boatman

You can say that again.

Nope.

I'm glad to hear this story end well. The story they gave you just made my head shake. What a load of crap.

Victor, the union in your picture is the shift lever disconnect. Its a serious pain to take apart. Look at the parts catalogues at epc.brp.com. There is a little keeper (#71) in there that locks the shift lever in place. Good luck. Buy a replacement keeper as you may end up breaking the one that's in there. Sorry. I didn't read close enough. I see you know about part #71. As I recall, its a split ferrel. You'll have to tear, rip, hammer it out. Whatever it takes. Did I mention to buy a replacement? ha

I was talking to a guy from Environment Canada today in Meaford. He said some idiot(s) broke into the Bighead river stream gauge and stole $5000 worth of specialized water level monitoring equipment last month. He said the equipment is so specialized that it has no resale value. So now we tax payers get to foot the bill for this senseless act of vandalism.

You can also try the weatherproof heat shrink tubing at CTC. As you heat it a glue melts and encloses the entire splice. I've been using it for all my splices for about 3 years and it seems to hold up great.

I hope he gets a fair sentence. I understand how things get out of hand at the riverside. A fist fight is one thing, but to be filled with so much hate and anger that he rammed the car off the road shows how dangerous this idiot is.

If you decide to get a service manual for your boat then buy a Factory manual specific to your outboard. A multi-year multi-hp Cylmer or Seloc manual can be very confusing. An owner's manual will tell you what all the knobs are for, how to set the motor up on your boat and basic maintenance. It won't tell you how to fix anything. The Factory service manual may include all the info of the owners manual plus how to fix things on your specific motor.

10 seconds of running probably didn't do anything. However, the impeller fins on Mercurys are very small and easily damaged. If one of them breaks off it cold easily jam up the cooling passages in the powerhead. I will tell you from experience its a pain to remove a blockage in the cooling passages. Also, the impeller is a wear part with a shelf life of 1-5 years. It'll cost about $25 and may take up to an hour of your time to replace since its your first time. Yes, someone will chine in and say they have a 30 year motor and have never replaced the impeller. I wouldn't risk it with such a small finned impeller.

+3 for synthetic oil. Don't change the mix ratio. Stay with 50:1 and use Amsoil HPI. I've used a few synthetic oils in my antique outboards and its my favourite.

I occassionally order from marinemanifold.com out of BC. They only sell aftermarket Sierra parts. You can also buy the Sierra parts at NAPA, but not all NAPA dealers realise they sell marine parts. Is there a problem with your intake screens and water pump? I find its rarely necessary to order the entire impeller repair kit. It can't hurt, though. The Seloc/Clymer manuals are lousy, but better than nothing. Check your PM's. I might be able to help you out.

Wow, I'm late to this party... If you are sure its only the prop seal then you can just pick out the old seal and replace with a new one. The prop seal often gets chewed up by fishing line. 25 years is a long time, but the seals should last another 10 years before I'd expect them to start to fail. I'm not familiar with that motor. Its way too big and new for me. However, if you get the seal I can give you a hand with it. You can probably do it with the motor still on the boat. Of course, I make no promises. I'm a little busy right now, but after the Sportsman Show next month I should have lots of time.

First let me say, thank you for keeping the old girl running. They are good motors and very reliable when properly serviced. The 1962-64 28 hp is actually a re-issue of the 1955 OMC 25hp, which evolved into the 40 hp of the 1960-70's. Its a big displacement motor. You can literally move mountains with her. On to your question, I'm not sure by your description if you are having trouble with your engine or gearcase. A failing clutch dog (gearcase issue) usually pops out of gear and back in very quickly. Normally the engine revs high when it pops out and then dog slams back into gear with a bang. Usually only happens under load. Easy fix, but can be expensive if the gears are damaged at the mating surface. Sometimes you can get away with flipping the dog over. However, that is a short term fix. If its engine related then the first thing to look at is the coils. Your motor has the old "universal ignition" that was used on most models from 1952 to the mid 1970's and even into the 1990's on the smallest outboards. Coils will run about $26/ea aftermarket or $36/ea at the dealer. Take off the recoil and remove the inspection window from the top of the flywheel (if it has one) and look at the coils. If they are cracked, sweaty or discoloured they need to be replaced (see attachement). The old coils have a 100% failure rate even if they appear to spark well. The "stalling" suggests to me that th engine is "coughing" or losing spark. You may consider replacing the entire ignition (coils, points, condensers, wires and plugs) if that's the case. Your motor is almost 50 years old and deserves a little attention after so many years of good service. A complete new ignition will run about $100-120. I doubt the problem is fuel related only because it is so intermittent. PM me your email address and I'll send you some service literature.

