1964 Evinrude 40hp Big Twin Help please

[Ren]

Well, I've been reading and searching these forums for 3 days. Lots of knowledgeble people on here.<br /><br />My situation: Engine model# 40453R Just got free engine and 13ft Seaswirl, I'd never heard it run and owner was not available for info about it.<br /> My problem: hooked battery up and cranked fine, engine ran at idle for about 1 minute in water tank then died, water pump pumps fine ,engine cranks fine now, fuel/oil is good, no spark.<br /> What should I check first? Vacuum shutoff? coil packs? Anything? I don't have a manual yet its in the mail somewhere.<br /> I've worked and rebuilt motorcycle and automotive engines for nearly 15 years but have never even seen a large 2 stroke with a magneto ignition system before.

 

[itstippy]

Re: 1964 Evinrude 40hp Big Twin Help please

Welcome to iBoats!<br /><br />If you've never seen the magneto ignition system on a large 2 stroke then now's the time. You have no idea how long it's been since the points & coils & condensers were serviced, so you gotta check them out. Pull the flywheel and have a look.<br /> http://www.iboats.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=28;t=034013#000000 <br /><br />The coils get old and cracked with age. So do wires sometimes. Keep reading the old posts on "40HP" while you wait for your manual to arrive. Use the red "search" button near the top of this page. You will love that old motor in time. Rugged and powerfull. Thirsty, though.

 

[Ren]

Re: 1964 Evinrude 40hp Big Twin Help please

Well, I pulled the flywheel off and the coils look nearly new and have a bright green insulation covering, the points were not pitted at all but did seem slightly burnt, sanded them up and reset the points to .020 while the flywheel key was at the breaker contact pad for both cylinders.<br /> Put it all back together and it fired right up no problems, ran it for about 15 minutes in a water tank.<br /> Now I just need to get it registered and the title in my name, (registration expired in 1996)<br />and head down to the river tomorrow.<br /> Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[rwise]

Re: 1964 Evinrude 40hp Big Twin Help please

I would change the water pump impeller, it's a long swim back to the doc! It won't cost much to do this.

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: 1964 Evinrude 40hp Big Twin Help please

Also Ren, I don't know if you got this so; if you don't tighten the flywheel nut to exactly 105ft/lbs then the flywheel key will shear when the engine sneezes and you'll loose spark. This is one of those super-critical things. The water pump is the other.

 

[Ren]

Re: 1964 Evinrude 40hp Big Twin Help please

I'm waiting on the manual before I tackle the water pump impeller, everything else so far I've just winged it from experience.<br /> Thanks Paul, for the reminder on the flywheel nut, I had read here the torque setting for it and made sure I used one of my torque wrenches to set it properly.<br /> I'm used to working on V-8's, clutches, auto tranny's and Motorcycles so the whole 2 stroke outboard thing is really new to me.