I was able to get started this past weekened on fixing up my "new to me" 1968 Evinrude. Even though it was considered a classic when I was born ( 20 + years old ) it still runs like a champ. The previous owner I bought it from said that the motor was on his parents neighbors aluminum fishing boat. When they were selling the motor he bought it for his boat as a kicker motor to go fishing, but never really got into fishing. The motor just sat on a kicker mount on the back of his boat. Overall it has the wear of a motor its age (faded decals and paint, a ton of grease built up, and some minor scratches.) I plan on removing the grease, repainting the motor components, and finally repainting the hood with new decals. I would like to try and have the motor look as close as possible as it does now.
The motor as it started.
Like I said the motor hood isn't in too bad of a condition for its age but its scratched and scuffed. I would like to sand it down to a smooth surface, prime, paint, decal, and clearcoat the surface.
Three of the emblems on the hood are painted tin. They are attached by small plastic clips on the back. These are in pretty good shape and I would like to take them off to paint the hood and then place them back on untouched.
The inside of the motor is covered by a thin film of grease and oil. I plan on just cleaning or wiping out the inside.
The original owner bought a whale tale for the motor. I have read mixed things about them. It works fine on the boat and allows it to plane at a lower speed, but I don't know if it slows down the top end speed? They drilled holes and bolted through the cavitation plate so I think if I remove it the holes might create drag and slow down the boat anyway? I will just keep it on the motor once it is cleaned up.
The 44 years of grease build up. I needed to scoop most of it off with a screwdriver. I used car motor grease remover to get most of it off, then scrubbed it with a mixture of greased lightning and dawn to remove the film. There are still a few corners that I couldn't reach so I am thinking of going to the car wash and using the power washer to give it a one final good cleaning.
Once it is sanded down I will wipe the surface with acetone to make sure it is a clean as possible.
Originally I wanted to break the motor down into as many pieces as I could. But after trying to remove the power head to release the lower unit I decided to just let it go. The bolts to release the power head were rusted solid. I was afraid that I would break them off so I just decided to let them be.
A few pieces of the motor that came off.
The transom mount bracket. Once again you can see the grease build up that I would like to remove prior to paint. I plan to cover the serial # up and other original decals with tape before you paint.
The swivel steering bracket and tiller handle.
To get the tin emblems off the motor I had to cut these little plastic clips off. I was wondering if anyone knows where I could find them?
Finally, the rubber killswitch knob. When I bought the motor it was dry rotted and starting to fall off. I am looking for a new one. I have searched several outboard dealers and they only seem to sell the entire cutoff switch unit as opposed to just the rubber push knob. I included the cap to get some perspective if anyone can help.
