old boat revival

[red_chaser]

just got an old boat for free. it's a VIP 1970, it has a johnson 70 outboard, and seems to be in decent condition.

i dont know too much about boats, and i'm looking for some advice or guidance. the previous guy said he had it running. he had it sitting for about a year and a half.

i cleaned it out and now i'm going to try to start it. i bought some rabbit ears to make sure it has water runing through it, but other than that i don't know what else to do.

here are a couple of questions i have:
1. do i need to change out any oils? how do i do it?
2. is the steering hydraulic? i cant turn the wheel, it seems to be locked. does the boat need to be on to turn it?
3. does the boat tilt hydraulicly or only manually?

any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[GeneH]

Re: old boat revival

Hi, Welcome to the hobby. You can spend your whole life learning about it and there is always something you don't know. Start with using the "search" function on this forum and spend a lot of time with it. Get an owner's manual for that engine. Probably the gas/oil mix is 50 to 1. Change out the lower end lube. The water pump will need to be replaced before you take the boat out on water but evaluate the engine before spending that money. Search for starting a long stored motor or words like that. Lube cylinders before cranking as the engine probably is very dry. The steering is probably a push/pull cable frozen in its housing. No power steering on these and the engine does not have to be running. Seriously, do a lot of reading on this forum. (and serching) You probably won't have any questions that haven't been posted and answered before. That engine could fire right up or it could need carb rebuilding and ignition service. It could have good compression or be worn out in which case it will never run right unless you have it rebuilt. Best of luck!

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: old boat revival

Gene's right...check out the Awakening a Sleeping Outboard in the FAQ section at the top of this forum. It gives you a run down list on how to proceed. Disconnect the steering cable from the motor at the motor. Your motor will probably turn freely by hand...it's not uncommon for those steering systems to freeze up over time. Sometimes you can lube them up and work them back and forth at the motor end and free them up again. You need a manual for your motor. Meanwhile, post the model/serial numbers and a pix and you'll get lots of good answers to your motor and boat questions.

 

[red_chaser]

Re: old boat revival - starter woes

Re: old boat revival - starter woes

i came accross the first problem, the starter is no good.

looking for some advice. i found some startors on e-bay for less than 100 bucks. can anyone tell me if they are reliable? how expensive could it be to take it to a marine dealership and get it repared?

 

[JB]

Re: old boat revival - starter woes

Re: old boat revival - starter woes

The odds are 5 to 3 that your starter is not bad, red. Tell us how you determined that it is bad.

 

[red_chaser]

Re: old boat revival

there was a click at the solenoid when the key was turned. i took an electric tester and tested the voltage at the positive input of the starter while the key was on, and it was good.

so i took the starter off and connected it directly to the battery and nothing happend. earlier today i took it to an electric shop and had the starter tested. the guy took the starter apart and saw that ther was a broken lead in the motor. he soldered it, and we tested it again. it started to turn but very slow and weak.

and that's were i am now.

 

[red_chaser]

Re: old boat revival

i am now thinking of trying to pull start the motor. i don't want to invest in a new starter if the motor has another severe problem.

any tips or suggestions?

-thanks!

 

[trendsetter240]

Re: old boat revival

i am now thinking of trying to pull start the motor. i don't want to invest in a new starter if the motor has another severe problem.

any tips or suggestions?

-thanks!

Yeah get someone with big arms to do it!

Seriously though if the flywheel has the hooks in it for an emergency pull start rope then go for it. The flywheel turns clockwise.

If you don't have an emergency pull start rope you can use some rope of a similar thickness with a knot tied in one end.

Don't wrap the rope around your hand when pulling as it may catch and cause you some pain. Tie the pull-start rope to a makeshift handle such as a stick so you can let go if it catches.

If the motor has been sitting for awhile it may be hard to start. Spray some fuel/oil mix into the carburetor throats to help get things moving.

good luck!

