meanwhile at Iowaboy1's shop

so after coming home from vacation last weekend and the hustle of the week prior I looked forward to what was in store for me this last week,someday I am going to stop wondering what I will see next that will make me say,wth!!!
so,in no particular order here we go.

49 Chevy with a power train transplant out of a 89 suburban,hard start,crappy idle,stumble on acceleration,in other words it ran like crap all around.
someone thought it is was a good idea to put in an aftermarket distributor without any form of timing advance,no mechanical,no vacuum advance,this does not work well on street engines at all and you cannot crank enough advance in it to run right without breaking the starter when it kicks back on start up.
not only that,some knucklehead thought it was a good idea to run on it on E-15!! really!!??? that junk doesnt work well in an engine designed to run on it let alone a carbed engine unless it is PROPERLY JETTED FOR IT !!
in the pictures of the Edlebrock carb you will see water and metal debris,that crap cleaned out the entire fuel system,not only that it ate the accelerator pump cup!!
now,on top of that,who ever installed the distributor didnt get the coils carbon brush seal installed right,it was pinched between the coil and cap and covered the carbon brush,I cant imagine the kind of electrical energy it took to burn through the seal and still ignite the plugs!!

the soda bottle,this is a fuel sample taken out of a Merc 90 four stroke injected engine,the pontoon it was on was a 2016 with very low hours,the seller promised,it has the best fuel additive in it as seen on TV and its only a year old fuel.
didnt make it a hundred yards from the dock,I siphoned out thirty five gallons of fuel that looked exactly like what you see in the pic.
several ounces of high quality fuel system cleaner ran through the entire fuel system and ten gallons of fresh non oxy fuel it was running like new in short order.

the pic of a carb main jet out of an older Merc three cylinder 60 horse,the middle carb and bottom carb jets were plugged with what you see on the napkin.
no amount of solvent of any kind would of cleaned this sh!t out,when an orifice is plugged its plugged,it has to have some form of way through or its like pushing salt through a straw,it has to be mechanically cleaned out,in other words,it has to be drilled out.
the gas?? you guessed it,E-10 ethanol with a popular stabilizer that had sat for a year,the old gas got dumped into a barrel for use in an oil burning furnace.

lastly,customer concern was,bottom carb is dripping fuel when trimmed up and motor wont run wide open or idle without choking.
ya know,some folks are just plain lucky,this engine should of been fried from being ran lean,the guy thought,I will put in some snake oil,run the snot out of it and all will be good,uh,yeah,riiiiight!!
look at the fuel line short of the connector,here is your gas leak,and how in the world did the fuel pump pump fuel from that large of a suction leak???
when the motor was trimmed up,gas poured out of the crack.
fellas,welcome to my world and ya all aint seen nuthin yet.

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Damn Sheldon you do see some good stuff out there in IOWA.

Heck that soda bottle looks like the mix of shellac, linseed oil and denatured alcohol that wood turners use as a finish on their wood turnings. Maybe you can market that stuff.

Huntindave wrote:

Heck that soda bottle looks like the mix of shellac, linseed oil and denatured alcohol that wood turners use as a finish on their wood turnings. Maybe you can market that stuff.

Hopefully he’s not tempted to drink it.

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Huntindave wrote:</div>
Heck that soda bottle looks like the mix of shellac, linseed oil and denatured alcohol that wood turners use as a finish on their wood turnings. Maybe you can market that stuff.

Hopefully he’s not tempted to drink it.

BURP!! it all makes sense now,when I spit on the campfire at EPG’s cabin it blew up!

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Huntindave wrote:</div>
Heck that soda bottle looks like the mix of shellac, linseed oil and denatured alcohol that wood turners use as a finish on their wood turnings. Maybe you can market that stuff.

Hopefully he’s not tempted to drink it.

Iowaboy1 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Huntindave wrote:</div>
Heck that soda bottle looks like the mix of shellac, linseed oil and denatured alcohol that wood turners use as a finish on their wood turnings. Maybe you can market that stuff.

Hopefully he’s not tempted to drink it.