Fine with me. I never liked them anyway. Especially when there is snow on the ground.

Manuals sent, Vin. One of the reasons I love the 1950's Johnson/Evinrudes so much is that the parts are relatively cheap and still available from the dealer. The 1954 5.5 hp is the first of its series and stayed in production with some modification until 1964. In 1965 it gained .5 hp to become the much loved 6hp. It ended its run in 1979. The original mix is 16:1. It has all friction bearings. It can be safetly run at 24:1 with todays outboard oil, but no leaner. I prefer to use a synthetic oil like Amsoil. Point gap is .020" and plug gap is .030". Use modern Champion J6C spark plugs. Since I used to own your little 5.5 hp I know the coils are shot. You can get aftermarket Sierra coils (part number 18-5181) from most NAPA and some small engine shops. They are the same as the old Lawn Boy coils. Price is about $27. Or buy them from the dealer for about $36. That's a sweat little motor. I have one just like it with a 3 blade brass prop. It runs on average 16.5 kmh or 10 mph on my 12' tin boat. I've had it up to 19.2 kmh or 12 mph.

Vin, PM me your email address again and I'll send you the parts manual and some service info for your motor. Its a very simple motor. You will need two coils and an impeller for sure. Email me if you need any help getting it running.

I just purchased two Lowrance HDS-7 combos for work today. $1050 at Radioworld in Toronto. They are on back order and should arrive by March. I intially looked at the HDS-5, but chose to upgrade to the 7 due to the window size. They also sold me the Hotmaps card for $150 each. Check them out.

Ideally you don't charge any deep cycle battery at greater than 10% of its capacity. In this case, 700mA. However, at work we used 2A chargers for years on the same 7.5A batteries with no ill effects - so guess what I use?

I don't think it should matter why the minister got a pie in the face. The fact is she is a high profile public figure and no one should be able to "pie" her. I was incredibly angered by the fact that it happened regardless of the reason. What's worse, is that the CCIW is a security building (I've been there) and you can't get in unless you work there or are invited and signed in by someone working there. This women is an American working or studying at McMaster University and was invited to the affair. I'm disgusted by all involved and angered that a representative of our government was assaulted. This isn't an asault on one person its an assault on Canada.

I'd like to know that, too. My buddy and I both got our classic permits the week before the snow melted.

Looks like Metal Supermarkets is the place for me. About 2/3 the price of Princess Auto and no problem getting small quantities. Thanks everyone

That's right. I know where they make it, but not where they sell it. I normally buy steel at Princess Auto because its convenient, but its just too expensive to buy this amount of steel there.

I'm building a couple small trailers to tow behind snowmobiles for some friends. I built one last year from some scrap metal at work, but I don't have access to the amount of steel I need for the project and Princess Auto is too expensive. I need about 100 feet of 1" angle iron. I'm also looking for reasonably priced used snowmobile skis if anyone knows where to find some.

TD was prepared to insure my 1973 Ski Doo 440 for the same as my 1993 Polaris 440 so I'd say give them a call.

Those buggers! I pay TD $160 before tax for a 1993 Polaris Trail Deluxe 440 (with two up seat and reverse) and I'm located in Ancaster. When I called around last year looking the the best deal TD came back with the best price.