TOPIC: 1964 650 top cowl removal / starter rope replace

I got caught with a dead battery after trolling around for a while with the ignition on today. Last year the starter rope broke and I didn't bother replacing it. Good thing I was in 3' of water about 500' from my dock!

How do I remove the top cowl? Nothing obvious is jumping out at me. I didn't see any latch or anything.

Once that's off - is the starter rope replacement fairly straightforward (like a lawnmower)?

Thanks.

...

The older motors don't have a latched 'tophat', there are studs threaded into the cover (one at each corner). If you look upwards to the bottom area of the cover you'll see the 1/4-28 nuts to undo.

Also you'll need to disconnect your manual choke linkage, and choke solenoid wire as well. There may also be a ground wire up in there, check for that too.

Be sure to note any washers/spacers you find so you'll know how they all stack up for reassembly.

On the recoil, if the spring isn't busted, the simplest way to replace the rope is to wind up the starter pulley in a CCW direction as you're looking at it. Feed any remnants of the busted old rope out the front as you're winding. Figure out a good length of replacement rope and feed it thru, secure at the end same as original.

Now, if you've put enough winds on the starter pulley, the rope will wind all the way in. If it doesn't, you'll have to put some more winds on the pulley and try again.

Failing that, you'll need to dismantle the whole mess. This is where it gets sticky! The top chrome trim piece has to come off to access the pulley bolt. The studs holding the trim in place are extremely easy to break off. Especially if the motor is a Salty Dog, they may never come off without breaking! A bit of heat might help but too much will likely discolor the chrome as well as the paint.

The nuts for the trim piece are accessed from the inside of the cover.

Once the chrome trim is removed, bend over the tabs on the pulley bolt's locknut and loosen. It's been a long long time since I've torn one of these apart, but if memory serves me it's got Lefty-Handed threads. More fun!

Note: use caution when you tear this apart, recommend you wear safety glasses as, even when the starter pulley is unwound, there's still a fair amount of tension wound into the spring, as it sits in its cavity in the pulley. So hold everything together so it doesn't all fall apart in your hands, once you get the nut loose.

After that, the whole recoil starter pulley is in your hands to do as you will. If you're careful, the spring won't jump out of the pulley and cause lots of excitement in the garage!

Anyway, I've probably left out some details but hopefully that's enough to get you going. Maybe some of the other folks who've actually had one apart in recent history can fill in the gaps!

Cheers.........ed

Excellent - thank you.

Finally got the top off... doesn't seem like the spring is engaging - winding it CCW (many times) feel no tension or springing back. Got the trim off, but the 3/4" nut for the pulley, won't budge. Noticed a tab washer underneath, all the tabs were flat and still no luck. Any ideas?

Thanks.

I recently replaced the starter rope on my '63 1000. I dont recall that the bolt that holds the recoil mechanism in place (the one with the tabbed lock washer) was reverse threaded, so try the standard counter clock wise (left losey) rotation to remove that bolt if you have not already. Failing that, some liquid wrench or similar to free up the bolt.

thats correct the nut is a reverse thread

Tried righty-loosey, no joy either. I'll have to hit it with an impact wrench at the end of the season and hope I don't have starter/battery problems on the water this season.