Stupid Noobie Questions

[threecaster]

Greetings all!

I have been (un?) lucky enough to have been given a 1962? West-Bend Commodore, 2 stroke, 2 cyl, 18 hp outboard motor.

I have lots of experience with garden variety engines, but this is my first Outboard motor.

After much research, some TLC, some tweaking, and lots of cleaning, I have
gotten it to run!

Well, at least sort of.

I'm running a 24:1 mix for fuel.

I am still trying to get the needle valves adjusted. In doing so, several questions have come to mind.

#1) I am running it in a test tank (aka 40 gal trashcan) with no prop. Will this hurt anything?

#2) Can I adjust the throttle effectively with it in a "no load" condition?

I performed an inspection on the impeller, which seems fairly new (black rubber shiny, no cracks, has all its legs with the little knobs on the ends) but it seems that not a whole lot of water is coming from the exhaust port.

#3) How much water should I be seeing?

#4) How hot is too hot?

The manual (thanks to Noyes Trading Co. on ebay) says "18 O.B.C. Certified Brake H.P. at 4750 R.P.M."

#5) Does this mean 4750 is the Maximum RPM?

#6) What kind of a device is best to measure RPM on such a beastie?

(I have considered taping 4 magnets to the flywheel, using a reed relay and using my Sears Tak-0-meter, set on "4cyl"...but......)

On the Tiller Handle is the throttle controller, which is labeled "Fast - Start - Shift - Stop". I have a F-N-R gear knob on the main body.

#7) What is supposed to happen when the throttle is in the "Shift" position?

FYI: the shaft still turns even when in neutral, but can be stopped by hand (but NOT while running...I'm crazy...not stupid! )

Even in Neutral, it churns up a lot of water, even without a prop.

O.K....I've pestered everyone with enough questions for now.

If anyone can help me even with a few of these....that would be fantastic!

Tanks! ...er...Thanks!


Threecaster

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: Stupid Noobie Questions

To answer your questions:
1. No, just keep the water intake on the leg submerged.
2. You can get close but it will still need adjustment on the boat
3. Depends on your outboard, some put out a fine mist or spray...others a steady stream of water.
4. If it's too hot to touch you need to redo/rebuild the water pump/impeller.
5. Yes
6. Tiny Tach or similar tach...Google Tiny Tach
7. The rpms slow down when in Shift, not enough to die but slow enough that the gears are able to shift smoothly.

 

[F_R]

Re: Stupid Noobie Questions

Churning up water in neutral without a prop: You are blowing big gobs of air (exhaust) into the water. Of course it agitates it a bit!

 

[threecaster]

Re: Stupid Noobie Questions

Hey...I told you these questions were stupid! No illusions here!

(I save the illusions for my day job )

I realize (now) that the exhaust ALSO comes out at the bottom.

There is a "muffler" (aka "Motor Leg Exhaust Cover") where the water
comes out. I suppose the design has this to allow free-flow of exhaust, no
matter what is going on under water.

I think I figured out the cooling thing:

It seemed to me that there was just enough water coming out to perhaps cool my face on a summer's day...but not near enough to cool two heads...

The little voice in my head says "maybe you have a leak...or a mud-dobbers nest..."

removal of the lower end....spray inlet tube with water hose....

water from around the driveshaft!

AH HA!

I'll have to make a seal of some sort, who knows what happened to this one....

Tune in tomorrow...same boat-time.....same boat-channel.....

 

[threecaster]

Re: Stupid Noobie Questions

Well....hmm...

I installed my home-made seal around the drive shaft.

Stuck it in a bucket of water & spun with a drill....spits out a reasonably
nice fountain of water (about 6" high)...

put it all back together....got the needles on the carb adjusted fairly
well (good enough to idle smoothly)

It seems to be getting quite warm....much too warm mr calavy's
touch test (Thanks BTW).

sooooo....hmmm...

perhaps seeing is not believing in regards to impellers...

(It would seem that the upper and lower plates are made in such a way,
as to make them very difficult to install incorrectly...)

took the leg off...

...pumped water through the head (with the garden hose & adapter); got
lots of water out the pipe near the block inlet, and a steady tiny stream from
the hole just under the cylinders. I have no idea if this is normal...but does
not seem irregular...

All I can think to do now is make sure the head/cylinder is not stopped up somehow...and change the impeller....


if anyone has any thoughts on this...feel free to comment or point me in a direction...