TOPIC: 1967 Chrysler (Sea King) 55 hp needs help!

I bought an old Sea King boat and motor last year and am trying to get it living again. The boat is a time capsule...it looks nearly new. Everything is solid and in great condition. It was clearly loved and stored indoors all its life.
The motor looks really clean. When I bought it, the gentleman I bought it from just said "the motor needs some work." I was so pleased with the boat that I really didn't even care if it ran or not.
I did a compression test on it when I got it home last fall, and I had 140 in both cylinders. I hooked it up to muffs and I could get it running without much effort, but it ran rough. I stored it away until this spring, and here's what I have so far.
When I first started it this spring, while it was running rough, I pulled the top plug wire and nothing happened. Kept running the same. Reinstalled that wire and pulled the bottom one and it died instantly. I removed the wires, inspected them, and switched their positions. This time it ran better and when I would pull either one it would run rougher but keep running.
Being impatient, I took it to the lake to see how it would run under throttle. Idled rough, vibrations at slow no wake speed, but wide open it was pretty good. However, while running WOT it bogged down and quit. I had to let it sit for 5 minutes, then it fired up and ran for another 10 minutes. We had to idle before a bridge, and it died. Couldn't get it restarted.
So I installed new plugs and wires. I filed and reset the points. I installed a new impeller. I changed the lower unit oil.
As I have never timed an outboard, I was able to find a guy about a hour from my house who said he is an expert on these motors. His fee for a tune up was very reasonable, so I took the boat out there on a Saturday and he dug in. Right away we realized I was not pumping water. I figured I screwed up the impeller somehow, so I removed the lower unit and found the water tube was not seated in the gasket off of the pump. Fixed that and we were pumping again.
We installed a new diaphragm in the fuel pump. Adjusted the idle needle valve and idle speed. When it came time to adjust the timing I think I have over stayed my welcome as I had been there 2 hours and planned just 1. He hooked up an automotive timing light, made a mark on the flywheel as we couldn't find one, looked at it quickly and said it looked good. I had no idea what he was looking at.
We took it up to the lake for the 4th of July, and it was hard to start. Once I got it running, it ran well for about 10 laps. While running at WOT, the overheat light came on. We shut it down right away, let it sit for about 15 minutes, and then started back up. No light, and we were pumping water. Another lap, and then a repeat of the first time out on the lake...just bogged down and died. I could not restart it.
Back home, I was able to get it to start on starting fluid, and then could keep it running by revving it a bit. But I now had backfiring. A compression test revealed 140 on the bottom, 70 on top. Pulled the head and found a blown head gasket.
I got a sheet of heavy glass and adhered 120 grit sandpaper to it. Moving the head in a figure 8, I slowly progressed to get the surface shined up. If the presentation of low spots was any indication, the head does seem to have been warped. After a lot of elbow grease, all areas are nice and clean. I carefully scraped and sanded the block as well. Just out of curiosity (I won've received the gasket until Monday) I mated the head to the block to see how it fit. Interestingly, it seems high in the middle, as it teeters a bit. I can rock the head up and down pivoting in the middle. When I hold the bottom of the head tight to the block, I can get a .006 feeler gauge in between the head and block at the top edge.

Is that ok? Am I concerned over nothing as I don't have the gasket in there?
Thoughts?

Also, I thought maybe now would be a great time to time the ignition, as I can clearly see when I am at TDC. However, according to the manual, I need a special tool (rod) with marks as I am trying to find 32 degrees before TDC, and I don't have this tool. The manual uses a test light to adjust the opening and closing of the points based on the tool mentioned. The guy that helped me tune this up before the 4th of July holiday weekend didn't convince me that it was really timed right. Maybe that had something to do with the failure I am experiencing?

Advice is so much appreciated.

Nice engine! That head needs to be FLAT. You'll want to either keep on hand-lapping it in until it is flat, or take it to a machine shop, as .006" is way too much warp and it'll surely blow another head gasket.

Usually what happens with these is that they've overheated sometime in the past, or the head bolts were never re-torqued and have gone slack. Usually you see a low spot in the middle of the head, but a lot of things can happen in 50 years or so!

Anyway, if you get the head flat, and providing the block surface is decent, you should have pretty good luck with a new head gasket.

Be sure to coat the bolts & threads with either a very thin layer of waterproof boat bearing grease, or Permatex #3 Aviation-Type gasket dressing (you can get that in most NAPA stores, among others).

Coating the head bolts ensures they will never seize in the head or block, and you'll be able to get an accurate retorque.

ARP sells some pretty good assembly lube if you really want to go the extra mile. This stuff guarantees even torque on every bolt.



HTH & let us know how it turns out........ed

I think this covers yours. www.boatinfo.no/lib/other/manuals/chrysler_25_35_55.html#/0

I got the head machined and back on. I timed the motor with the factory timing tool. Still ran like crap. Then I found this:

Seems I buggered the carb by trying to drive the idle tube out so I could remove the main jet for cleaning. I quit when I realized I was not going to be able to do so without destroying the tube. The little I did was damage enough, causing the mixture needle to bend when seated.

