59 Cherokee 65 Evinrude 33hp Refurb.

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joefur

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Apr 21, 2015
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Location
Fort Myers Florida
Inspired by this site, here I go. Picked up a 1959 Cherokee with a 1965 Evinrude 33hp ski twin.
I live in Ft Myers FL and saw this in Knoxville, it was just was I was looking for so a 26 hour road trip later here I am. What appears to be a 50+ year old trailer made the trip without a hitch (pun intended) so Im off to a good start.
The boat appears to be incredibly intact. Controls on the front, original decals still on the boat, seats, you name it. It was obviously a well cared for boat.
My plan is to start in the back, get the motor right then move on to cosmetics. I'm on a tight budget so its going to be all about mechanical first. Its not a restoration, I want to fish from it and I know there are far far better boats to fish from but I like this one.
 

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First of all, :WELCOME: to da Bayou !!

awesome find you have there !! that's gonna be one fun project.
#1 on the priority list is make sure nothing happens to that windshield !!!
if you think you will keep it, take it to a glass & plastics shop and maybe
they can buff it up well enough to keep it on your boat.

That is probably the first vintage tin I have seen with port side steering and controls.
Especially with the factory brochure showing the starboard side setup.





.
 
Very cool boat, x2 on the uncommon steering location. Great craftsmanship in the metalwork on boats from this era. Will be following!
 
Im not sure what to make of it all. I changed the impellor, inside it looked like it was just changed last week. Drained the gear oil which was ugly, water intrusion and very little "oil". I filled it up and changed the washers. I'll drain it again and see how it managed.
Then I hooked up a battery and gas tank and it fired right up. Idled low, idled high, shifted into gear forward, reverse, ran like it had just been tuned up. Maybe the gear issue is terminal and PO figured that out, I dont know.
Thanks for the advice on the windshield, its dirty but it may buff up. Again, thanks to this site I know enough not to rush into anything with harsh chemicals etc.
 

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Glad to hear she runs so well. For posterity (and to capture a baseline), I would rent from Autozone or other a compression gauge and check compression on both cylinders with the engine cold. Pull one spark plug and ground it's spark plug wires to the block. Thread gauge into one hole (use the right length threaded insert that comes with kit...there will be a long one that your piston would bang into if used...that's bad). Pull 5 times and read gauge...repeat on other cylinder. Should be around 100 psi and within 10% of each other. If way low or big variance that is a problem that needs to be addressed. On the lower unit, water is evidence you have a leak. Perhaps it was the screws for the oil drain/fill, but as you stated I would run it and check condition. Although, a whole new seal kit is cheap insurance and easy to install in a few hours with a service manual or help from the web. Seal kit is Sierra pn 18-2686 and you can find it for $20. I'd pop the flywheel and check the condition of the coils...if they have cracks in them then put on new ones...OEM pn 584477 qty of 2 at $20-25 each (don't buy aftermarket coils...get OEM Evinrude). I'd also suggest putting in a tune up kit of points and condensers while you are in there. Clean the points with acetone dipped business card strip to make sure they are spotless. Tune up kit is OEM pn 172522 at $20. I'd also check condition of the spark plug wires..if they look dried and cracking rubber then throw on 2 new ones. 7mm copper core tractor wires are the right type and cheap at Tractor Supply. You can buy a set of 4 in a pack for $25, cut the ends to push onto your coils and good to go. Maybe you can get em at auto parts store, but copper core wires are harder to find as most automotive wires are carbon core. Perhaps this is more than you wanted to do, but it is what I would do with an older motor unknown maintenance. Bullet proof ignition and sealed lower unit and that motor should last for lots of years. Total cost of $120 (if you have to put in coils and spark wires)....less if those look ok. That's pretty cheap and your motor would be up to snuff for sure...which it's nice to have that confidence when you are out on the water and don't really want to have the motor conk out on you. ps...I have left out a few steps...how to remove and reinstall flywheel at proper torque, how to gap new points at 0.020, how to check lync/sync (seems like you have a good runner so not an issue) and I typically put in a new carb rebuild kit as the old seals on the slow and hi speed needles tend to dry out and also the float. Since yours seems to run fine, I didn't mention that. Unless you are an old hand on outboards (which I am not) get yourself an official service manual. Gives you all the torque values and instructions on other maintenance you will need to do. Hardly anyone will work on these old motors, so you will have to be your own mechanic.
 
jb I'm with you on all that. Compression checked out at about 90 and 100, I guess that's 10% depending on how you interpret "within 10%". The gauge wasnt the best so it was difficult to get exact numbers but at least it wasnt 40 and 130. Compression was the first thing I checked and I was pretty nervous about turning it over before I inspected everything. Its a catch 22, dont want to work on it if its garbage but dont want to damage it if its not. Next on the to-do is decabing, I'm not sure if that will bump the compression but it cant hurt.
I drained the oil out of the bottom and it came out clean less some goop leftover from before so I feel good about that. I would like to install a seal kit but I'm scared to death of opening it up, I may try to farm that out.
Great tip on plug wires, I did a rough budget of electrical/carb/pump/impeller/fuel parts - all the usual suspects and its really not that expensive to replace it all, less than $250. I'm all about if it aint broke dont fix it but this isnt the time for that.
I got my manual off ebay this week for $20, cant stress enough how helpful it is.
I’m going to re-wire everything. Right now everything is functional so I’m planning to remove one wire at a time, terminate everything and make sure it still works. Then I’ll pull it all off when I get ready to paint. There is a lot more wires in there than you’d think and that wiring diagram will make you dizzy. Probably 6 different colors and 3 or 4 sizes. Budget for wiring is about $150 which includes a new solenoid.
 
