'73 Ted Williams 4.5hp Idle Adjustment?

[masscuppic]

First off, love this site. Very helpful. I?ve got a ?73 Ted Williams 4.5hp (model #217.59463 ). Picked it up for 25 bucks. Its in decent shape after sleeping for about 8 years. My son and I cleaned it up, replaced the spark plug and fuel lines and it fires right up. Great spark. Starts, Idles and runs well except for the fact that we can?t move the throttle much past the start position. It will hold a nice slow idle just fine, will push the boat around a half throttle, but won?t go anywhere near full throttle. Just stalls out every time. We?ve tried tweaking the idle adjustment from rich to lean...no change. Is there another way to adjust the idle? Any help/suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks!

 

[steelespike]

Re: '73 Ted Williams 4.5hp Idle Adjustment?

If its on a remote tank try squeezing the primer bulb.
If not try a little choke.If it responds usually indicates poor fuel delivery.
Clean the carb with carefull attention to all passages and jets.
There may be a fuelpump element in the carb mount flange.

 

[hdodt]

Re: '73 Ted Williams 4.5hp Idle Adjustment?

The two things I would look at would be first off the ignition advace. Some of them engines have an advace that is hooked to to the throtle lever. Make sure it moves with the throtle. Second. Take the carb off the engine. Its simple just two 3/8" nuts and look at the plate that mounts to the engine. If you see an orange rubber circle carfully pull it out. This is the fuel pump element. Make sure there are no small tears or pin holes in it. Be very careful they will tear on ya. You can order a new one from Ebay or a couple other places online for about 9 bucks. Good luck, sounds like you founda keeper.

 

[masscuppic]

Re: '73 Ted Williams 4.5hp Idle Adjustment?

Thanks for the input and suggestions guys. I did some heavier cleaning on the carb, set it up in the tank, fired it up and let it run for a good long time...like an hour or so and then a few days later ran it again for an hour and each time the power improved. We've taken it out a few times and it's performed well. Like others have said, it is underpowered for its rating. More like a 3hp Seahorse. And its loud and vibrates like no tomorrow, but its light, cheap to run and so far has been a cheap investment. Not to mention, it reminds of my buddy's Gamefisher that he had back in the '70s when we were kids. Will keep fishing with the Teddy while I scour craigslist for a deal on an old Johnson 4 or 7 like we had back then.