1955 evinrude fastwin 15 help??

[vister]

to those that may have some advice. i got a '55 evinrude fastwin 15 horse outboard the other day for free. it has been laying on a shop floor for 20 years. i put it on the back of my 14 ft boat to tinker with it. added fresh gas, pulled a few times, and it fired up right away. couldnt believe it! she purrs like a kitten and idles just dandy. the water pump was pumping water just fine as well. it leaks a little gearcase oil, but thats not my issue. when you start opening up the throttle a bit, it either jumps into gear, or if in gear, will jump out of gear. i took the little cover off where the linkage is for the shifting, and everything is fine. but when it is in the forward position, the linkage can move up and down a solid 1/4", and im sure this is why it jumps in/out of gear with it rattling around. you can pull the shift lever forward, more than its intended to, and this solves it, except for at mid to high rpm in gear she stalls out. is something loose, sheared or the like. or under load, do you think the points and condensors are too old to keep her up to snuff?

[hydro]

You have two separate problems my friend.

1. The "jumping into and out of gear" sounds like the pivot in the gearcase is not connected. Is there a small machine screw on the lower half of the gearcase? That's the pivot pin. You may have something broken or loose there that would allow the shift dog to wander back and forth. Bad news is you may also have a damaged shift dog and forward gearset. It would cost far more to fix a worn dog and gearset by replacing parts that the motor is worth. Good news is that someone with a little skill and know how with a Dremel can grind back the dog and gear so that they are sharp again and you will be back in business for a little labor cost. I've done that more than once and it works well.

2. The stalling at mid to high rpm could be either a plugged high speed jet in the carb or an ignition problem. I would suggest cleaning the carb first since ignition problems are tougher to track down.

[boatfixer]

I agree, definitly sounds like worn dogs to me. And as far as the other issue I also agree with hydro. But, before you get to carried away, make sure you can get the shifting issue taken care of and do a compression test. You will defintly need to clean/rebuild the carb and I would suggest a tune-up kit, inspect the plug wires and would be willing to bet the coils are cracked. Good news is, the ignition parts are still very easily accessible. Once you get it running good, replace the water pump impeller.

[vister]

thanks for the advice guys. i tore into the gear case of the lower unit, and inspected everything. the clutch dog, gears, pins, are all there and in very good shape. i started it up, and removed a plug wire. it is only running on one cylinder. i switched the points and condensors around, and fired it up. it is still missing on the same cylinder, so im assuming its a coil or plug wire. i never would have guessed an ignition problem at start up considering it fires on the second pull and idles like a champ. i looked at the impeller in the water pump, and it is like brand new! it seems like something is goofy with the linkage at the shift lever itself. you can bypass the forward stop, and pull the shift lever farther forward than intended, and it doesnt jump gear. however, the tension arm that holds the shift lever in place gets closer to the flywheel, and doesnt allow wide open throttle. so, im guessing if i get it to run up to par, i may just modify a few things to make it work. thanks again, and reply if u feel im doing a no-no!

[hydro]

I suggest that you do not modify the shift linkage mechanism to make it work, rather, look into it and see why it is not working. Look at the shift lever and it's detent mechanism, and make sure you have the correct motion through the shift rod down to the gearcase, which you can observe through the access panel on the side of the midsection. The arms near the flywheel are to limit throttle in neutral and reverse and should not affect shifting.

If the gears did not look worn it is definitely worth repairing!

[vister]

Replaced points, condensors, and a coil. Runs great. Took access cover to shift linkage off, and played around with the shift handle. Loosened handle and adjusted it to make my shift issue go away. It did. Ran it for a bit, everything worked great!! Shut it down, filled a tub with water to check after everything was done. Wouldn't start! Go figure, there wasn't half a cup of gas left in the tank. Perfect timing!! Oh well, tomorrow I guess. What do you recommend for a fuel mixture? 32:1 or leaner? Sticker under the shroud says one quart per tank of motor oil. Seems rich. Thanks again

[boatfixer]

Coil cracked? Use a good grade of oil and 32:1 is what was recomended back then, but the oils are much better today. I would say 40:1 or even 50:1 would be fine.

[vister]

and, just when i thought i was out of the woods, she seems to get fussier and fussier trying to start. i noticed gas is starting to drip out of the exhaust when im trying to fire it up. when it starts, it runs great, otherwise it spits and sputters and backfires while trying to start. im assuming it is a carb issue, and ive been through it twice now, but i think im going to buy a carb kit and try that as well. i hear that outboard up and running is rather valuable, so i guess im not going to give up on it yet!

by the way, the coil wasnt cracked, there was a blackspot on the bottom of it where it was trying to arc out.

[shizzy]

put the carb kit in it. also make sure you put new packing around the low and high speed mixture shafts. they might not come in the rebuild kit but are available seperatley. they are kind of a soft O-ring that seals the shaft and carb.

if the coils were original I would replace the other one as well. one new one and one 55 year old one doesnt seem like a good plan. they are cheap enough. Might as well have nice hot spark.

if it still has the cork float, it might be a good idea to get a new one as well.

for as cheap as the parts are for old Johhnyrudes, I would just do it all at once and have a reliable outboard.