Cool boat man, that would be a great boat for channel edge fishin snapper or catfish whichever is your pleasure
 
I was planning to spend the weekend and do a nice and easy replace of points coils etc. You'd think you'd just pull the flywheel off and away you go. I read the manual, said I need a couple of OMC "special" tools, I figured ya I'll figure it out.... I could have got by with a strap wrench on the flywheel but NO, you cant buy a strap wrench in this town. So I jury rigged one that actually worked but I'd have gladly paid the $13 for one on line a week ago and saved the immense aggravation. Lesson learned, no point in reading the manual if you're not going to follow it.
One caveat though, the OMC tool for holding the flywheel is a "C" type wrench that NEVER would've held. That nut was crazy tight.
Anyway, I cant get that flywheel off for nothing. I'm snapping bolts in the puller, putting fire to it, tapping it gently, and nothing so far. I've called it a night and its sitting with PB penetrating oil. The bolts are 1/4" inch, my next step is tapping out for 5/16" and see if I can wrench until it pops. Other option is a 3 prong hook type puller but its tight and warping is a concern. Any advice?
 
Phase 1 complete. I finished my motor. I changed everything I thought could possibly go wrong. Coils, points, plugs, wires, condensers, fuel pump, fuel lines, vacuum switch, carb kit, lower unit seals, leaf plate, everything I've read that typically goes wrong, I changed. In hindsight, I changed all kinds of things that were just fine but I'd do it all again. These are great motors to work on and my first.
Half the fun was finding things on ebay to see if I could save a couple of bucks, downside is it takes a LOT of time. I spent $586 which includes a few things that I destroyed/lost/wasnt included in the kit. IMO if you are inclined, its a great motor to cut your teeth.
To anyone considering "rebuilding" my advice is to do one thing at a time. Make sure it runs afterwards. The worst thing you can do is tear it all down. Change the electrical, start it up, Change the carb, start it up. It will run rough all the way and it will never run right until its all together. Whatever you do dont tear it all down at once, it will be your downfall. Also, nevermind someone telling you $586 is too much to spend on your motor. If you're doing it to make your money back, they missed the point.
 

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very nice!!!

did you say the PO said it had a gear issue? I not catch that in the original post.

My first boat was a 1960 Chrysler glass 14 ft boat with a 40 hp Johnson

It was frozen and I rebuilt the powerhead and it ran like a top in the driveway, shifted fine in both forward and reverse

took it to the local lake, fired it up and took off.

It kept popping out of forward gear under load. If I held the shift lever down in forward it would go, but as soon as I let off pressure it would pop out.

So we went around the lake backwards for the day fishing lol

anyway I took the lower unit apart and the clutch dog had worn out and also the tabs in forward gear were rounded off from it slipping. I replaced the clutch dog and used a dremel to shape up the tabs on the gear

was fine after that

my point is if there is a problem with the gears it may be something like this and you will only find out when you go on your maiden voyage.

If there was no problem, then I just shared one of my favorite boat stories from my youth lol
 
That is my fear. Everything I've done has been in the driveway. The gears all looked good and I suspect water came in through the oil drain because it was ugly in there. Its running kinda rough in general too but from advice on this forum it probably needs to be under load to really be able to tell. Unfortunately, I've never actually had the boat on the water. I've filled it with water and no leaks. I fully expect to have to work out some bugs once I get it out. I've put a lot of work in it, sure hope I like it. :D
I think the gears look OK. If anyone sees anything, please say so.
 

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this is the clutch dog and the area you have to pay attention to. The corners need to be sharp like this on is, not rounded off. This corner looks fine

Also you have to look at where it mates inside the gear. Take a close look and you will see. You can slide the clutch dog back and forth to shift between forward, neutral and reverse to check it
 

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I read a post that a guy had about painting his trailer. He had un-bolted every bolt and I thought he was crazy doing all that. Then I started fixing up mine - there is no easy way. Trying to figure out how to cover every piece literally kept me up at night. I ground down, primed, and painted all with HPLV, came out great. Its a lot of effort, probably $300 +/- rollers/bearings/paint/jack. Its a project within a project thats for sure. Anyway, the massey ferguson gray paint came out a little on the dark side but a very satisfying project.
 

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I've finished the major painting. Massey Ferguson gray and ford blue. Next step is the windshield.
I sanded down to solid paint on the bottom since it seemed to be in somewhat good shape, I stripped on the top since it wasnt. I used zinc chomate all over the top and on the bare spots on the bottom, primed, painted. I used magic paint from TSC with reducer and hardener, sprayed with HPLV. Seems to have taken well.
 

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I was going for battleship but I'm def on the dark side. I found a guy on ebay to make the decal, once I put that on I'm hoping for a little more contrast.
 

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Thanks for asking Perch.

I dont know. I've been building this thing in my driveway. I've never put it in the water. It may run like a million bucks or I may fall flat on my face.
I fully expect to break down first time I go out, maybe the second. By the third, I will be asking for some help.

Thanks for paying attention, I appreciate it.
 

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