LU and impellar questions on 1958 18hp FD-12

[Hogie22]

Hello,
I'm new to posting but I've been reading for a couple months, I bought a 1958 18hp but have never worked on an outboard. I'm actually pretty excited and will have questions along the way. I read the forum for awhile (couple of months) before I dove into the project, but this weekend I had time to give some of it a try and as a result I have a few questions.
When I drained the lower unit some clear water came out with the lube (separated from the lube) so when I disassembled the water pump area (impellar) I looked for abnormalities and the only thing I could see was the grommet for the water tube was disfigured and twisted. Would this be the culprit for the water? I put in a new impellar, lower plate, and grommet.

Also, when I went to reassemble the lower unit onto the main unit I had three tubes to line-up. The drive shaft, the water tube, and the shift linkage rod. It was easy to tell when the driveshaft was inserted, and the easy to see the shiftlinkage rod in the connector, but how do you know for sure the water tube was inserted into the upper grommet? What will happen if it is not fully in the upper grommet? I reached in ( in the side at the connector for the shift linkage rod) with my fingers and felt the copper tube and it felt tight and not sloppy so I'm assuming it went where it was suppose to.

 

[F_R]

Re: LU and impellar questions on 1958 18hp FD-12

No, the water tube grommet is not the cause of water in the gearcase. One or more of your gearcase seals is leaking. They are:
Drive shaft seal
Propeller shaft seal
Shift rod seal
o-rings, drain pluig gaskets, spagetti seal

Ok, to assemble lower unit to exhaust housing put the shift lever in forward and the gearcase in reverse (rod pushed down) That way you don't have to mess with trying to align it. You can align it and connect it later. As for the water tube, insert it into the upper grommet. Then you can see to align it with the lower one as you assemble the gearcase up. So, you have to feel around for the drive shaft and can see the water tube--not too bad.

When you get around to the shift rod connector, use a flashlight to peer in there and make sure the notch in the rod is exactly aligned with the screw hole before inserting the screw. Failure to do so will strip the threads every time, and the screw will fall out when you most don't want it to.

 

[Hogie22]

Re: LU and impellar questions on 1958 18hp FD-12

Thanks for the response.
I've looked in the parts manual and find all the seals mentioned except the spagetti seal. Does it have another name I would find it under.
Is it the long seal between upper and lower gearcase housings?
I'll have to order some seal kits.

 

[F_R]

Re: LU and impellar questions on 1958 18hp FD-12

yes, the spagetti is an outboard slang term. But that's what we are talking about.