Re: [omc-boats] Introduction (new owner of 1970 Evinrude Explorer 16)

Ethan,

I changed my warning lights over to an original OMC combo water temp/oil
pressure gauge just recently with great success. I just replaced the
senders that were on the engine and used the existing warning light wiring
to go to the gauge. The biggest problem was getting the right senders.
Nobody could help me until I got the 1970 stern drive parts catalog. One I
had the part numbers I had no trouble ordering the senders from my local OMC
dealer. I do have an extra oil pressure sender that I'll sell you, it's new
in the package, I ordered one from my local Napa and one from Seaway Marine,
they were exactly the same part. In any case, I have the correct parts
number for the senders from the 1970 catalog. If you keep an eye out on
ebay you should be able to find the combo gauge that I have (it matches the
other ones). I have the same problem with my tach, it reads too high, how
do you fix that?

~Scott
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ethan Brodsky" <brodskye@...>
To: <omc-boats@...>
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2005 1:01 PM
Subject: [omc-boats] Introduction (new owner of 1970 Evinrude Explorer 16)

> I'd like to start out by thanking Phil, Lee, and everyone on this list for
> providing such an outstanding resource for OMC boaters. I've been reading
> the list for a few weeks now and I thought I'd post to introduce myself.
>
> I'm a relatively new owner of a 1970 Evinrude Explorer 16. It's my first
> boat (I'm a grad student) and I've been having a great time with it - in
> and out of the water. I purchased it last fall, but only managed to use
> it
> a few times before stripping out the ball gears.
>
> I fixed it up over the winter and we've been out four times now without
> anything breaking, so I'm feeling a little more confident about it. We've
> mostly been using it for watersports (wakeboarding and tubing), and scuba
> diving on local lakes in Madison, WI.
>
> So far, the work I've done on it:
> - new starter motor (died last fall)
> - replaced lots of wires
> - new outdrive water pump, housing, and shaft
> - new ball gears, intermediate shaft, and bearing
> - new prop
> - installed new bilge pump and blower (missing when I bought it)
> - rewired trailer, replaced tongue ball lock, and extended chains
>
> Stuff I still want to do this summer:
> - recalibrate tach (it reads 5500 at 4400)
> - fix speedometer and ammeter
> - install water temp and oil pressure gauge
> - perhaps redo the dashboard switch panel with modern waterproof switches
> - more rewiring
> - disassemble tilt gear housing to remove broken bolts and make new seal
> - remove bolt I broke off in top of exhaust housing during reassembly
> - LED lights on trailers
> - build a stern platform for diving
>
> The boat seems to be in nearly stock form - it came with what appears to
> be
> its original trailer, canvas top (shruken too much to fit), and ladders.
> It's been fun working on it, though a bit nerve-wracking. I'm an
> electrical engineer and this is my first real mechanical repair project -
> whenever I build anything I worry about it falling apart.
>
> I have a few pictures of the boat online:
> http://www.cae.wisc.edu/~brodskye/boat/
> My favorite is boat_diving.jpg in that directory - that's one of the first
> times we took it out last fall. If you'd like to see the internals of the
> outdrive, there's some pictures in the parts directory from when I had it
> taken apart.
>
> There's a few things I've been wondering about - perhaps folks on this
> list
> might have some suggestions.
>
> 1. What are the threads and depth on the engine oil drain? I'd like to
> make an adaptor with a valve and hose barb to simplify oil changes (the
> first time I did it I made a huge mess), but I don't want to drain the
> oil to find out. Perhaps someone knows of a aftermarket supplier for
> drain plugs that fit this engine - I could easily adapt one.
>
> 2. Where is the engine oil dipstick? The engine is the 155 hp V-6
> (Buick/Kaiser 225/3.8 L) engine. I've looked in all the obvious spots and
> even looked on a few modern 3.8 L engines (easy to find), but I just don't
> see it. I'm wondering if someone broke it off or plugged it some time in
> the past. I just looked carefully at the photo on Lee's website and see
