Re: 1954 evinrude hard to pull start
Did it spin over before you did your tune-up? I doubt it broke while you were working on it. If you had the pump base off, did you replace the gasket between the pump base the the gear housing? Some of the ones I've seen come with newer kits are awfully thin and can alow the base to compress on the shock ab. Older ones tended to be thicker. If you put a thicker gasket in there and it turns over by hand, but tightens up when you run it, then the spring is definitely done for. If it works fine, then it was the thin gasket...