the idle screws and had not so good results.
In the end I ended up turning them all in and and back them all out 1.5 turns, seems to run perfect after that.
Today was test day, I ran at WOT for about 10 minutes and occasionally I'd hear a little RPM drop, one time I backed the throttle of and I could feel it pick up a little more speed after just a seconds delay.
After that it seemed to run a little better at WOT and would take off from idle anyway I wanted, I did feel like a couple of times at WOT the rpm would drop a little, could be river current but 3/4 throttle was flawless.
I decided to stop the boat and restart, it fired right up, turned it off again and drank a beer.
I did nothing but turn the key, it would kinda start and die, I advanced the throttle and it fired right up.
Turned the advance off and it ran fine, continued testing throttle up, down slow speed, slower speed, reverse for a minute then forwar them reverse and it all worked fine.
So much so I ran for 1/4 mile all the way into the slip at just a notch above forward and parked the boat with out even having to get out!
So far so good, so now I am sitting here on my boat thinking about a couple things.
1. The loss of rpm at WOT.. floats and needles?
2. The fact the motor was warmed up and I had to use advance to start it after 10minutes
3. The way I set the idle circuit... is it right.
4. I have this fear that pulling into the marina that my engine will die, it seemed to work just fine but I don't have a tach and I am wondering if I should bump the idle ever so slightly.
I know that was along story but I think it adds to the history of this thread and what I've done and found and hopefully it can/will help others.