1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

[1946Zephyr]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

There's a good chance that some water got in that cylinder. Possibly by a bad head gasket. I bought two motors last week, an 18 and a 4 which were stuck from sitting. I got them both free and sold one of them already.

Look for pitting in the cylinder walls, when you get both pistons out. If you see it, then, it'll need some good honing. Luckily, in both of my motors, the cylinders were in perfect condition and there was no pitting. Hopefully, that ol' qd of your's will be this lucky.

 

[BSDenning]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

If I didn't see the carbon buildup on the exhaust port, I would wonder if this motor was constructed with the piston and cylinders all cast as one piece! I tried this weekend to hammer out the piston using a block of wood and an ax. Using the back of the ax, I gave it several pretty good hits with no success. I even put the motor in the freezer and got it good and cold, then took it out and hammered on it some more. Still no luck. My Dad and my brother said I just need to throw that piece of junk in the trash! lol But surely it is possible to get the piston out!

 

[1stgenbird]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

I read the posts from others to keep soaking, keep soaking but ya know, sometimes it pays to know when to throw in the towel and take your Dad's and brother's advice and junk it. All that work for a motor that is worth a few hundred dollars at best. It's good to try and save something if you can, but remove the savable parts then look for another one in better shape. Much less frustration and your time will be better spent.

 

[samo_ott]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

Wow. She's really stuck. Well I'd keep trying as it's a labour of love with these old girls but I could understand if you gave up!

Btw, did you only hammer on the piston side? Did you try hammering from the connecting rod side? I forget how I did it but I did it that way as my piston was right up close to the crank so I had to hammer it out from that side. I forget how I did it though as you need something semi circular to fit in it to hammer.

 

[BSDenning]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

I knew I shouldn't have said something about running out of questions on my 18 hp Evinrude. I took it out yesterday and it kept jumping out of forward. When I got it back, I took off the little plate on the side of the leg and the bolt that connects the upper and lower shift rods had almost completely screwed itself out. I screwed it back in, but it seems to be stripped. It just keeps turning and it never gets tight. What do I need to do to fix it?

 

[BSDenning]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

Wow. She's really stuck. Well I'd keep trying as it's a labour of love with these old girls but I could understand if you gave up!

Btw, did you only hammer on the piston side? Did you try hammering from the connecting rod side? I forget how I did it but I did it that way as my piston was right up close to the crank so I had to hammer it out from that side. I forget how I did it though as you need something semi circular to fit in it to hammer.

I'm going to keep messing with it, but I'm not too confident that I will ever get the piston out. I did try hammering from both sides of the piston.

 

[Sea18Horse]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

I knew I shouldn't have said something about running out of questions on my 18 hp Evinrude. I took it out yesterday and it kept jumping out of forward. When I got it back, I took off the little plate on the side of the leg and the bolt that connects the upper and lower shift rods had almost completely screwed itself out. I screwed it back in, but it seems to be stripped. It just keeps turning and it never gets tight. What do I need to do to fix it?

Well, I think what you should do is take the 10 apart, sell the shift handle shaft to me for $20.00, Use the shift rod connector out of it, and salvage the gears and shift dog to use in your 18. (I think they're the same) Or maybe just bolt the whole 10 horse lower unit on to check to see if it's ok.

Sounds like it was meant to be!

Cheers..................Todd

 

[Sea18Horse]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

In all seriousness though I'd say pull the screw all the way out and take a close look at it. The connector is brass and the threads in it are fine. So chances are the threads in the connector are stripped. But it could have worn the threads off the bolt too if it just worked its way loose. Unlikely but possible.

Also if the connector allowed the rod to separate enough then it could have been causing it to jump out of gear and your lower unit could very well be fine.

Cheers................Todd

P.S. Seriously though I'd love to buy that shift shaft from you. Keep me in mind

 

[BSDenning]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

Seriously, thanks a lot Todd! I had not even thought about taking the connector out of the Johnson and using that. I did that this afternoon and it seems to be working good. I'll have to take it out for a test run tomorrow.

I'm going to try a little more to get that piston out. But if I give up, I will definitely keep you in mind for the shift rod. I appreciate your help!

 

[BSDenning]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

OK... I've got another problem with my 18hp Evinrude. Other than not idling down as low as I thought it should (probably due to the damaged slow speed needle valve), it was running GREAT. Then, all of the sudden I took it out and it ran terrible. It runs o.k. at wide open throttle, but it has about half the speed of what it is supposed to have. It runs about 10mph when it was running at 20mph. Then, when you lower the throttle toward idle it runs horrible. It spits and sputters and backfires. It even shoots smoke back through the carb when it backfires. My first thought was that the carburater must not be right. So, I bought a new carb rebuild kit and I rebuilt a carb that I had bought off e-bay (I bought it just to get the slow speed needle). Well, I took it out yesterday and it ran exactly the same. So the problem is not the carb. I rebuilt it with a completely different carb. I have 2 ideas of what the problem could be. #1. It could be the timing, but I know nothing about fixing the timing. Can someone please advise me on if it could be the timing and how I can investigate/fix the timing. #2 of lesser concern, but it made me think about it because of the smoke coming out of the carb. I wonder if the reed valves could be bad. Please advise me on what could be going on. If it would help, I could post a video of the motor running.

