Lockout lever not functional

[CedarRiverScooter]

I haven't been able to figure out why this neutral interlock part doesn't work on my 1972 18hp Evinrude. Are there parts missing? I suppose it isn't mandatory to have this work, but I like safety interlocks.

Cosborn, I would be most grateful if you can take a picture of your motor from a similar angle.

Thanks in advance

 

[cosborn]

I haven't been able to figure out why this neutral interlock part doesn't work on my 1972 18hp Evinrude. Are there parts missing? I suppose it isn't mandatory to have this work, but I like safety interlocks.

Cosborn, I would be most grateful if you can take a picture of your motor from a similar angle.

Thanks in advance

part.JPG

part2.JPG

I’ll snap a pic for you when I get out of work tonight.

 

[cosborn]

Let me know if you need any other angles, or zooms:

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

Thanks Cosborn

Your motor doesn't have the lockout (black plastic part next to flywheel). Maybe it was only on my model year.

I am just going to remove it because it looks to be a poor design to start with & don't want to spend time & $ getting it to work.

The OMC lawyers probably made the engineer add it The 1st time I got it started at the lake it was in gear & surprised me!

I noticed the custom water line coming out of your thermostat hsg. Someone spent some time installing that!.

 

[cosborn]

Are you talking about the lock that prevents you from cranking up the power too much when in neutral or reverse?

On mine, putting it in forward lowers the bar marked number 1. When I twist the tiller the curved metal marked number 2 comes around the flywheel, and if the bar is up because of the gear it hits the tab labeled with a 3, keeping me from twisting too far.



You can see how that piece wraps around better here:

 

[cosborn]

Just Googled it, there is a lockout lever that prevents you from starting it in gear too... which is what you probably meant. Yeah, don’t think I have one of those.. of course I’ve never actually tried to start it outside of neutral.... yet.

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

Yea I'm moving on to the next issue.
I noticed the points plate (or whatever it is called) does not fully rotate all the way to the stop. This means I am not getting full timing advance. Must be something else wrong with the throttle linkage. I can push the tab the rest of the way by hand so the plate itself isn't binding. So it goes with vintage engines!

Hey on your steam problem, that water line might be dumping too much water at idle. You might want to pinch it off & see if your steam goes away.

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

So today I took apart the throttle system from handle-to-points plate. Cleaned out the old hard grease, lubed it well with marine grease & put it all back together (actually 4 times, should have taken a picture of the knuckle gear positions) & there was no improvement in the points plate getting full travel.

Finally figured out it was the spark plug wires. I readjusted the hold-down clamp to give more slack & that did it. Made my day . . .

 

[cosborn]

Awesome to hear

 

[Newtosa]

Here is a condensed service manual, with a good write up of the magneto plate adjustment.

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

Wow, can't thank you enough! This will help immensely.

So I doubled down & bought a parts motor, price was right. 20 hp Johnson

The trouble is I that got it started (it was so corroded from salt that I didn't think it would ever run again).

It is butt ugly from a camo paint job, but that could be remedied.

So now I don't know which one to keep.

The Johnson is even more beat up, but idled very nicely right off the bat. Compression is same for both motors.

I will have to wait until spring & run both of them to see if there truly is 2 more HP in the 20.

I am skeptical because I can't see any powerhead differences in the part lists between them.

In the meantime it is fun to bring old stuff back to life.

 

[Newtosa]

So I see you've been bitten by the bug. Parts engine....

If you're like me, at some point there will be too many of these laying around on the garage floor, and you'll be tempted to get them all running so you can make back your parts money spent on the ones you're keeping. You should resist.

As a side note, my best runner is a 1974 15 (lower is the Johnson gold color and had been spray painted over in blue, to look like the Evinrude color; engine block is Evinrude blue; cowling is Johnson Seahorse but the bottom half is spray-painted blue too). Looks like absolute garbage, but runs like a champ. Better than the 2 1960s 18s I kept (for apparently no good reason at all).

In your case, I'd put them both in a large barrel or get them on the water and keep the better runner (sounds like that's what you're planning).

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

The 20 didn't pump water at all so I tore into the lower unit today. Full of sand!

Going to replace the seals, impeller, got used pump hsg coming (was totally eroded away).

The hardest part of the teardown was knocking the shift rod bushing out. I ground down the end of a long 5/16 bolt to make a punch. I had to wail on it & thought I would crack the lower unit housing.

But it eventually came out & all is good.

Started sanding the hood, but outside painting weather is gone & may have to wait until spring for that.

 

[cosborn]

The metal on these old motors can get quite brittle. That’s why there’s a liberal amount of duct tape on my tiller here



The left half of the arm there broke completely in half when I was working on the motor. Still not sure exactly how I did it... must have put too much force on it when it was in the upright position, but didn’t take much. Either tried starting the motor holding onto it upright, or I leaned over the motor to reach something and put some weight on it. Noticed it much later after it had happened, with no defining moment I could think back to.

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

So here is more of the story...

The main reason I wanted a parts motor is that the 18 hp motor I originally bought has a cracked steering bracket/handle. It still works but is bent & definitely cracked. Motor must have been dropped or maybe wedged the transom hard when motor hit a rock.

I didn't notice it pre-buy, wish I would have, as the used replacement is costing me $60. (which is about what the parts motor cost)

Funny, the parts motor's (which is no longer a parts motor) steering bracket has also been welded, so this must be a common failure.

I opted to buy a used one vs. trying to straighten & weld the bad one. The casting has stress cracks all over it.

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

Hey guys - I have torn down the 18 hp motor to replace the LU seals, impeller, & also exhaust gasket. Going to repaint al the pcs - it took a while just to de-grease them!

So anyway I found that this associated gasket is NLA. Should I just leave it out or could I just use some weatherstripping as a replacement?

It goes between the lower cowl pan & lower hsg.

Thanks

 

[nccatfisher]

I am guessing you don't have any type of template you could use to cut one out of thick foam?

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

Thanks for the suggestion.

I could use the exhaust hsg as the template.

However I'm leaning toward just getting some closed cell neoprene PSA weather-stripping.

Leaving it out altogether would allow exhaust back into the engine.

 

[nccatfisher]

Yeah, I would use something, I was actually thinking of thick rubber but that may be too hard. Like you it needs something.