(Somewhat) New to boating, New to the forum.

[das_army_life_yah]

sphelps I know. Though there was no chewed up wiring, so I’m curious if it was just someone trying to force the cowl down when it wasn’t positioned right, tearing up the foam. I need to search for what kinda foam to use to replace it.
archbuilder I learned how to keep track of everything from the best. My grandpa used to say “Just sweep any unused bolts/pieces under the rug and hope she runs.” Though I think he was kidding bc he never had anything left over. I actually take a lot of pictures any time I do a tear-down/rebuild. I label each picture “step #” and print the pictures as I go. I write notes on the pics as far as how wiring is ran, where fasteners go, etc. I usually assign letters to the fasteners and then push them into a piece of cardboard with their letter written by them and then label the piece of cardboard with the step number so I know what fasteners go where. If I run across a nut, I just tape it to the cardboard. I’ve never had any issues with lost parts except when the inevitable broken bolt/stripped thread happens. Rebuilt 3 engines this way. Works like a charm. The wiring is the part that sucks. So many pics. I use a pencil to “point” at each connection when I take the pics. I also use a silver sharpie to label both the female and male connections on any harnesses to make sure I’m not plugging something up where it doesn’t belong.

So I managed to dig out my cherry picker. Gotta get it reassembled so I can pull the powerhead from the motor. Once I get it removed and start full disassembly, I’ll snap a few pics for you guys.

 

[archbuilder]

Sounds good, the miracle of the phone camera.....I remember when we used polaroid cameras if you were lucky lol! I usually use the bag and tag method. Lots of zip lock bags, not as detailed as your method, but it sure helps! I used to work at a place that practiced the throw them in a coffee can method...hated that! Spent more time trying to figure out what went where than putting things together!

 

[das_army_life_yah]

archbuilder I can understand the frustration there. Especially with something as serious as a full tear down. And as you can tell by the pics, I’m pretty OCD about how I do things lol. She’s all tore down now. Everything looks to be in pretty great shape overall. Time to start cleaning everything up so I can snap it back together when my sealants/compounds get here.

 

[archbuilder]

Looks really good!

 

[das_army_life_yah]

Pics to come when I get home.......So it was getting dark out when I disassembled the powerhead last night, so I didn’t get a chance to get a good look at the condition of everything until I cleaned it up with degreaser and brought it inside. Once I had the majority of the buildup removed I was able to get a good look in the cylinders, and it’s not looking too good. 3 out of the 4 cylinders/pistons are immaculate, but one of the cylinders/pistons is pretty badly scored. I can snag the scoring with my nail, and the lower ring on the piston is virtually welded in place on one side. :frusty: I plan to measure everything out today to see if it’s been previously oversized. I’m hoping it’s still standard bore and that the scoring can be smoothed out within .030 of oversizing. If not, I’m going to talk to some machine shops in the area to see how much it will run me to re-sleeve the thing. At this point, I’m honestly half-tempted to just slap the new gaskets back in as it sits, ride her til she dies, and just buy a remanufactured powerhead from Crowley for $2500 when it blows up. Lmao


I wonder if there is a member on here who happens to be a machinist. Even better, a machinist who is located in western Washington and would want to contribute to the cause.

 

[archbuilder]

Well that sucks, but you have options at least. Me I would use it as an excuse to put a Mercury on it.....but then again I am biased lol!

 

[das_army_life_yah]

I attached some pics of the pistons/cylinders. I forgot to post them last night. Prepare for a long-winded post. Today was a GREAT day!!!

archbuilder To use a mercury would be blasphemy. Lol. Honestly though, there is no way in the world I’m getting rid of this thing after today.

So I brought the crankcase/cylinder housing to a guy I know that owns a shop dedicated to rebuilding and repairing Johnson/Evinrude outboards. I wanted to get it looked at so I can know what my options are. I also brought the pistons and crank to see if they were reusable as-is or if they needed re-worked in any way. First, he asked me how bad the rust was before I cleaned the crankcase/cylinder housing. I told him there wasn’t any, to which he was REALLY surprised. When he looked at the scored cylinder, he said it can easily be smoothed out with a hone and that there was no need to increase the bore size. He also said that the crank is in great shape and at most he would recommend just polishing the journals. That was a huge relief. The best part of the whole experience is what happened when I showed him the pistons.

I grabbed the scored piston out to show him, and as soon as he laid eyes on it he shouted “Whoa!” I replied with “Ya, it’s pretty ate up.” He then proceeded to tell me that the scoring isn’t what he was so surprised about. Apparently, this brand/style of pistons are the ones they installed from the factory back in 1979. He said that they weren’t used for very long and were recalled shortly after they started using them because the protective coating on top was found to wear off in 100 hours or so, resulting in problems. He also said that I got a pretty rare bird because mine has standard-size pistons. He said he was surprised by this because he said the vast majority of Johnson V4’s from this era were bored .020-.030 over from the factory.