 

[BSDenning]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

Any ideas? How do I adjust the timing? The only thing I can think of is to pull the flywheel and check to see if the key has sheered.

 

[Sea18Horse]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

I don't remember the full story on this motor. But I think if it were me I'd start by checking for a good strong spark with a spark checker. Looking for it to jump a 3/8" to 7/16" gap. You could have a plug wire breaking down or something along those lines. And then yeah I'd pop the flywheel off and check for a sheared key. That's really the only way timing could be off. Otherwise it's just a matter of checking the link-n-synch. When you have the flywheel off you might want to take a close look at the upper crankshaft seal. It might have cracked or come apart in some way. I know mine is dried up and hard and as a result my motor doesn't idle down as nicely as I think it could. broken reeds are certainly rare, but it does happen. Not that hard to get the reed plate off and have a look. Just need to round up new gaskets. Sorry to hear you're having problems here at the height of the fun season. Good luck with it!

Cheers....................Todd

 

[BSDenning]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

I don't remember the full story on this motor. But I think if it were me I'd start by checking for a good strong spark with a spark checker. Looking for it to jump a 3/8" to 7/16" gap. You could have a plug wire breaking down or something along those lines. And then yeah I'd pop the flywheel off and check for a sheared key. That's really the only way timing could be off. Otherwise it's just a matter of checking the link-n-synch. When you have the flywheel off you might want to take a close look at the upper crankshaft seal. It might have cracked or come apart in some way. I know mine is dried up and hard and as a result my motor doesn't idle down as nicely as I think it could. broken reeds are certainly rare, but it does happen. Not that hard to get the reed plate off and have a look. Just need to round up new gaskets. Sorry to hear you're having problems here at the height of the fun season. Good luck with it!

Cheers....................Todd

I'm sorry, I know this post has gone on for a while and involved multiple motors. The story on this motor is that I purchased it from a guy that said it had sat for 20 - 30 years. When I brought it home, I replaced the fuel lines, replaced the impeller, and rebuilt the carb and the motor ran great.

I did check the spark with a spark checker, and it seemed to have good spark. I will check it again just to double check. I also think I will pull the flywheel tomorrow to check that key. Please give me additional information on the upper crank case seal. Also, please advise me on the link-n-sink. What is it? I have heard people talk about it, but I really don't know what it is. If all this fails, I will then check the reed valves.

Yeah, I also hate that I'm having trouble with this motor right in the middle of the summer. But, the good news is I also have a 10hp that I have been running since my 18 hasn't been running right.

Thanks for all the help Todd!

-Bret

 

[cougar1985]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

theres a good chance your coils are toast.though they will still run ive taken coils out of those older johnny/rudes that you could literally crush with your hand.if their a whiteish color or cracked or anything other than perfect looking you need to replace them.this is quite common for those old motors.

 

[BSDenning]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

I'll take a good look at the coils when I pop the flywheel off today. When I first got the motor, I looked at the coils from the adjustment hole on the top of the flywheel. I didn't see any cracks and they didn't seem to be miscolored. If it's the coils, then that's not a problem because I've got an extra set of coils laying around here that I took out of my 1957 7.5hp fleetwin (I thought the problem was ignition, then I later found that the head gasket was blown).

Thanks for the advice though.

I think I may want to look into replacing my spark plug wires. There are some places where the insulation is worn. I'm not sure if it is worn enough to bleed through, but still, they should probably be replaced. I've never bought spark plug wires for these motors. Are they pretty common, or am I going to have to call up a specialty place like Sea-Way Marine or Laings Outboards?

 

[Sea18Horse]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

The upper crankshaft seal on the bigger motors is a lip seal. Made of rubber just like your average wheel bearing grease seal. They dry out with age and don't seal well. The smaller motors use a carbon seal up top just like the lower one. I can tell mine leaks because my magneto and surrounding area gets all coated with black oily crud. Once you get the flywheel off and lift the points cam off you can see it clearly. It fits just in the top off the main bearing. Unless there is some obvious problem with it like half the lip missing then your problem likely lies elsewhere.

Link-n-synch is pretty simple on the smaller motors. On the throttle cam attached to the mag plate there should be a line scribed. It's just a matter of checking to see that as you advance the throttle that the throttle butterfly just begins to open as the throttle roller aligns with the line. To adjust it you loosen the two bolts that hold the cam on to the mag plate and move the cam in or out as needed.

I know that Laings sells pre made up spark plug wires Sea way probably does too. In any case you need to use metal core spark plug wire. Resistor core automotive spark plug wire doesn't work. Good luck!

