Hi Ethan,
Great introduction! Appreciate hearing of your adventures. You photo,
boat-diving,jpg would have made an excellent 1970 Evinrude Explorer ad.
You're in the heart of Evinrude country with a really cool and fairly rare
model. I always thought the Explorer/FrontRunners were soooo functional, if
not just a little ugly-ducky, especially out of water. But I love to see
people having fun using these boats, your pics are great. Thanks for sharing
them with us.
You've really dived in (pun intended) and done a lot of work on this old
girl, so congrats. I admire your willingness to tackle the mechanical
sterndrive repairs. What P/N or pitch prop did you go with? Smart move on
the pump and blower. What'd you go with? Did you use an auto-sensing bilge
pump? Try not to turn the ball gears (run engine) in anything but fully down
position, as they will wear prematurely otherwise. Comparatively speaking,
props are easier and cheaper to replace than internals, but I'd try to find
some deeper water or pole it in and out or have a buddy line -it out while
you start it and then pull it our to the dock? Just curious what shape was
your sterndrive rubber boot seal in?
My V6 Buick got sold recently and I'm going to a 307 SB Chevy, so I can't
check out the V6 oil drain plug for you. Most people get a drill-powered
pump and suck the oil out the dipstick. My dipstick on the 66 Sportsman was
nestled between the head and the manifold, as you said next to the OIL cap.
See: http://hhscott.com/evinrude/images/PA140010.JPG
Your electrical improvements sound good, but I'd try to save the old
original switch gear and panels, they pop out easily and are fairly modular.
First Use DeOxIT D5, followed by Stabilant 22. They usually will solve most
electrical oxidation & corrosion issues. Worth every penny.
DeoxIT D5
Craig Laboratories, Inc.
16744 West Bernardo Drive
San Diego, CA 92127-1904
Phone:(619) 451-1799
FAX: (619) 451-2799
Stabilant 22
D. W. Electrochemicals Ltd.
97 Newkirk Road North, Unit 3
Richmond Hill, Ontario L4C 3G4
CANADA
Phone:(905) 508-7500
FAX:(905) 508-7502
A stern-mounted swim platform will come in handy, I've thought about one
too. The ladder's always seems to get left in the van when we need it. I
think you'll be able to probably get those trailer brakes working again, but
you're right, the master cylinder and calipers will probably need honing,
flushing, new seals. and bleeding to get them going again.
I'll try to look up the uppercase CC's tonight, should be in the Seloc or
Clymer OMC manuals. Did you do the rebuild without benefits of those or OMC
parts manuals? If so you're a brave soul!
Haven't tried it but I think if you remove the trailer bearings a good
Ag/Truck/Auto bearing place should be able to provide an exact match.
Changing the axle or spindles looks like a major headache and shouldn't be
that necessary. I'd just stick with the 9-inches as they are reasonably
priced and available from Ag suppliers like http://Gemplers.com
Here's a source for a dual 2-inch, Amp/Volt meter: http://www.westach.com/
They also can supply a dual, 2-inch, Water Temp/Oil Pressure. You can then
make a Tee as you will need dual sensors if you intend to retain the Hot/OIL
idiot lights. Alternatively they also make single instruments that have
adjustable red LED warning lights. If you tach doesn't "re-calibrate" by
changing the 4-6-8 adjustment switch on the back, these guys can help you
recalbrate it as well, but with your EE background you could build a pulse
adapting circuit that would allow you to adjust it to a known good source.
Haven't answered all your question, but it's at least a start. Welcome
aboard!
Lee Shuster
Salt Lake City
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ethan Brodsky" <brodskye@...>
To: <omc-boats@...>
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2005 2:01 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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>
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Received on Monday, 25 April 2005
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