Fortunately the guy that helped me tune it up last month said he had an extra carb.
Went and picked that up today, and after a good cleaning, adjusting the float, and installing it, the motor started right up.
It ran well enough in the barrel at home that I decided it was a good idea to take it out to the lake/river.
Started right up at the launch, idled great while my wife parked the truck, and for the 10 minute slow-no-wake drive it sounded pretty decent.
We got to the end of the no wake and I dropped the hammer. Blahhhh. No power. I popped the motor cover and while my wife drove I adjusted the mixture needle. I could turn it all the way in and the engine would keep running. It actually would run better, though still badly.
Long story short:

So now we are three for three. Every time we have gone out we get towed. This is getting old.
I figured it had to be something with the "new" carb. Seems the new carb was missing this nozzle:

I'm frustrated with myself for not noticing that it was missing when I cleaned the carb. I took the one off the old carb. I will barrel run it tomorrow, and I am hopeful that I will finally have this thing up and running!!

The new carb did wonders. Until the top coil started crapping out. Should have a new one here tomorrow.

I am appropriately paranoid of this thing by now.

The next thing that could get me...the rectifier. I'd like to have a spare on hand, but they no longer make the original. I am being offered a newer version that Chrysler went to after the ribbed version I have. That's fine, but it is $65.

I was directed by a guy who has been helping me to get a rectifier from Radio Shack for $5. He says as long as it is more than 20V I should be fine.

The reading I am doing is concerning that I could overcharge the battery. It seems these rectifiers were made when batteries went sealed. Now that we are using sealed batteries there are stories online (so they must be true) that you can burn out your battery very quickly.

Should I be using a regulator-rectifier?

The Radio Shack rectifier will work fine but as you surmise, you may be putting out more voltage than a modern battery will like.

I was doing a bit of research on eBay and found that Briggs & Stratton uses a very basic voltage rectifier/regulator assembly, that looks to me like it could be easily adapted for outboard use.

Here's a link to one of 'em at Amazon, but I'm sure if you trolled eBay you might find an even cheaper item:

www.amazon.com/HIPA-Electrical-Voltage-Regulator-Stratton/dp/B00XNI8396?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00XNI8396

Edit: $12.50 on eBay!



This is rated for up to 16 amps, which would be fine for most of the older outboards, most of which didn't put out much over 10 amps anyway.

Just figure out an appropriate place to mount, and decide how you want to connect, and away you go!

You could use bullet connections, spade, or lug-to-lug, fastened with screws and insulated with electrical tape. Any of these will easily handle a 10A load.

You can be our Test Mule, install one of those and let us know how it works!

HTH.........ed

p.s. I prefer this style of bridge rectifier to the Rad Shack item, it's got a metal case and a higher rating. You can get 'em from Hong Kong seller for only 99 cents, but you'd have to wait a month for shipping!

Avail from a California seller for under $5 shipped:

One more thing, here's a wiring diagram I found that shows the connections are pretty much identical for an outboard that uses a 2-wire stator-output to a rectifier (or regulator). The regulator's wires are even yellow, same as a Merc.

OK, I think this is the right connector to plug into the V. Reg. You'd have to confirm at a Briggs dlr 'cause I couldn't find a straight-on view showing the pins. But a chart I found shows it being used with the 16A alternator and V. Reg. so I'm pretty sure it's the one.

Only $5.00 on eBay:

First off you cant go switching carbs unless you know its exactly the same as the one you have. Even carbs off the same HP motor of a different model number in the same model year can have serious changes in jet sizes and other things. The worse case scenario is a carb that will cause a high speed lean that will seize a motor in seconds at WOT.

But this may be a moot point. If I am reading that picture of the head surface of the block right, the block is ruined by that eroded place that blows into the water jacket. Likely its from detonation, bad gas, lean mix, over advanced, over loaded.

You don't need a special tool to time these. Just a timing light. There are two timing marks on the flywheel that indicate where the timing is supposed to be at WOT. So set the throttle to the stop at the block, hit the starter (don't actually run it), adjust the link till you are flashing on the mark for each cylinder. If one cylinder is on and the other is over advanced, you will have to recheck the points. Practically speaking if the cylinders are 2-3 degrees apart just set the link so the more advanced one is on the mark, and drive on.

Mark

Hello! My apologies for dusting off an old thread but I purchased a cheap siezed 1970 Sea King 55 (engine only, no boat) last year and I have been slowly mechanically restoring it. I first got it unseized and have been going through the ignition, starter, carb, cooling system, etc.
I eventually got it starting and running well but water just geysered (intense steamy sputtering) out of the telltale hole. I thought that would have been due to a failed headgasket but upon pulling the head, I did not find any visible failure points and the gasket actually looked pretty nice. I leveled the head and block with glass and sandpaper and will try running it again soon but I was wondering, does your Sea King do the same thing with the intense steamy geyser out the telltale?

I never had one of these motors but hot steamy water is not good, overheating is what probably caused that motor to seize the first time. I would change the water impeller and while doing that completely flush the cooling lines. If you can somehow attach a garden hose to the intake side of your motor and force water through it you might find some gunk coming out. If the impeller is dry and broken up there might be pieces of rubber plugging the lines.
Parts available at marineengine.com
www.marineengine.com/parts/sierra-marine/sierra-marine-parts-catalog-00194.htm

Thanks for the advice