55 Evinrude

I picked up a 55 evinrude 15hp recently for $80. It doesn't run but everything moves smoothly except the tiller throttle. It also doesn't want to move left and right. Both cylinders have good compression. This is my first time working on an outboard so any guidance I get would be greatly appreciated.

My first problem seems to be that I can only find parts for 1956 and later models. with regards to the ignition system, what parts are interchangeable with later models?

Thanks for the info Pappy.

While I'm waiting on the parts, I decided to work on the stuck steering. I soaked it down with some PB blaster and gave it 24 hours. Sure enough she started moving. Not great but moving. Soaked it down again this morning. Hopefully I can get it easier without having to tear it apart.
Here are some quick pics. The second pic is of the coil. Opened the carb also to see how bad it was. Wasn't too dirty but the cork float was falling apart as where the o rings.

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Pulled the plugs on the lower today. Nothing came out when I opened the top so I pulled the bottom plug. About a tablespoon of water came out followed by some pretty dark oil. That's 2 fingers high in a peanut butter jar. Something tells me there should be more. After seeing the water I decided to go ahead and pull the lower off. I spent the next hour trying to get what was left of the cotter pin removed from the nut holding the prop on. As you can see from the pic there was just enough to be a pita.

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Looks like a fun project. You might be able to upgrade the cork float for a plastic one. i was able to do that on my antique Johnson. I got the info from aomci website, got the part from NAPA.

Thanks for the tip CRS. I've already ordered an oem carb kit from amazon. It has a float in it made of plastic i think. I've always loved tearing into things to see how they work and fix them myself(somehow I always end up with parts left over).

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Lower unit is off. Impeller was replaced at some point. Its still flexable but holds its form from the housing. It will be replaced. It also looks like they tried using some sort of sealant on the housing. Housing and plate look good. The drive shaft pulled out as I was pulling the housing up. Is that normal?
That being said, anyone have any tips for removing a snapped bolt from the water pump housing?

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If you have a dremel, I would grind 2 opposite flats on that leftover stud. Soak threads overnight in a good penetrating oil (not wd40).. 50/50 acetone & ATF is best. Sometimes breaking it loose in CW direction is actually easier.

Boy am I in a pickle now. I hit it with PB blaster a few times and thought I was making progress as I "thought" it was moving back and forth. Next thing I knew it snapped off again. So I drilled the smallest hole I had for my extracter, hit it with map gas like you said and started the extracter. Dang it if my extracter didn't snap off in the hole! At this point I said a few explicit words...ok, a lot of explicit words, hit it with map again, then soaked it in more PB....I'll mess with it again tomorrow.

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RebelRob said:

Boy am I in a pickle now. I hit it with PB blaster a few times and thought I was making progress as I "thought" it was moving back and forth. Next thing I knew it snapped off again. So I drilled the smallest hole I had for my extracter, hit it with map gas like you said and started the extracter. Dang it if my extracter didn't snap off in the hole! At this point I said a few explicit words...ok, a lot of explicit words, hit it with map again, then soaked it in more PB....I'll mess with it again tomorrow.

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You did cause yourself some extra work. IF you are lucky enough to get that extractor out and have your hole real close to center I would just keep drilling it out but stop short of contacting the threads. Then go buy a nail set, they should come in a set of 3. Most likely the middle or larger one will be the one you need and sharpen it to a chisel edge from one side leaving one side round to fit the hole. It is tedious work but you can shell that screw up and roll it right out and not hurt the threads. You most likely will have to run a tap down in there to clean the threads and corrosion out. Good luck and don't get in a hurry.

RebelRob said:

Boy am I in a pickle now. I hit it with PB blaster a few times and thought I was making progress as I "thought" it was moving back and forth. Next thing I knew it snapped off again. So I drilled the smallest hole I had for my extracter, hit it with map gas like you said and started the extracter. Dang it if my extracter didn't snap off in the hole! At this point I said a few explicit words...ok, a lot of explicit words, hit it with map again, then soaked it in more PB....I'll mess with it again tomorrow.

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Click to expand...

The heat was needed before the extractor........ :roll:

First the good news:
I used a diamond tip on a dremel to eat away at the extractor and old bolt. The nail set was a brilliant idea! Picked it right out. Ran a tap down in there and it works perfect.

Now, The bad news:
I let the gear housing bolts soak all week as I worked on the impeller bolt. I heated them up with map gas then hit them with the impact screw driver. All of them came out easily...except ONE! first strike with the impact driver popped the head clean off. :evil:

Pulled the housing apart after a little coaxing and all the gears look great. They had a good coating of oil on them so no rust. There was a little metal down in the housing but Im not sure if that was from me messing with the bolt. It will all get a good cleaning after I get the next bolt out.

Well, that was easy. Bolt came right out. Turned the top of the bolt red with map gas, grabbed it with a set of vise grips, and she turned like nothing was wrong. Now to the cleaning

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Rebelrob curious as to which dremel bit you used to grind out the extractor as I am in the same situation as the previous owner of my motor broke an extractor.I have made the same mistake myself and vowed to never use an easy-out or extractor again(drilling out is the way to go).The bolt I have to drill out is 6mm so I think I will borrow a friends dremel tool instead or risking making a mess of the aluminum with a die grinder but the only diamond bits I saw for the dremel were for engraving are these the right ones?Any more progess with the Evinrude? M.w.

Here is a pic of the bit I used. I just happened to have it laying in the drawer. Really take your time and don't get in a rush. I would work at it for 10 min then walk away. Once you get a nice hole, do like nccatfisher said.


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Another thing you can try when removing broken bolts is to use left handed drill bits when drilling a hole in the bolt. Sometimes the drill will spin out the bolt without even having to use the extractor. I have had that happen on many occasions especially when the hole is getting close to the diameter of the bolt.

No, the nail set wasn't brilliance. It was years of owning second hand earth moving equipment and working on my own marine equipment also that occasionally even to my best efforts I ran across the wrung off bolt or screw or on the earth moving equipment I had to cut it off to get the part off. That left removing the bolt.

On most of the earth moving stuff it was grade 8 or better. It was just out of necessity I figured out the nail set trick and it worked well for me and thought I would pass it on. I keep a couple cheap sets from Harbor Freight in my box to sacrifice for that but hoping I really don't need them.

You on the other hand have enlightened me, I had no idea a diamond burr in a Dremel would remove an EZ out. I seldom ever break one but I'll have one of them stuck back just in case.

Sooooo....I've got the LU back together and decided to test it to make sure everything was working properly. Turning the prop by hand it works like its suppose to in reverse. Neutral is neutral....here comes the but...But, when I turn it in forward it feels and sounds like the gears are just touching and slipping off. Before I tear it all back apart I wanted to get everyone's opinion as to what I could have screwed up.