 

[red_chaser]

Re: old boat revival

i finally got some work done on the boat. i turned it on by pull starting it. it wasn't too hard, i just sprayed the carbs with some cleaner and pulled and it came on.

there are still several things that need to be worked on. the steering cable is siezed up and needs to be replaced. i may have to remove the motor from the boat to be able to get the clearance to remove it.

i removed the lower unit to get to the pump, and by the way it was really fried. the impeller was melted into the housing. i need to buy a totally new housing, impeller, gaskets, the whole works. i was able to find the pump on the site, but i want to make sure it contains everything i need. can any one please help? i can't find the repair kit with the housing for the 77yr.

also, does this motor have thermostats?

the model number on the motor is 70EL775.

 

[red_chaser]

Re: old boat revival

here are some pics of the boat

 

[red_chaser]

Re: old boat revival

more pics

 

[cougar1985]

Re: old boat revival

there,s no need to remove the motor completly.just undo the mounting bolts and slide her over a few inches .

 

[red_chaser]

Re: old boat revival

Please help me answer these questions:

where can i find the thermostat?

where should the streem of water come out of the motor?

where is the sensor that gives the alarm when the motor is heating up? and how do i test it?

 

[red_chaser]

Re: old boat revival

I just recently attempted to intall the new steering cable i puchsed here on i boats, but the new cable diameter was too big.

Everything fit perfectly on the motor side of it, but when I attempted to place it in the helm turning the wheel, the cable would not go in. I measured the original cable size and it was 1/4". This, however, was slightly bigger, probably a 3/8". (part no. 3466115)

I am going to try and return the cable to get a smaller diameter.
Can anyone help me out and try to select the right cable? I purchased the QCII Steering Cable, 15' - Teleflex Marine. While I'm at it, I might as well get it smaller, I need a 12' cable lenth.

Thanks!

 

[red_chaser]

Re: old boat revival

finally got the boat in the water.

changed starter, new uphostery, new steering wheel, new helm, new cable, new beige pump, clean carbs and things went ok.

there were a couple of odd things. the boat didn't go to fast at all. i'd say only about 15 mph.

the idle is very high, but as soon as it gets in gear it revs pretty good. the throttle cable has a lot of slack in the mid range forward direction.

i tried to adjust the two plastic thumb nuts in either direction to try to increase the rps. once at full throttle the boat didn't speed up any faster. how can i get this working right?

it revs extreemly high in neutral but no power in WOT.

please help.

 

[samo_ott]

Re: old boat revival

What a great deal for free!

It sounds like it is not running on all 3 cylinders. Have you checked the compression on all 3 cylinders? Once you do that you must verify that you have a strong spark on all 3 cylinders. Has that been done? A spark tester works best and is cheap to obtain.

 

[red_chaser]

Re: old boat revival

I did suspect it wasnt fireing on all cylinders. I will check the spark first on all the plugs. If that was the case, what do I have to do to correct it?

 

[red_chaser]

Re: old boat revival

hey guys, i've got a good question for you boat experts.

I checked compression on all cylinders: top 130 psi, middle 120 psi, bottom, 125 psi.

I also checked spark on all cylinders with a spark tester. I set it to 7/16" and every cylinder had a nice blue spark, note that this was done at noon on a bright sunny day.

I don't know what else to check. I haven't taken the boat out since the first time. Please remember that on wide open throttle it didn't plane out and was very slow. Also when I tryed to pull my bro on a wake board, it would just die out, it had no power.

Please Help, I don't know what else to check

Thanks!

 

[Lion hunter]

Re: old boat revival

If the rpms are high in gear and you aren't moving I'd check for a spun prop. And WOT is at the motor not the console. Just because you have the lever all the way doesn't mean the motor is at WOT. Remove the hood and see if the throttle is moving all the way. What are your RPMs when you do this? Do this in the water, not in a barrel or on muffs. Never go above high idle unless the prop is under load. If you are not getting WOT and you have good compression and spark it points to fuel. Did you clean the carbs and rebuild with all new lines and filters from the tank to the motor? If not you need to.

 

[wilde1j]

Re: old boat revival

Fried water pump comes from running it dry. Never run motor w/o water too the pump.

Do yourself a favor and buy an OEM shop manual. Try Ebay or outboardbooks.com. Don't bother with the CD ones or Clymer, Seloc books ... they are junk.