1961 Evinrude 5.5 fuel question

[JSGOLD]

Just bought an older motor for our "kicker" on the 76 Startcraft we recently purchased. I have a couple of questions on this motor as to the fuel. The previous owner had run it wih the same fuel mixture as a lot of evinrudes (50-1 mix) but last night I saw a mention it should be 24-1....also the motor has a single fuel line on it but I have also read where motors prior to 1964 used different fuel tanks than the 1976 55HP Evenrude I have use....is this correct? I am a bit confused on this. Owner told me I could simply connect it to any line and run it, period. It has a single hose with a barbed adapter, so it can connect to another hose.

 

[jeff_smith_0423]

Re: 1961 Evinrude 5.5 fuel question

59-60 was when they dropped the pressure tank and switched for fuel pump. Run the motor on 24:1. Use any clean fuel tank with matching OMC connections.

 

[OptsyEagle]

Re: 1961 Evinrude 5.5 fuel question

You should run it with 24:1 instead of 50:1, but I know a lot of people do run them with 50:1 citing better oil quality today then in 1961. Myself, I like to err on the more oil is better then less oil, side.

If you are just using it as a backup motor, then I would just keep a quart of 2 stroke oil in the boat. Your other motor is 50:1 or 2%. 24:1 is just another 2%. So I would simply look at my tank and estimate how much gas I have left and add another 2% (plus or minus 1%) of oil to get me back home. It will save you carrying another tank.

All the math above is a heck of a lot easier if you are up here in Canada since we use metric up here and therefore percentages for the calculations above are much easier to do. Millilitres into Litres calculates a heck of lot easier than pints or ounzes into gallons when you are out in a boat on a hot sunny day.

 

[JSGOLD]

Re: 1961 Evinrude 5.5 fuel question

Thanks folks! I have two 6 gallon tanks and MOST of the time will be using the 5.5 for two local lakes that we frequent, but have limits of 10HP on motors. So I will either keep one 24-1 and one 50-1, with backup of oil just in case, or, might just pickup a smaller tank for the local lakes. Was just confused with reading this morning on pressurized tanks of the older motors....