1967 OMC Sportsman 120

LuCroix

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Joined
Aug 5, 2017
Messages
23
Im the proud owner of a recently inherited 1967 OMC Sportsman 120.

Some history of the boat that I know of...

It was last in the water about 5 or 6 years ago. Prior to my father owning the boat it was used in salt and freshwater. My father used it in freshwater 3 times. He had installed a brand new battery and changed all fluids and the oil filter. The last time he took it out it ended up shutting off about a minute after starting it. When he went to start it up again there seemed to be no power at all. No clicking from the starter, nothing. I got under the dash and started jiggling wires. A few minutes later the boat started again and then shut off moments later. Once again, no response from anything when turning the key. After that the boat sat for about 5 or 6 years. Now the boat is mine and the project begins.

When I got the boat there was a new tilt motor in a box. It was disassemled a bit so i reassmbled it. I've since bench tested the tilt motor and it works in both forward and reverse. There was no hammer blow coupling so I bought one on ebay for $35 (Such a deal!). I can't install the motor yet because it appears there's a gasket missing. Searching for one of those now. I've tried using the dash switch to run the tilt motor to no avail. No clicking from the solenoids. Trying to figure out how to test the solenoids for voltage and manually jump them.

The oil was old and very dirty. Bought a hand pump from Harbor Freight and pumped it out through the dipstick tube. Put a new Fram PH-30 filter on. Replaced the oil with some Valvoline 10w30 synthetic blend based on a suggestion I read on another forum. If anyone has input on this I'm all ears.

Prop is a little bit chopped up but should work just fine until I can get another one.

There's some frayed and corroded wiring in the engine bay. Power wire, ground wire, wire going from one tilt solenoid to the other. Also noticed a wire with a connector end near the water pump just dangling. Looks like whatever it attached to on the water pump is now broken. I'll post a pic of that later.

So far that's where I'm at. The engine does crank but I haven't tried turning it over yet since I haven't replaced the stern drive fluids yet. I bought some C type for the upper and lower unit which I will hopefully be changing this week. I need to find out the proper amount of fluid to put in.

 
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LuCroix

Cadet
Joined
Aug 5, 2017
Messages
23
Spent half of the day yesterday with the boat.

Opened up the distributor and it looks brand new. Did a little cleaning from some very minor buildup on what I believe are the points.

Changed out the fluids in the upper and lower gear cases. Color looked good on the old fluid. No milky look to anything.

With everything looking good I put some fresh fuel in the portable tank and decided to start her up. Cranked fine and took a few seconds to start up. Heard some really loud squealing which sounded like the belt. Shut it down and gave it a couple more starts and the noise was gone. Let it run for a couple of minutes and shut it down again. Had some fuel coming out of the top of one of the carb bowls. Put some sea foam into the fuel tank and tapped the bowl a few times with a mallet, no more fuel coming out.

I did notice a few very light water leaks from the cooling system. One seems to be a bad gasket that has some liquid gasket partially applied. The other leaks were from hoses. I pulled the large hose going to the thermostat housing and noticed some rust stuck to the hose and the clamp won't tighten further than a couple of clicks. The other 2 hoses have spring clamps on them. I'm thinking I just need to clean off the part the hose attaches to for a smooth surface.

I didn't have a chance to test the alternator which but the boat ran fine and no stalls so it seems to be ok. Will test next time I'm there.
 

LuCroix

Cadet
Joined
Aug 5, 2017
Messages
23
Thanks!

Sadly I hit a snag today. Seems there's a short somewhere. So far I've narrowed it down to either the engine bay or the top section under the dash that goes from gauge to gauge. The wires running along the bottom of the dash only show a short when I flip the main power switch. Going to try and get back down there tomorrow to narrow it down further. The plan is to disconnect the power and ground that run from the battery to the gauge section and see if the battery is still showing a short. That should give me a better idea of where to look, at least that's my thinking at the moment. I spent an hour trying to track it down earlier and wanted to rip my hair out when the bugs started biting. Tomorrow is another day.

As for the tilt motor, problem found. The spade connector thats connected to the buss bar was shot. Now to figure out what gauge wires are running to the block so I can replace all of the ends. When I tried to clean the tilt wire end a piece broke right off. At least I've figured out the issue.
 
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