BURP!! it all makes sense now,when I spit on the campfire at EPG’s cabin it blew up!

LMAO!!!

in this weeks adventure,again,in no set order,OMC cobra outdrive,the metal on the magnetic drain plug says it all.
the oil coming out was full of glitter,sorry it doesnt show up well in the pic.
this is the kind of job I hate,and I hate what people will do to other people.
the guy bought the boat a week ago,paid cash with the idea everything was sea worthy,wrong,after launching in stiff winds and floating away from the dock forward gear didnt exist.
the guy tried taking it back and getting a refund to no avail,the previous owner was laughing at him while walking away,,,,,I will keep my thoughts to myself.

stale fuel,ugh!! a family boat comes in,fully restored interior,tried running it on the lake but it wouldnt idle at all but by squeezing the bejeebers out of the primer bulb it would somewhat run wide open.
1976 omc three cylinder 75 hp and I am told it ran fine two years ago….
uhm,yeah,rrriiiiggggghhhhhttt,top two carbs are full of gum and I mean solid gum.
kitted all three carbs after checking compression and spark,started right up with a dry bearing noise from the lower unit,draining more water than oil and knowing it needed bearings I progressed from there,dang the luck !!! no water flow !!
removed the stats and cleaned out about a cup of sand,new t-stat gasket hand cut by yours truly and try it again.
UGH!!!! SH!T,we have water in more places than the engineers designed it for !!
water is coming out in a most convincing manner from behind the ignition coils,great,I am thinking blown head gasket,nope,two inch long crack in the bottom cylinders outer jacket,shoot !!
the owner didnt have a problem with the bill for my time to get it running to find this out,but guys,I hate this kind of job!!
I get this reply,we ran it late in the year last time out,trimmed it up,went home and never gave it a thought about letting the water run out completely with a night of freezing temps.
gotta give the guy credit,he owned up to his mistake.

the spark plug pics should say it all but here is the story,guy buys a boat with a 6 hp rude sitting in ten inches of water,forgot to remove the plug two years ago!!
complaint,wont turn over,wont fire,wont run,well,,,,duh!!
pulled the plugs and pulled the rope a bunch of times watching water,rust,dead bugs,etc come out of the spark plug holes,yuck!!
flushed the engine for ten minutes with solvent,oil,and air,surprisingly the cylinders looked good.
pull the carb,yep,full of crap,so is the fuel pump and lines.
if it wouldnt have made compression I would of quit there,same with spark,all good believe it or not.
ran the thing in a barrel for two hours,no hiccups,knocks,nodda,started right back up easily and made good power never faltering once.
as the Famous grouse says,those little OMC motors will run forever.

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and,yes,I replaced the missing screw on the choke plate

That’s the 1 thing about a repair shop—-there is a new can of worms to dig into every week!!!
Gotta love job security.

If I lived closer to you, I could keep you and this discussion going for weeks as I have a dozen snowmobiles that need carb work or other such adjustments to them and I don’t want to start with the half dozen outboards that would keep you going another week or so. I can’t seem to pass up a sputtering motor. You did inspire me to attack a 92 ski doo tundra so far I have it idling, but bogging on anything over one fourth throttle. I think starving for gas.
Thanks
Mike

mike mulhern wrote:

If I lived closer to you, I could keep you and this discussion going for weeks as I have a dozen snowmobiles that need carb work or other such adjustments to them and I don’t want to start with the half dozen outboards that would keep you going another week or so. I can’t seem to pass up a sputtering motor. You did inspire me to attack a 92 ski doo tundra so far I have it idling, but bogging on anything over one fourth throttle. I think starving for gas.
Thanks
Mike

thanks for the kind words Mike !! I hope you learn a lot from me as I have a lot to teach,keep it up!!
put a piece of clear hose between the carbs and the fuel pump,look for air in the fuel stream and or a weak flow,( insert flow joke here )
if you see air in the line or a weak stream time to look for an air leak in the system between the tank and pump.
weak stream?? check the pulse hose to the pump,if thats okay kit or replace the pump.

