Re: 9.9 evinrude 1982
I know it is a nasty design and therefore it is not a job where you should try to spare the profanity. Profanity will be required so keep the kids far away from the garage and you should be fine.
I think on factory assembly the latch is bolted on before the powerhead is even installed, so Evinrude never noticed how bad their design really was. Anyway this is directly from Leeroy's ramblings:
http://www.sschapterpsa.com/ramblings/Johnson 9.9_15.htm
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On the motors before 1986 this thermostat is located in the lower portion of the outside rear water cover, which is bolted onto the rear of the head. The thermostat is in the very bottom of this cover. The cover can be removed from the motor without removal of the power head. BUT you will have to remove the rear cover latch to allow enough room to access the lower RH cover bolt to be able to remove this cover. You may have to modify a wrench by thinning it as there is minimal room.
This can be a little tricky in that you need to keep unscrewing the latch screw (1 flat at a time) from the inside & pull the latch lever rearward so that the screw is totally unscrewed allowing the lever to be retracted rearward out of it's hole. Once you get it about 1/2 unscrewed you can hold onto the bolt head & unscrew the latch lever. Now the inner actual latch can be pulled out after it falls off the screw, which then the screw is free allowing the thermostat cover to be removed.
The problem for reassembly is usually that the wafer washer is hard to get aligned over the lever shaft AND then get the latch aligned with the flats coinciding with the flats on the shaft all at the same time. I have found it easier to get the bolt & flat washer angled in place & then have someone with skinny fingers place the latch & wafer washer over the bolt while the bolt is then poked rearward but not out the hole. At the same time push the lever/shaft in the hole, trying to align everything. Rotate the lever as much as possible trying to get at least one thread started. Don't worry about the placement of the latch until you get the bolt pretty well tightened, but still allowing clearance to slide it onto the flats. Once you have the threads going, you can rotate the lever & at the same time tighten the bolt head with a wrench, speeding up the process.
Better way submitted by John Modic. Make up a piece of all-thread the same overall length as the original bolt including the head. LocTite the threads into the latch lever, line up washer & latch on the inside, push the lever with the all-thread bolt in from outside and place a nut on the end of the threads, tighten the nut & you have saved a lot of frustration.
When reassembling, you also have to have the bottom RH bolt inserted into the thermostat cover before you slide it into place as there is not enough room to do it once the cover is in place. You also need skinny fingers to be able to re-attach the engine cover latch to it's lever properly. It will generally be best to get the screw mostly into the latch lever before you try to align the latch flats to the lever.
When the factory assembled this motor the latch was in place before the powerhead was bolted on. If I remember right it might be easier to remove the head, attach the thermostat cover & then replace the head, BUT you need to place the lower head bolts into the head before you slide it in place or you will not be able to get then in either.
