Newly acquired Evinrude 18hp

[bonz_d]

Just acquired this 1964 Rude 18hp and have some questions.

1st what Ive found so far. Overall the motor was dirty and oily though mostly complete. A few small pcs. missing. After i got it home I checked fuel, compression, spark and looked over the lower unit and shift linkage.

Compression on both cyl. was 85#, Spark from both coils and the carb had some of the linkage disconnected. Condition of the water pump is unknown but that will be replaced regardeless. Prop is in VGC. The gears do not appear to be shifting correctly. Has a problem finding Forward. The spring for the detent is missing.

After rebuilding the carb and putting it in some water and connection the gas I was able to get it started. Found that the throttle and advance are out of sync and that the plastic pin connecting the tiller gear to the linkage is broken.

I believe I shouldn't have a problem finding the small parts I need. I found a website that has parts breakdowns but only goes back as far as 1968.

1st question. Now that it has actually ran and has been lubricated will the compression still come up? Will Seafoam help?

2nd, I did not see it Peeing, does the 64 18hp have a telltale and were should I look for water discharge? Only ran it a minute or two and when I shut it off it was hot but I could still hold my hand on the head.

3rd, Lower unit shift problem. What am I looking at for problems. The shift linkage in the lower unit is working and doesn't look as if it's been worked on. Has carbon build-up on it.

4th, It has a fuel pump on it but neither me or NAPA could find a number for it or a rebuild kit. Any ideas?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Newly acquired Evinrude 18hp

here's the fuel pump. http://www.iboats.com/Sierra_18_735....271380--**********.296757504--view_id.174139
does not have tale tell stream. should get mist or droplets out the exhaust relief ports back of leg, midsection. that motor has to be submerged 1/2 way up the leg. the water pump is in the bulge just below the plate in the picture. it has to be submerge inorder to prime. the plastic connector is available thru a dealer. the only question about reliability is whether the clutch dog is good. a decarb would not hurt it.

Decarb, take a can of seafoam put 3/4 of it in the gas tank, with only 1 gallon of premixed gas. put the rest in a spray bottle. start the engine, and let it come up to temperature. then remove plugs, and them some real good shot of seafoam into the cylinders, replace plugs, let sit 15 minutes. restart, and spray the rest of the seafoam into the carbs, so the the motor almost stalls, wait and repeat until the seafoam is gone.then take for a wide open spin. then put in new plugs, ad premixed gas to the tank, and take it for a wide open throttle spin. it is going to smoke like a house on fire, during this process.

afterwards compression.recheck

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Newly acquired Evinrude 18hp

Thanks again T,

Just talked with a couple local dealers, one just laughed and said "can't help you, try ebay", the other is a Merc dealer and refered me to a dealer about 20mi. away.

Will try to run it again with more water to see what happens.

Have never pulled a gearcase apart but not afraid to try either. If/when I do what should I be looking for in the clutch dog and shift lever?

I'll do a search of the forum but any good online sites to get parts for these oldies?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Newly acquired Evinrude 18hp

the hard part is getting the part #'s. don't worry about the clutch dog. get it running well enough, you can put it in the water for a test. it will either work, or will pop out of gear, then you can go into the lower unit. dropping the lower unit is easy on those, remove the plate on the side of the leg, then inside remove the bottom screw, now remove the 6 bolts holding the lower unit and it should drop right out. change the impeller kit, the oring goes in a groove at the top of the drive shaft. and then align the shift rod, make sure the water pipe lines up. the screw on the shift linkage goes thru the groove, in the shift rod. install the 6 bolts, and ready to run.

 

[jbjennings]

Re: Newly acquired Evinrude 18hp

laingsoutboards.com is a good place but on some stuff they're high.
ebay actually is good sometimes. aomci.org's free advert. section is a good spot, too.
you said the spring for the detent is missing. do you mean the spring on the side of the powerhead that works the slotted lever that the pin on your shifter sits in? I'd get one from the hardware store.
The compression probably won't come up much unless you have stuck rings. 85lbs. is too low for that motor but compression gauges are notoriously inaccurate. Since your compression is so close, I'd suspect your powerhead is good. Do you have another motor that you know the compression of you could test?
Can you take a pic of the throttle stuff you need? I have a junk '63 18. The gears won't shift smoothly unless the motor is running. I'd wait till I got it running before I tackled the lower unit other than the water pump. That way you could check your compression again after the decarb. Rather than the compression, I find it more helpful to see how easy it starts and idles. If it has decent compression and you get the spark good and carb clean, it will start with just a slight bump on the pull cord after it's warm. If it does that, don't worry about the compression. You'll have to pull pretty hard even when warm to get it started and it won't idle very low if it has bad compression.
It will run on 85lbs. but I'll bet it actually has more than that. I get about 120 lbs. on my '63 18hp. and I think they probably had about 135 lbs. brand new although factory compression #'s were never published.
They're very good motors and I think quite peppy for an 18.
Good luck,
JBJ

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Newly acquired Evinrude 18hp

Thanks jbj,

I do believe the compression is higher also. Pulls quite hard and the gage was borrowed. Also tested it as what I would call "Dry" as the motor had not been started and I have no idea how long it had been sitting w/o running. Though compression was even on both.