double check you float levels and float drop !!!!
spray 3M non chlorinated brake cleaner on the PTO side seal,if the motor picks up RPMS the seal is shot and sucking air,hard to get to the flywheel side so a crankcase pressure test is in order.
pm me if you have any further questions on this.

so the last couple of weeks has been crazy busy trying to keep up with work at the shop and then working on a couple of tractors after hours along with working on a couple of airplanes,they are right !! no rest for the wicked !! UGH!!

first off we had a surprise visit not only from the one and only Eelpoutguy but DFP stopped by this week as well,what a pleasure to have both of you at the shop !!

in no certain order here we go,the small carb is from a 1979 Honda 7.5 HP,the original problem was that mice had chewed off the wires flush with the rectifier and a new one has not been available for over ten years,no surprise there so I went on a hunt for a four post bridge rectifier I could simply wire in,ya,they are around but more work than I wanted so I found the specs on a rectifier from a 6 HP Evinrude and they were the same so I ordered it and wired it up instead,quick,easy,and it works !!
upon trying to start it it wouldnt even fire with the choke on,I had NO history on this motor so off comes the carb and geeze Louise!!
it took quite a bit of soaking and scrubbing this baby to get it clean enough to work effectively.
it started on the third pull and ran like a Swiss watch,I found out the next day it had been sitting for over fifteen years !!!! nice little four stroke !!

the other shot of a carb is a two barrel Rochester on an I/O.
here is a perfect example of what happens when ethanol is mixed with water and creates a weak acid whos first job is to attack aluminum parts,the flakes and chunks you see are aluminum oxide that is eaten out of the bottom of the carb and it was very pitted but serviceable enough to use again.

the pics of the remains of a seawater pump from a cobra out drive,new boat owner who thought it would be super cool to beach the boat in shallow water near here so that the kiddos could play in the water.
he left it in gear to hold the boat while he deployed the anchors and tossed the water toys overboard.
well,,,,,as you can see,that churning prop stirred up enough crap that was sucked into and through the pump.
if you look at the right side of the pump cavity you can see how tightly the impeller vanes run against the pump body with no room for anything extra.
yep,chewed the living sh!t out of the pump,it took twenty minutes of flushing the motor and all hoses to get the tiny rocks and sand out of it.

this coming week I have to explain to a new pontoon owner why his 24 foot pontoon loaded with full coolers,eight persons in the neighborhood of 180 pounds plus,BBQ grill,propane tanks,30 gallons of fuel while pulling three teenagers on a large tube is overheating,mind you it has a 90 HP Merc on it with a standard performance prop.
sigh,dang price points !! and it does not help that the fuel is one year old with four different kinds of snake oils in it!!! and yes,its ethanol fuel to boot.
not only that,the thermostat is not opening until a little over 130 degrees instead of 120.
yep,I get it,thats not terrible but when you consider the water here is in the mid eighties it doesnt take long to get a motors overheat alarm to go off,especially when you are overloading the motor at half throttle!!!

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the new to boating pontoon owner will also be given instructions for what he is wanting to do that he will need a smaller prop to keep from lugging his motor.

and before I forget,thank you DFP for the spark plugs !!
when they get sold I will treat you to one of the those pizzas that is famous in Haverhill Iowa !!

These are fun to read, IB1. Just a quick question; should we be avoiding premium gas with the “up to 10% ethanol” label in new outboards? I’m a little suspicious of the freshness of the non-oxy gas in most stations.

Shady5,the outboard builders have to say you can run ethanol in them as it is mandated by the EPA.
I could write volumes on why ethanol is a horrendous joke and back up what I say.
to answer your question,I would avoid using ethanol at any octane rating in anything but auto engines.
in modern outboards you can run ethanol but I only approve that if you are using the motor on a regular basis and its always fresh,on the same hand switch over to non oxy at the end of year before you put it away for the season.

I know there are people here that say they use it all of the time and dont have any problems,I wish them continued luck as I dont want to see anyone have any problems.
however,there will come a time when they have to darken the doorway of a shop somewhere to have it fixed sooner or later as I see it everyday.

