TOPIC: New to old V-4'S Fat 50

This motor came with a 58/59 delmar that I just got last week. Its been sitting for years and years. The guy I got it from said it runs but he never tried. I opened it up today to see how it looks and its dusty with a little rust on the starter, it looks rough but complete.
So besides being a gas guzzler do you think its worth the effort to get this thing going. Im thinking that when I finally do begin to mess with it, it can be a good motor to learn how to work on motors in general. I do have tools but just have no experiance.
The only pic I have is this one and the Model # is v4SL-10 and serial # 1765722 Im hoping someone can tell me the year of this so maybe I can figure out the exact year of the delmar I just got too AND why do they call this motor "fat 50"
Thanks for the support, Mike

1958 but the engine cover looks like a 1959.

1958 V4-V4L-10
V4S-V4SL-10
1959 V4-V4L-11
V4S-V4SL-11


It's called a Fat 50 because it's Fat and 50HP.

1958:
www.old-omc.de/j_1958/seite_03.jpg
1959:
www.old-omc.de/j_1959/seite_0607.jpg

Also the is a short shaft motor. They are easy to work on. Its a V4 motor. I would check it for compresson. If the starter don't want to turn it over they are easy to take apart and clean. The comatator can be cleaned up with some real find sand paper. The is a bushing on the top and bottom that need to be cleaned and gresed. If the compression is good. and you have spark. Also you might want to squirt some oil in each cylender. And number one thing is the impeller will most likely need to be changed. Drain the oil in the lower unit and add new 90wt oil.
That will give you a start. I'm sure a few will chime in with more advise.
Mike aka pathfinderz1

Great motor to learn on. What you spend on it is totally up to you. Parts can be found on ebay. A dealer will laugh at you or smile & charge you mucho $$ for parts. A good motor to just make run OK to get a boat on the water. Burns 7 gal per hour regardless of speed. I have fixed many of these & put them on boats just to make a sale. Nothing wrong with that.

If you like the looks of it - newer powerheads (up to 1967) will drop right in.

Thank you Dan, so I guess its a 58 with a 59 engine cover I guess.
Bruce, Im being frugal at the moment but im glad its a easy motor to learn on. EEWWW 7 gallons per hour is horrible. Thats like 25 dollars an hour down the drain. Still might be worth the effort and can always sell it after its running.
Mike, Ill be damned. I read the delmars had 20" transoms. Well I thought it looked like a shorty but with that phat top end it looked like an illusion so I measured the transom and it is 18" and the shaft on the motor measured 15-16" so Its a short shart. I wonder how this happend that this delmar has a 18" transom, Someone could have cut it down at a later point or ??? Could be the motor is not original to the boat as well.
Thanks for the tips guys and support, any more are welcomed...Mike

Mike, PM me on gsg and let me know when your free and we can give that motor a good going over(compression and spark check and a good eyeballing). If it's got good compression, it's plenty worth getting going. Napa and Apple Valley Marine has pretty much every part available for that motor for reasonable prices.