> what looks like a dipstick handle just to the right of the oil fill cap -
> I've looked there before, but I'll take another look tonight.
>
> 3. How much grease should go in the chamber between the upper and lower
> unit? I greased it with a gun after reassembly, but now I'm worried I put
> too much in. I'm assuming any excess will leak out into the surrounding
> water passage (possibly blowing the shaft seals?). Does anyone have
> experience with this?
>
> 4. What are people doing about running in shallow water? When I bought
> the boat, we didn't know about the ball gear wear issue, so we often ran
> with the outdrive tilted up - I'm guessing that accelerated ball gear wear
> quite a bit. However, the water is pretty shallow around some of the
> launches here and I'm nervous about whacking a rock. Is it ok to idle in
> forward with the drive partially tilted up, or will that cause rapid ball
> gear wear. Or should I just pull it up entirely, kill the engine, and
> pole
> with oars?
>
> 5. My trailer comes with the optional surge disc brakes. I pulled the
> brake fluid reservoir cap last weekend and the reservoir was entirely dry
> and rusty inside. I'm guessing that means that the master cylinder, the
> lines, and the calipers are all probably rusted beyond repair. I thought
> about trying to fill it up and see if they work, but I'm guessing that
> would be a waste of time. I'm not sure what to do at this point, whether
> I
> should attempt to fix or replace the disc brakes, install new spindles
> with
> modern surge brakes, leave the non-functional brakes as is, just remove
> the
> brakes entirely, or just try to find a new trailer. Wisconsin law allows
> trailers without brakes for weights below 3000 lbs, we can stop acceptably
> without brakes (we live in a flat area), and the trailer is mainly used in
> the city, but I'd still rather have brakes if possible. I'm inclined to
> leave them as-is, but I'd be interested in suggestions. There's a
> information plate next to the master cylinder with information on the
> braking system, but it's too faded for me to read much of it.
>
> 6. I'm very confused about trailer wheel bearings. Can someone suggest a
> wheel bearing that will fit the disc brake spindles? I'd prefer something
> that would fit wheels with a smaller center hole, since it is difficult to
> find modern wheels with a 3.25" center hole, but I think that requires
> modifying the spindles as well. I'm willing to modify wheels to fit, if
> necessary, though I haven't figured out if trailer wheels are hubcentric
> or
> lugcentric.
>
> 7. I've been closely following the discussion about trailers and tires.
> I've currently got the 9" wheels with tube tires, but they're in pretty
> bad
> shape - the tread is ok, but my neighbors have slashed the tires several
> times and I'm nervous to take it around, especially without a spare. I'd
> like to move to larger tires - it looks like there's enough room to raise
> the fenders 3-4" to accomodate them. Since we mostly tow at low speeds
> around the city, I've been thinking about using P-rated tires on
> automotive
> rims (which I can get for free), until I can find a decent deal on trailer
> wheels and tires. Ranger pickups have wheels with the right bolt pattern
> and use tires with an adequate load roading. I've read the discussion and
> linked articles on the reaons for using ST tires over P, but at 30 mph on
> city streets I don't think it should matter too much.
>
> 8. Has anyone installed oil pressure gauges on this engine? Did you
> replace the transducer for the warning light, or put a sender in another
> port? Same for water temp. I haven't really looked into either of these
> yet, but it's something I'd like to do this summer.
>
> There's also a few parts I'm looking for:
> - spare prop "spinner" nut
> - spare prop drive pin (might make my own)
> - prop washer (does anyone use these?)
> - "front plug" for outdrive, to cover the port used to access the
> grease fitting between the upper and lower unit
> - combo ammeter/voltmeter gauge
>
> Thanks again to everyone for this list,
>
> Ethan Brodsky
>
> --
> Ethan Brodsky
> UW FutureCar Team Paradigm: Two-Year FutureCar Challenge Winner
> UW-Madison Clean Snowmobile Team: Winner of the 2004 SAE CSC
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Received on Monday, 25 April 2005