I want you guys to think about something concerning outboards,
lets say you save forty cents per gallon at the pump,
if you use a hundred gallons of gas a year you saved forty bucks,is that worth the 600-1000 dollars plus it will cost you in repairs down the road??

Thank you. If I could ask one more question; do you recommend regularly using any additives (Sea-foam, Lucas, etc.)?

Shady5,if you are running fresh non oxy fuel from a reputable station and your gas jugs are clean,( and havent been sitting for months ) and you are using high quality oils you really dont need any additives until its time to store it for an extended time.

Schaeffers Neutra,Lucas seafoam,stabil are all good products WHEN USED AS DIRECTED and only when needed.
that said,if you are thinking of running ethanol in my opinion you should be adding something like the Neutra or Lucas additive for the extra lubrication they provide.
ethanol is a solvent and does not blend well with oil.

last weekend my FW Sparklesonthewater and I took a much needed break from the shop and IDO to celebrate our anniversary and headed to the northeastern part of the state of Iowa.
our first night there we stopped at a bar/restaurant right along the shores of the Mississippi river and saw this thing on the wall,somehow it reminded me of something BK would try to catch.

the last two weeks the shop has seen some more interesting things come in.
you have to love those who at least try to some things on their own,albeit they need to follow directions a little more closely.
a fellow tried replacing his own stator and managed to destroy the new coil,the flywheel magnets,and the rest of the charging system simply because he didnt gap things properly,the carnage tells the story.

the carburetor seat in the picture,the debris was able to somehow make it through the fuel pump and it flat out rammed this chunk of homemade gasket into the seat effectively plugging it tight.

I HATE SNAKES!!! when I opened the hood on this Dodge pickup I didnt notice the shed skin right away,I was in a hurry but saw it soon enough and talk about getting the heebiejeebies !!!
ya,I know,it had been there for sometime and most likely the snake was long gone but the bulge in the insulation kept my attention for a bit,I finally got brave and whacked it with a pry bar to see if it was still lurking about in there,I was on pins and needles for a bit trying to get the job done and was expecting the snake to pop its head out and cause me to jump through the roof of the shop at any moment.

Sparkles and I had a great time away from things!! we went to the cart track over in PDC,I found out this old man can start in fourth place and outrun the other seven carters on the track and lead them by over a full lap !! YEHAA!!I still have it !! I did get in trouble for running full bore through the tight turns and sliding the cart too hard through them though,oh well,I paid cash for the seven dollar ticket !
Sparkles managed to place third,good on her !!

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IB1 if I had known you were in PdC Chuck100 and I would have came up and bought you and Sparkles an adult refreshment. Only live an hour from Prairie.

been a while since I put up anything going on in the shop, I am sure you get tired of seeing plugged fuel systems and rotted hoses and I have wanted to find something new for you guys.

the following pictures are from a fellow IDO members boat, and it had a couple of issues.
I went to winterize it and noticed it got to operating temp rather quickly as well as the outdrive being a bit noisy.
I tore it down to discover what you seen in the pics, a bearing that was coming apart from rust intrusion thanks to water getting past the driveshaft seal.
the debris caused enough damage that I replaced the complete upper and lower unit as the cost to rebuild was higher than what I could replace it for.

another issue was the trim gauge would go crazy, that and the shift cable was stretched out.
so, new trim pots, new bellows, new shift cable, the complete outdrive as mentioned and what the hell is this!!!
yep, someone had been there before and used silicone to hold the O-ring in place and it slipped out of its bore.
if they had taken five minutes to clean the oxidation out of the bore they wouldnt have needed to glue it in place, no dang wonder it got warm quickly !!
half of the water the pump was trying to provide to the engine went right back into the lake through the lower unit drain holes !!

