TOPIC: "Long Time Lurker, First Tie Poster"

Hi all. After fighting with a crazy "carb problem" on my little sports car (turned out to be a failing coil) I'm finally ready to turn my attention to my long-neglected Catalina. Boat is in decent shape, just needs some TLC/Elbow Grease, but the 'rude seems to have a jammed shifting mechanism. Runs great, just won't shift into F&R.

It's been parked at my brother's for a couple of years. I've been hinting that if he lent me one of his motors, I could launch it and get the trailer painted, no luck so far. I'm going to R&R the motor this winter in a "Small Engine Repair" class at our local technical institute. But in the mean time, it's rub, rub, rub.

Ya, those carb problems can be hard to find, especially when they disguise themselves as a coil.
What Evinrude year, hp, model do you have? Mechanical shift or electric? Pictures?
The mechanical shift problem is not much of a problem if the linkages are all synchronized and no one messed with the lower unit gearbox. There are youtube vids that go through that. Mostly it's not shifting forward or reverse because the throttle linkage is out of adjustment. There are also safety interlocks. More info please.

63 Sabre wrote: Ya, those carb problems can be hard to find, especially when they disguise themselves as a coil.
What Evinrude year, hp, model do you have? Mechanical shift or electric? Pictures?
The mechanical shift problem is not much of a problem if the linkages are all synchronized and no one messed with the lower unit gearbox. There are youtube vids that go through that. Mostly it's not shifting forward or reverse because the throttle linkage is out of adjustment. There are also safety interlocks. More info please.

Sorry, had to pause mid-stream. My pics aren't on my iPad.

More later. Gotta strike while the iron is hot. Goal for the day: Troubleshoot the controls ('60 Speedifour. Non-electric)

I'll know more tonight. Appreciate the input.

PS: Anyone know a source for those white rubber foot pads? I used to have a storage next to a boat shop that could get them, but the rent doubled and we both moved. Pretty sure the boat guy retired and went fishing.

A couple more for the road.

They said it couldn’t be done, they said it shouldn’t be done. They said we’d kill the whales, they said we’d eat the dolphins, but two years on, my Vaseline treatment worked a treat on the Catalina. (The two above were right after I finished with the petroleum jelly)



Time to start on the hull.

Left to right, starting at the wheel: rubbing compound, F16 Topcoat (boo! Not as advertised. Works great on the already-shiny cars, though) Seaform DeepCreep/White Scotchbrite, (I shit you not) color sanding and, finally, color/sanding+rubbing compound.

The Seafoam DeepCreep/Scotchbrite takes the cake.

Sabre, while was out cleaning my cover and touching up some stuff, we had a monsoon, so I forgot to get the ser # of the motor. I think I have it here somewhere, I’ll look.

But...
75hp SpeediFour, manual shift and throttle. Purrs like a kitten, just won’t go into gear. Tell me more about these “lockouts.” I suspect that’s what happening. I bought the bought from a very nice chap. Pretty good feel for people, and I’m pretty sure he would have disclosed if there was any issue with the motor.

Before the deluge, I actually tore the Simplex apart, cleaned and lubed it. It works like new now.

That's great that the motor is purring, you're 90% home.
Here's a link that might help. It's a start on finding the issue.
forums.iboats.com/forum/engine-repair-and-maintenance/johnson-evinrude-outboards/229463-how-to-properly-adjust-johnson-shift-cable-linkage
If you disconnect the shift and throttle cable at the motor end can you manually shift it into gear using the levers?
OMC changed the leverage configurations with newer models.
When you cleaned up the simplex did you make sure the gears for the levers and cables were set properly? The last gear tooth on the lever should match up with the last tooth on the cable. If it's off by as much as one tooth it will screw up the shifting distance. If that's good to go then the problem is on the motor end. Not to fret....
On the motor end NOT RUNNING pull the shift lever all the way forward and try to spin the prop counter clockwise (forward) with your foot. If it will not turn you are going into gear. Do the same pushing the shift lever fully back (reverse) and try spinning the prop clockwise, it should lock up. If that works put the shift lever center and you should be able to spin the prop freely both directions (neutral). If that works the problem is in the cable adjustment on the motor end....those little black thumbwheels.
The lockouts function if the throttle is too far forward...high speed, this prevents the motor from going into gear when it is revving.
After trying these the shift shaft might need to be reset. Sometimes happen if the water impeller was changed and the shift rod was moved.
After all that, she looks pretty sharp. If the color fades again a less expensive solution is a buffer with Comet Soft Scrub.

Thanks, Sabre. That gives a good place to start. All I know us I took it to a place that said they worked on vintage engines, and the said the bottom end needed to be rebuilt. On further reflection, I realized they just didn't want to work on it. I watched a couple of Dangar Boat videos on newer ,rudes last night and have a pretty clear picture of what needs to happen. I'll check it out today.

One the Simplex: Gears? We don't need no stinking gears.

Unless you mean the little barrels that go between the spacers (Nos 26-54) that thread on the threaded rods. I probably did change the cable length on the shifter because it had pulled out (trying to get it to go into gear probably) so when I reattached it, I made sure it was all the way to the far end of the ferrule (22/23) but I from my knowlege of motorcycle cables, I figured that was what the thumb screw (55) was for. And for the bad news: Someone's had it apart before. It's missing the attachment screw (11) on the gear shift side. From the wear on the center plate(8) I assumed it was just held in place by the plate. It was also missing the shims (26) on the throttle shift side, so I fabricated a couple out of sheet copper to match the throttle side (54)

I guess I'm going to have to see if I can find a similar screw at Ace and grind it to fit. I'd guess chances of finding replacement parts (other than the cables) are next to nil.

Anyway, I hope that makes sense. Btw, other than the cable attachment itself, the only thing I changed was dousing the thumbscrews with some DeepCreep and working them back and forth a bit to free them up. Now they're "thumbscrews," not "vise grip" screws. Lol.. AFAIK, I got them back in the same position.




I just noticed something on this picture. It looks like that barrel is fixed on a brass tube. On my cables, their threaded rod and the barrel can be adjusted both ways.

Well, shut my mouth! Just called marineengine.com, the folks who posted that diagram, and they have those parts! And all the maintenance parts I need to keep the SpeediFour running like a top! Who'd da thunk?

Now for that replacement rubber for my deck steps.