Reviving the '58 Fisherman

[1946Zephyr]

Well, I bought this little '58 Evinrude Fisherman last year with a tank, for the tune of $40. The guy I bought it from told me that he was out running it one day and it locked up. I figured....okay, a blown rod and a crank. No biggie. I can replace that and have a nice little Fisherman. Oddly enough, both pistons would move, if I turned the flywheel. Hmmmm

Well, tonight I decided to tear into it and see exactly what I would find. It turns out that a rod bolt was backed out almost to the point of falling out and it would hit the inside of the block, which made it lock up, so to speak. The crank turned out to be in nice condition still and the rod just needed some cleaning up and put back together. WOW my luck strikes again It looks like I'll be able to bring this little Rude back to life with a very minimal cost. A few gaskets and some rod bolt locks, and I'll sinch 'er back together. It looks to be a low hours engine and should run for many years. I'll go ahead and re-seal the lower unit, since I have it apart.

 

[Mas]

Re: Reviving the '58 Fisherman

Gotta like that!

Mas

 

[62 ROYAL SCOTT]

Re: Reviving the '58 Fisherman

Hello-nice Buy - looks like it will fit right in your collection

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: Reviving the '58 Fisherman

Yea, it's a nice one. Can't wait to get it runnin and put it on a boat.

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: Reviving the '58 Fisherman

Boy, you did luck out! I consider it a win with one of those 5.5s if the crankcase isn't ventilated. To get the crank and rod out of it, too, SCORE!!

 

[JohnRudeMan]

Re: Reviving the '58 Fisherman

Nice motor !

 

[kodibass]

Re: Reviving the '58 Fisherman

If you send it to me Parcel Post it will save you a few bucks' just so you know I'm OK with that.

 

[ultra353]

Re: Reviving the '58 Fisherman

Your always getting the good deals, nice score!

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: Reviving the '58 Fisherman

Boy, you did luck out! I consider it a win with one of those 5.5s if the crankcase isn't ventilated. To get the crank and rod out of it, too, SCORE!!

Yea, I've been on the look out for a crank and rod set, since I brought it home and it turns out there wasn't a need. LOL
Here are a couple updated pics of the innards.

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: Reviving the '58 Fisherman

When I got my '56 a couple summers ago it came with a '55 parts motor. Between the two, I ended up with two good rods and was able to clean up the better of the two crankshafts with emory cloth.

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: Reviving the '58 Fisherman

Nice little motor. I'm anxious to get my '55 5.5 stripped and repainted. It looks like hell, but it runs nice. I bought it last year and found new coils under the flywheel. The po was nice enough to give it new coils, but did a shoddy job with the spark plug leads. It would cut out on one cylinder, so just a couple weeks ago, I put new leads on it. I just acquired a '54 Johnson 5.5 but the guy liked what I did to it, he wants to trade me a couple 3hp's for it.

 

[Arctic 33]

Re: Reviving the '58 Fisherman

Good fortune has shined on you.

 

[nwcove]

Re: Reviving the '58 Fisherman

where do you shop for motors?????? lol nice find for $40!!

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: Reviving the '58 Fisherman

Yea, I'm lucky it turned out that way. I was counting on having to spend some cubic bucks on it to fix it. Out here in Oregon, there are a lot of cheap motors. I see them a lot. Luckily, I just need to get a set of lock plates for the rod bolts and put it back together. I'll just have a guy at work laser out a couple hundred of them for me, so I'll have a lifetime supply.

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: Reviving the '58 Fisherman

Well, I drew out the connecting rod screw locking plate on AutoCAD and took it to work. The programmer and laser operator where I work, were nice enough to make a batch of them. The factory ones are made out of some pretty brittle material (20 guage) and can only bend once, before they get weak and break. So, I went with 18 guage stainless on mine. They match factory perfectly, on how they work. So, today, I torqued the rod screws down at 60 inch pounds and locked them down. If any of you guys would like to make some of these, pm me and I'll send you a dxf file (for the FabriWIN program) and a dwg file for a print. Just find a sheet metal shop local to you with lasering capabilities and they can burn you out a set of 64 on a 6" x 6" blank.