He really made my day when he told me since the cylinder walls still have nice cross-hatching and that the motor still has the factory pistons with plenty of coating left on them, that this motor can’t have much more than 40/50 hours on it. He said it’d be a stretch to think there were even THAT many hours on it. He told me that if I get it honed and replace the pistons, rings, and bearings that it will be almost as if it just rolled out of the factory. He was almost as excited as I am, and told me that he hasn’t seen an engine this old that’s in this kind of condition in the 30+ years he’s been rebuilding them. He joked around and asked me if I had any intention of selling it when I was done. Answer is a firm “no.” Lol

 

[kcassells]

That's a GOOD story!

 

[archbuilder]

that is always a good day!

 

[das_army_life_yah]

Go figure that 41 year old gasket maker and loctite would be a nightmare to get off. Lol. Used tried and true method for getting the stuff off: Jasco Paint & Epoxy Remover. Idk if you guys know about this stuff, but it does an amazing job of getting old gasket material off and it’s a lot cheaper than Aircraft Remover. Downside is that it also does an amazing job of stripping paint. Good thing I’m redoing it anyway. The red coating lining the water jackets was my only concern. I worked around it my spraying the Jasco into its cap and using a paint brush to apply it. These are the results so far. All I did was apply liberally and let sit for about an hour. Plastic scraper and a brass-bristle brush just shredded the paint right off.

 

[archbuilder]

Very cool, wish I had some of that a while back when I was trying to get vintage Mercruiser paint off of my valve cover. Seems everything is eco-freindly these days, which is code for doesn't work. I miss the days of super toxic stuff that worked lol! Looks like you are moving along!

 

[sphelps]

Oh yeah ! The Jasco stuff works great! I’m using it on the tin mule now for stripping paint ...
Just be careful ..It will burn your skin / eyes if you get it on ya ...

 

[das_army_life_yah]

archbuilder Ya the stuff is pretty amazing. I was being really cautious with it, trying not to get any into the water jackets and whatnot. I figured it would strip off the red Glyptol that Johnson used to coat the thing. As you can see in the pic, it didn’t even touch the Glyptol. Turns out I didn’t need to be so careful with the stuff after all. Lol. Also, idk if it was the vinegar/water mix I sprayed in the water jackets or the Jasco, but when I hosed it off and sprayed her down with Liquid wrench lube, I noticed that there was literally no scale buildup left in the thing. Even the rubber water restrictors look like new.
sphelps you’re lucky that hull is aluminum. I wish I could use this stuff on the glastron to get the old gelcoat off lol. And ya, I had a bit of spatter come up under my eyepro and get in my eye. I sat at my mop sink for a good 20 minutes holding my eye open so I could rinse it out. Luckily it didn’t do any damage. I also had latex gloves on, but I still got it all over my skin. Takes a good 20 minutes before you start noticing a burning sensation.

 

[Timr71]

Nice! Good news with the engine. Good luck!

 

[das_army_life_yah]

Timr71 thanks. It’s about the only thing I can work on due to the weather. Sad thing is now, the weather is supposed to clear up in the next day or so and I’m in the middle of stripping the paint off and cleaning the powerhead in preparation for machining. :facepalm:

I’m thinking of just getting as much of the paint off as possible and having it media-blasted and hot-tanked to make my life a little easier. Mainly because I plan to give her a fresh coat of glyptal before I have it honed. This way I can get her straight home, give her an oil bath, and slap her in a bag til my parts get here to finish the rebuild.

 

[Timr71]

Got it. My family members have owned a couple of two stroke outboards through the years. Me, I was always a dirtbike guy, so I know the inner workings of that kind of engine. I always wondered how difficult a two stroke outboard would be to work on. Just to do things like replace rings or pistons. It's interesting to me to see yours apart.

 

[das_army_life_yah]

Timr71 its not all that different from a regular 2-stroke except for how it’s mounted/removed from the actual outboard. After that it’s pretty much the same.

 

[das_army_life_yah]

So we finally got some weather decent enough for me to pull the project out of the garage and finish up the grinding. There’s only one major downside......it’s ridiculously sunny and pushing 85 degrees. Gonna be a hot day in the tyvek today.

 

[archbuilder]

Yoda says "HMMMMM grind you must, do it in the winter". lol. Sucks, but it is one of those things that you have to get done. And when you think you are done you aren't lol!

 

[das_army_life_yah]

archbuilder Aint that the truth. I thought I may be able to get it done today, but failed to take into account that the weird angles by the transom meant I have to attack it from multiple directions.....