1985 Evinrude 40 horse e40elcob

[Wallyc]

Greetings folks!
I was blessed to be given the motor boat and trailer of course the boat and trailer are not worth anything. The motor I was hoping “fingers crossed here “ to get it breathing again. As these are work horse motors and have had a few lower horse powered rudes however never quite like this. I have a couple of questions as I’ve never dealt with a motor basket case like this.
So far I have checked compression 125 both Cylinders.
No water in the lower unit. Could use a change. Motor has VRO which had problems it was bypast and a burnt electric plug so rather than deal with it I will be using a normal no vro fuel pump and new fuel hoses. Need to find a new/used air silencer.
I have decided to pull the t-stat cover and glad I did . It was plugged with crap on the back so I know I will be looking at a new water pump kit .
The last major problem was the tilt tube. Yep ! Frozen in the up position so I finally got it to come down. The motor has an assist clynder but it’s all assisted out.
So now the questions
1- can I get a stern bracket assembly with power tilt and trim from a early 90’s where the ram and motor are in the middle of the stern bracket instead of on the outside the stern bracket.
2-should I leave out the t-stat and run the motor and flush the motor good before I put the new t-stat in ? I’m a little worried about filling the new thermostat with trash or is there someway I can clean it out with while I’ve got the back of the thermostat cover pulled off.
3- anything else that I may have missed ?
Thanks for any help guys!

 

[kofkorn]

I can help with a few of your questions below.

For the tilt & trim, it's not really feasible to go with the single piston setup from the later motors. I looked into it for one of my motors, and there's no way to mount it underneath. You've got two options. 1) You can have patience and scour Ebay and Craigslist looking for one of the stock 2 piston trim setups. They come up occasionally. That's what I did. 2) Look into an afermarket T&T like a Panther or CNC unit. I used a CNC on several motors and liked the operation.

for the Gunk in the T-stat, honestly, if the T-stat was that bad, I'd consider looking under the exhaust cover and cylinder head. You'd hate to get the whole thing up and running well then burn up a cylinder because you had a blockage somewhere else. It is unlikely just leaving the T-stat out or the T-stat cover off would clean up the system. There have been some people discussing various methods to clean a cooling system, but I wouldn't trust it without seeing the results with my eyes.

for your VRO, the pumps themselves are actually very good fuel pumps. If it is working now, no need to replace it. Just disconnect the oil line, block the intlet barb on the cowling and disconnect the oil alarm wires. Premix some fuel, purge the lines, and you're ready to go. I ran my 89 40hp that way for as long as I owned it and never needed to do anything to that fuel pump.

Good luck!

 

[Pappy]

As Kofkorn has indicated already, the VRO pump is one of the best stand-alone fuel pumps out there. All you will be doing is blocking off the small piston driven oil pump at the end of the central shaft in the pump. The pump does not care if that part works or not so......... that will eliminate time and work if you keep it.
The gearcases on those engines need to be maintained. The fact that it is a 40hp will help with longevity. Keep on top of gear oil changes.
As far as running without a thermostat goes. The engine was designed to run with a thermostat in it. The thermostat in these engines controls temperature at idle and just off idle. Once up on plane the pressure relief system takes over and flows the necessary volume of water to cool the engine. If the thermostat is not in there you will experience a drop in running quality, increased wear and the possibility of the block not completely filling at idle as there will be no restrictor (thermostat) in there.
Testing? Sure....leave it out and or as a matter of fact remove the cover and leave it off as well if you just want to start the engine on a hose and check flow or see if you can blow debris out. Tons of water should come out. Re-install all parts for long term running.
Use OEM parts for rebuilding. The kits are complete and they fit. Aftermarket?....not so much.

 

[Wallyc]

Thanks !
The vro is trashed the previous owner disconnected it. And the plug for it was burned up. So I just figured since I am use to premixing I would just stick with it like the old tried and true fuel pump.
I cleaned up under the t-stat housing . It was not horrible
It just had a powder coating on it that easily cleaned off with a wire brush no biggie. The t-stat had slot of corrosion in the spring side of it. I cleaned out under it and can feel with my finger where the passages split. So if I understand correctly while I’m there pull the head off the motor and check the passages in the block? Sounds like solid advice to me it’s only 8 bolts. Just hope I don’t break another bolt.All Ill say on that is thank god for a mig wealder and a pair of channel locks.
As far as the exhaust cover no to sure where that is on this motor . I’ll need to get a repair manual for this motor if everything checks out under the head. I don’t mind spending money on a sure thing I just want to make sure it’s a good investment.
Thanks again for the help

 

[Pappy]

What plug?? If you are talking about the electrical plug....you do not need it anyway.
I don't know that I would pull the cylinder head just yet.

 

[Wallyc]

There is a 3 wire plug that runs from the junction Terminal around the back of the motor and down the start side of the motor and plugged into the the harness coming from the vro pump. One of the wires are burnt up and broken off..