Cheers..................Todd

 

[BSDenning]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

I popped the flywheel off today. The key is in good condition. I also checked the coils. They do not look cracked or discolored. The points did look somewhat burned, so I took the whole plate off and replaced it with the plate off my 1956 10hp Johnson (so I was using a completely different set of coils, points, condensers, and spark plug wires). I cranked up the motor and it ran exactly the same as it did before. It spit and sputtered and backfired. So the problem is not spark. My magnito was all oily, so I'm sure my upper crankcase seal is leaking. I will have to pop the flywheel off again to check it now that I know what the upper crankcase seal is.

I will double check the link-n-sink, but I don't really think that is off.

I think I have narrowed the problem down to a crankcase leak. It's not a carb problem. It's not a spark problem. And I've got 100psi compression in each cylinder. I know the crankcase is leaking it one spot on the side of the powerhead because when I was running it, I could see some bubbles coming out of the joint where the crankcase connects to the cylinder block.

So, I'm thinking the next thing to do after checking the upper crank case seal and link-n-sink is to break the motor down and try to reseal the crankcase. Oh, I should probably also check the reeds.

 

[BSDenning]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

I have a question reguarding gaskets. If I am going to take the power head off and try to reseal the crankcase, can I use just the run of the mill gasket making material, or do I need to order these gaskets special? While I'm at it, I think I'll also check the reed valves. I have the same question reguarding those gaskets.

 

[ezeke]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

I think that gasket kit 0376973 is supposed to cover that engine: http://www.boats.net/parts/detail/brp/B-0376973.html

You may want to check on the cylinder head gaskets.

 

[HowardRay1]

Re: 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp

QUOTE=BSDenning;2611303]Hello everyone! I recently got pretty lucky and found a guy on craigslist that had several old outboard motors he was trying to get rid of. One of the motors he had was a 1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18hp. I've had my eye out for a motor like this because I've been wanting to give my jon boat a little more power. I gave the guy a call and offered him $50 for it. He agreed and then when I came to pick it up, he also gave me a 1956 Johnson 10hp. Unfortunately, the Johnson is locked up, but I took it anyway because you never know when you may need a part off of it. The guy said that the motors had been sitting in his barn for 20 or 30 years. They both definitely look their age. You can tell that they have been run in salt water by the corrosion on them. But, I figured I'd give it a shot and see if this 18hp is restorable. First, the recoil spring was broken on the starter. No problem, I just took the starter off the johnson and put it on the evinrude. The Johnson paid for itself already! Then I noticed that one of the fuel lines was cracked. I replaced it. I replaced the lower unit oil. It didn't seem to have any water in it. Dirt dobbers had made this motor their home over the years, so I spent some time with a screw driver scraping dirt out of the tale tale. I checked the coils and I didn't see any cracks in them. This motor even has the old Champion J6J plugs that you can't find anymore! I checked compression and it had 110 lbs. in each cylinder. Then, I decided to see if this old motor would crank. After pulling on it several times, it actually fired up and ran! I was really surprised that after all these years, it fired right up. It even pumped water and everything. So, I took it out to the river to see what it could do on my boat. It fired right up and ran great, but it stopped pumping water when I got it up to speed good, so I had to shut the motor down and troll back. Thoroughly convinced now that this motor is worth putting more money into, I have ordered a new impeller with ware plate and a carb rebuild kit. I should get them in the mail next week.

Now, on to my questions. I pulled the lower unit off to take a look at the impeller. When I pulled the lower unit off, the drive shaft actually came out of the powerhead AND the lower unit. It seemed to go right back in the lower unit with no problems, but I thought it was strange because I have changed the impeller in my 1957 Evinrude Fleetwin 7.5hp before and the drive shaft didn't come out of the lower unit when I did that. So, my first question is: Is it bad that the drive shaft came out of the lower unit?

When I got down to the impeller, it really didn't look in all that bad of shape. I was expecting it to be in pieces, but it was all in one piece. So, I put everything back together and took it down to the river again to see if it would pump water. The motor pumps water perfectly fine at idle and low speed, but when you increase the throttle and get up to speed, it quits pumping water. Then you bring it back down to idle and it starts pumping water again. Strange? I assume this problem will be fixed when I get my new impeller in the mail and replace it. Any thoughts on that? My guess is that it is so old that the little legs just bend over when it gets up to high speed and so it stops pumping water?

This poor little motor has been jery rigged to death! It has a Johnson tiller handle, a Johnson recoil starter (thanks to me), some type of strange round knob screwed in in the place of the choke knob (but it works), and instead of the water pump housing being attached by screws to the lower unit, someone has actually drilled through to the outside (where the bolts are that bolt on the lower unit to the exhaust housing assembly) and the waterpump housing is actually attached by bolts with nuts and lockwashers! I'm hoping that this is not the cause of my water pumping issues. I may have to include some pictures in this thread so you can see what I'm talking about.

I look forward to gaining more knowlege about this motor![/QUOTE]