Trying to ID 40hp Tohatsu

[starcraftkid]

I looked at an old boat today with what the owner says is a 1970's or so era 40hp 2 stroke twin cylinder Tohatsu.
The motor has no numbers anywhere on it that I can see?
The motor is dark gray with a lighter gray cover with the '40hp' logo in dark gray.

The motor seems to run good, but I don't see a tell tale stream anywhere? Did they have one? It did push water out of the upper exhaust relief ports when running. I only ran it for a 1/2 mile or so but it seems to be OK but I'm a bit cautious since it's so cheap. The boat and trailer are rough, but the motor seems decent. I'm just wondering at this point if there's something wrong with it I don't see? A call to the nearest dealer got me nowhere.
How old could it be? It resembles a 1989 Nissan motor I found online but the cover is shaped a bit different.
It's also got makeshift controls, the ignition switch is on the dash, but the controls look like old Mercury or maybe aftermarket. They may have come from the boat back in 1958 or so.

What did Tohatsu use for controls?

 

[pvanv]

Re: Trying to ID 40hp Tohatsu

Got a picture?

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Trying to ID 40hp Tohatsu

Tohatsu used Tohatsu controls and an engine that old does not have parts availability.

 

[starcraftkid]

Re: Trying to ID 40hp Tohatsu

No Parts Availability?
How could they build and sell something and drop parts support for it?
How about things like carb kits, water pump impellers, props, etc???
The boat, motor, and trailer are free, the boat is only in so, so, shape, someone has redone the deck and transom but its not a very neat job. It's strong but they never painted any of the work and the deck surface is rough with lots of bumps and rough spots that need to be ground down.
The trailer is junk to me, it's way too big and heavy for the boat and has a makeshift bow stop made about 8' back from the original one.

The motor runs fine right now.
I talked to a buddy that was with me when we looked at the boat, he seems to think that the motor was dark blue not gray, but that don't seem to make much difference if parts are null and void for these things.
A local dealer told me that there are no parts for any Tohatsu older than the current motor series and the last batch of two strokes. They also won't order parts for anything until spring either way. Since their so far away, I'd mail order parts either way.

I was just sort of thinking this thing would be a good crabbing boat or back bay fishing boat since all I need to do is put a better trailer under it.

Maybe it's just a junk better left sit where it lies now?

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Trying to ID 40hp Tohatsu

Unlike the U.S., there never was a recreational market for boating in Japan. So.....Everything was designed and built for the commercial market up until the late 80's early 90's. Since no commercial user would ever have an engine over 5 or 6 years old it was not considered a problem. In addition, the Japanese sub out a lot of individual assemblies to other manufacturers. When a model changes design the demand for numbers of older design parts drops to replacement items rather than current production. After awhile those sub vendors simply stop production runs because there is no longer enough demand for the part. It sucks, but that's just the way it is.

Depending on what the actual model of the engine may be, something might be available, but you are much better off never getting involved in a money pit on an older engine.

 

[starcraftkid]

Re: Trying to ID 40hp Tohatsu

I went back today to snap a pic, someone else saved me the trouble I guess, it's gone. The owner gave it to the first guy that came by this morning.

I guess I didn't miss out on much.

It sounds like Tohatsu is a brand to avoid? They seem to be pretty common around here but there are no dealers nearby, they must have been real cheap for so many to have driven so far to buy a motor with no parts support.

Before this one, the closest I've come to a Tohatsu myself was a mid 80's 25hp tiller motor that a buddy had. I cleaned out the carb, adjusted the shift linkage a bit and installed a water pump kit which he supplied. This was about a year ago. He bought his new by mail order through a catalog. It seemed like a solid motor to me, easy to work on and it made good power.

 

[pvanv]

Re: Trying to ID 40hp Tohatsu

The Tohatsu/Nissan (and Merc 30 and under) brand is a solid design. Very high reliability, and good durability. As Elvin said, they were originally designed for the commercial market, hence the slightly overbuilt designs. They have also always been the lowest cost major brand. We have them on fleets of rental sailboats, where they take extreme abuse (look like they were dragged behind a truck on the highway), and are still reliable.

When they are 20+ years old, have been used daily for fishing, and have been running in salt, their days are, and should be, numbered. As a commercial-use design, at 20 years or more of age, they were expected to be retired long ago. Some of that is changing a bit, as the demands of the recreational US market, with shorter seasons and fresher waters, starts to become evident. However, when you come across a motor that should be considered a museum piece, best not to dump too much money into it.

 

[Sea Rider]

Re: Trying to ID 40hp Tohatsu

I'll second Paul's statement, was a low end Evi lover, finally changed for Tohatsu to find this brand simple, reliable & outstanding. Went to Virgin Islands 3 year ago and to my surprise found 85% of motors seen on top rental ribs were Tohatsu's, 10% Mercury's and 5% Yamaha's.

If you plan to stick with an engine for long time and probably pass them to your grand children, would be wise to periodically buy & stock mayor parts of that current model, bear in mind that Tohatsu makes tech modifications through the years, assume current 2 strokes production will not evolve further more, have reached the max. Next level is 2 T/EFI/TLDI engines, but that's another segment and story.

Happy Boating

 

[starcraftkid]

Re: Trying to ID 40hp Tohatsu

Sure sounds like a brand to avoid for me then. Every motor I own now is well over 20 years old and still going strong. Maybe I should have taken the boat, sold the motor and hung my 1964 West Bend 50hp on it?

I tend to keep things forever, I don't buy into buying anything that will cost me twice. I'd be pretty upset if I spent good money on a motor only to find out that 20 years later no parts are available for it. I have a 40hp Evinrude which was handed down to me 30 years ago, its as good as new and gets run every weekend. I've never once had a problem finding parts for that motor.

Either way, there's no local dealer here that stocks parts for a Tohatsu, so even if that motor were new, parts for it would be a hassle for that reason alone.

In retrospect, I probably should have taken the thing and just run it till it died, and walked away from it then. If the motor blew, just drift ashore and walk home. After checking to see how much the fish finder in it sells for, I should have grabbed it for that alone and just left the boat in a parking lot somewhere.

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Trying to ID 40hp Tohatsu

You have an old fashioned viewpoint...Nothing wrong with that as I tend to want to agree with you But, the world has changed and no outboard brand that produces an engine model today is going to be supporting it 20 years from now with 100% parts availability.

 

[starcraftkid]

Re: Trying to ID 40hp Tohatsu

I don't suppose the Tohatsu would be nearly as bad when it comes to parts if they were more common. In my 35+ years of messing with boats, this was only the third one I've seen. Since the only listed dealer is basically a Merc dealer, and a package dealer at that, he stocks no parts and has only dealt with Tohatsu for a few years now.
I run several motors which are all well over 30 years old, a few over 50 years old, all run fine and parts have never been an issue, but we have several old time OMC dealers here who have been around forever and have plenty of parts in stock. I doubt that'll ever happen with a brand like Tohatsu. I had a Honda outboard a few years ago which I sold after having to drive 200 miles to get parts, it probably wasn't a bad motor but there are no dealers around here with parts, and worse yet, the few dealers that we do have can't seem to order parts, or just don't want to. The way I see it, the average outboard, owned by the weekend boater, may only see maybe 20 or so hours of use every year, many probably see far less. If properly cared for, there's no reason a motor shouldn't last a few decades. When I lived in a strictly freshwater area, it wasn't uncommon to see 50's model outboards still in use everyday. Anyhow, thanks for the reply, since the boat was picked up before I got back, it's no longer a concern. It may well be out on the water with it's new owner already.