Also, it started on the old spark plugs. Smoked a little but seemed normal.

The piece for the throttle is the plastic pin that fits in the shaft coming down from under the ignition to the gear that the throttle cable would connect to.

Yes that is the spring. For the spring I thought of trying the hardware store to see if I can find something close.

As to shifting. Seems that a times it won't find forward while turning by hand. Will shift fine into reverse then nuetral.
I will post a picture of the pin tomorrow AM. Need to get some sleep now, work 3d shift!

 

[jbjennings]

Re: Newly acquired Evinrude 18hp

Sounds like your linkages under the powerhead or in the lower unit need some lube or are just worn out. Your lower unit may not have any oil in it, too. I'll try and look for the pic, there's a good chance I have one.
JBJ

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Newly acquired Evinrude 18hp

Update;

Was able to pick up a parts motor for next to nothing that had everything I needed except the T Control pin for the throttle/ignition linkage. Found one at Dicks Marine Service in Fox Lake Illinois. Cost, $3.44. He has a good supply of vintage parts.

Installed this part and the shift lock spring and the motor started right up. Pumped water nicely but noticed it was also pumping oil from the exhaust.
At this point I pulled the other lower unit to put it on. When I removed the original unit there was water and oil in the area of the exhaust and water pump.

Is this from a leaking seal somewhere?

Today I split the gearcase and found the Shift Lever bent and the Cradle looks damaged on one side were the pins for the shift lever fit. The rest of the gears and clutch dog look to be OK. Everything moves well, no binding or unusual wear and no metal chips.

As for the motor running;
At a higher idle sounds good and smooth, at low idle it almost stalls out and viberates a bit. This carb only has the Low Speed idle adjustment. Also the tiller readings seem to be off 1/4 turn, as when I turn it to the shift position it's all the way to the stop adjustment and stalls out.

Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions on any of these?

 

[jbjennings]

Re: Newly acquired Evinrude 18hp

Here's a few ideas:

As to your idle prob--when you have it idling pretty fast, pull a spark plug wire. if it has no effect, plug it back on and pull the other one. If it doesn't have an effect either, you're getting good spark to both. IF it does, you need to pull the flywheel and check your coils and clean/regap your points to .020 inches. those coils are often bad. If it's running on one cylinder it's hard to tell on idle, which is why it's best to check spark before suspecting carb trouble. Have you tried adjusting the slow idle screw?

Also, if the throttle stops on "shift" there is a little idle stop screw that may be too far in. You might check to see that your carb is synchronized properly. the butterfly should just start to open when it passes the little mark on the throttle cam under the flyhwheel above the carb. Your throttle gear could have slipped at the tiller connection. Look to see that the wide tooth on the gear is mated to the wide slot on the other one.

Lastly, there is a lot of unburnt fuel on an old 2-stroke that exits down the midsection with the water which may be what you're finding. Usually gear lube is clear, not black.
Good luck,
JBJ

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Newly acquired Evinrude 18hp

Thanks,

Spark seems to be OK, when I had the carb apart I noticed that the very tip of the Low Speed needle was bent. Also there appears to be some sloppiness in the linkage. After running it some more today it is improving.

Got the tiller straightened out. Must not have gotten the two gears next to the lower unit back right when I had that apart. Off 2 teeth.

The oil isn't what you would see from normal running. This is grey foamy oil like you would see with water in an oil pan or inside the gearcase if the seal was bad. There was about 3oz if it inside the lower unit around the water pump.

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Newly acquired Evinrude 18hp

Had it in the water yesterday and it's running better. Had a chance to play with the low speed idle. Right now I'm still restricted to Slow No Wake because of high water. I think a decarb with Seafoam and some new plugs will help even more. Starts right up on one pull!

The lower unit is still problamatic. Looks like this one is leaking fluid up through the seals also.

I ordered a seal kit along with a water pump kit today. Even though it's pumping water and not getting hot I figured I might as well replace it while I have it out to replace the driveshaft seal.

So I've searched the forums here and am now confused about how to change the gearshift seal. Can someone explain so I understand? Does the bushing and seal come out towards the driveshaft or the gearcase? Can I use a large pin punch or is there a better way? Then what is used to seat the new seal and the bushing?

Thanks everyone so far!

 

[ftltony]

Re: Newly acquired Evinrude 18hp

What a classic looking motor! So much more styling than my "aerodynamic alien head orb" cover on my 225. My father had a 1963 Keiheifer (sp?) Rocket which was the predecessor to the Mercury motors and I don't think there wasn't a thing on the motor that wasn't made of metal and it ran like a champ no matter what we put it thru!

I hope you get her back in shape, the "karma gods" will probably reward you for as long as you two are together!