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The Lazarus project, SHEESH !!
1989 14 ft Alumacraft with a 28 hp Johnson on it.
very nice little boat except for a few problems, one, it has sat since 2007 in a shed, under a tarp, and neglected for a few years.

the story goes like this, old guy retires from fishing and sells it to an enthusiastic young man who just got married.
it sits in a garage for the next several years until last week when the wife announces to the hubby that either the boat goes or she goes and the dope gets rid of the boat giving it to his buddy who has never owned a boat.
( note, I think all young men need to know about boats before getting married!! )

ahem, so its brought to me by the new owner who is earning bookoo bucks working overtime because his coworkers are afraid of that which is to not be mentioned and says, can ya make er run doc??
yep, I sure can !! if it has compression on both cylinders that is.
and sure enough it does and great compression at that !!

the last week has been a fury trying to get it done and I fired it tonight before I shut the shop down for the weekend.
what did it need and get??? new,, are ya ready for this?? charging coil for the ignition system, new power pack, rectifier, starter and solenoid, ignition switch and kill switch, rebuilt the fuel pump and carburetor, new shift and throttle cables and a new steering cable as well as a battery, oh yea, a water pump too ! and two new tires !!

dang mud wasps carried enough mud into the control box that it was seized tight so I took it completely apart, greased it throughout and reassembled it.
I took the neutral safety switch apart and cleaned it as well.
MICE !! how I hate meeces to pieces !!! they ate most of the wiring to the stuff I mentioned before and just had to whiz all over everything else on the motor !!
carb linkage was seized up, timing plate was the only thing that still moved with a bit of effort.
the two pics I am attaching should say it all, and yes, it runs very well now.

I think I listed everything I have to done to it and the bill??
just under twenty five hundred, HEY !! you cant touch a boat on a galvanized trailer for that and is water ready !!

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As I recall talking to you about this particular boat and it’s issues, isn’t it about a 22 year old boat?

I’ll see you again in about a month to look into the steering cable?

SAMS
Sheldon’s Auto and Marine Service!
Ya might be able to do better, BUT,,, Ya got to go a long way to find it!

Denny O wrote:

As I recall talking to you about this particular boat and it’s issues, isn’t it about a 22 year old boat?

I’ll see you again in about a month to look into the steering cable?

SAMS
Sheldon’s Auto and Marine Service!
Ya might be able to do better, BUT,,, Ya got to go a long way to find it!

blush blush!! thanks Denny !! looking forward to seeing that wonderful Lund and the captain who got me back to safety after being on LOTW in six foot rollers !!

somewhere out there in IDO land is another member whos boat I repowered with a brand spanking new Suzuki and all new gauges ! without ever going for a ride in that boat I could almost be convinced to repower my own with a Zuki after hearing that baby fire the first time !!
and that is coming from a diehard Merc man of forty three plus years !!
I am betting he is either headed south a ways for open water or dreaming of it everyday !!

I looked at the picture and I could smell the mouse wiz. YUCK!

i would of been single again!!!!!!!!!!!

bout time you start telling your stories again buster!!!!!!

Damn mice.

Are you a suzuki rep , or did you just install it for someone ?

Hi Michael !!
no,I am not a Suzuki rep, the customer bought the new motor from a dealer who did their own PDI and then allowed me to install it for the customer.
I have my own set of criteria that I go by when installing and rigging a new motor.
I will let the cat out of the bag that I am going to try and become an authorized service center for Mercury, Suzuki and Yamaha in the next two years.

that takes a lot of money and time going to training seminars during the winter season, a little over three grand per year and per brand.
there is no way I can become a dealer yet as I have to buy at least five motors per year and buy all of their specific tooling as well as the classes.
thats over twenty grand a year !!

I am however in the process of buying a diagnostic system that will let me do the same thing the dealers do as far as reading codes, updating services records, and see all of the data streams.
that alone is going to take four grand !! but I have enough customers to make that work easy enough and I have to have it if I am going to continue to work on the newer stuff.

is that going to be difficult to learn?? nope, not at all as I have worked on computerized auto systems since the late seventies and todays outboards and inboards have yet to become as sophisticated as the early computer systems on the mid eighties vehicles.
that and I have already been trained on the Merc systems through a dealer I once worked for.

now if I can afford a dyno next year