Topic: 1939 Sea King / Thor barrel test – Antique Outboard Motor Club,Inc

This topic has 25 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 7 years ago by Buccaneer.

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April 17, 2018 at 10:18 pm #9672
Buccaneer
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US Member
Tinkered with the subject most of the day, going back through the magneto
and mixer, fixing a fuel leak, the fuel shut off valve leaking through,
and the gas cap that wasn’t venting. Got it to start on the workbench
(with the drill), so moved it to the test barrel. (after removing 3" of ice).
Right away the socket drive was slipping in the drill, and fell out of the
chuck, and into the bottom of the test barrel. Still had a magnet I bought 35 years
ago when my ice chisel slipped out of my hands and to the bottom
of the lake, so the socket retrieval didn’t go too bad! Dressed up the socket
exstension in the lathe so it fit the chuck better. Tried again, and it fired
right up, stayed running, and actually pumped water. I had my doubts if
my homemade inlet check valve on the water pump was going to work,
but I got lucky. I ran it for a total of about 20 minutes when if died after
I monkeyed around with the mag advance.
Even though it was pumping water nice, and the outlet only lukewarm,
the back of the cylinder was boiling water (where a gas tank mount bolt
screws into the water jacket).
Does this seem "Abby Normal"?
Could it be because of the wrong spark plug?
All I had on hand was an 18 mm Autolite 3116.
Not sure how that compares to the original Champion M6 on the heat range.
Anyway, after the 20 minute run the new crankshaft main bearings seem
to have loosened up nice, as the "rebound" and compression seem alot
better when spinning the flywheel by hand.
Tomorrow, if all goes well will be my first try starting the 5 hp Atlas!

Get your popcorn………
https://youtu.be/qAveDjBca6w

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Prepare to be boarded!
April 17, 2018 at 11:08 pm #74201
49morphew
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US Member
Congrats on your success! Another one saved from the scrap like. Your perseverance paid off.
April 17, 2018 at 11:08 pm #74202
49morphew
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US Member
Meant scrap pile. Stupid phone.
April 17, 2018 at 11:27 pm #74204
PM T2
Participant
Canada Member
Glad you got it to run.

FWIW – in future, consider running in small rebuilt powerheads like the Thor on a lathe prior to actually trying to start them…. especially if you’ve installed new bearings to support the crankshaft. Use a molybdenum-based break-in oil to lubricate the cylinder walls if you wish, but you "may" want to disassemble the powerhead after doing so and wash it out real well. Or, you can flush the assembly out with solvent and accomplish basically the same thing. Run-in time gets rings seated ahead of initial starting attempts. Just sayin’.

As I recall, the end of the cylinder got pretty hot on my 1937-ish Thor as well. They don’t spit much water, even when the pump is working at its best.

Another FWIW – it bothers me when drills are used to start motors. If it doesn’t start with a rope, then you’re doing something wrong, and haven’t solved the hard-start root cause. If the original manufacturer didn’t package a drill along with the motor to use as a starting aid….. etc etc….. but what do I know…..

Good luck with the Thor, at least it sounds promising now that its run for a bit.

Best,
PM T2

He's livin' in his own private Idaho..... I hope to go out quietly in my sleep, like my grand-dad did..... and not screaming, like the passengers in his car...
April 18, 2018 at 12:02 am #74205
joesnuffy
Participant
Great to hear you got it running. Good Job. Hopefully someone here can shed some light on the circulation issue. Keep us posted. Like my boss use to say follow the rat into the hole and kill it. Your close. I have never worked on one of those motors as most haven’t but I did have a motor once that had sand in the lower water jacket around the cylinder preventing good circulation. I also had a piece of coral shaped like a ball that went into the L-shaped elbow mounted into the bottom of my jet on my jet ski that as the water went thru the jet it pushed into the part of the L that was inside the jet and the coral ball got trapped into the corner of that L shaped elbow. Their is no impeller on a jet ski they simply trap some of the water going thru the jet and a hose takes that to the engine and it goes thru engine to cool it. That took some looking and thinking to figure that out.

Possibly check outlet to make sure its clear. Some mud dobbers got in my P-hole on my Yamaha outboard once and it wasn’t circulating until I cleaned it out.

Joe 😀
April 18, 2018 at 12:28 am #74210
Bob Wight
Participant
US Member
Buccaneer – Persistence paid off – great to see you got it going. Also good to hear the crank bearings seem to have seated in now. Maybe a few final tweaks to be able to get it rope started and you’ve got a real nice motor. Nice paint job too.

Bob

1937 Champion D2C Deluxe Lite Twin
1954 Johnson CD-11
1955 Johnson QD-16
1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18
1958 Johnson QD-19
1958 Johnson FD-12
1959 Johnson QD-20

“Every 20 minute job is only a broken bolt away from a 3-day project.”
"Every time you remove a broken or seized bolt an angel gets his wings."
April 18, 2018 at 1:32 am #74216
Buccaneer
Participant
US Member
Thanks for the comments. I put the rope pulley back on after
I run it and it seemed to loosen up. I originally made a plate
for spinning over the engine that bolted to the three rope
plate screws, so it wouldn’t tighten the crank nut, as I didn’t
like the idea of the drill on the flywheel nut either. It didn’t
get put back on today, but I marked the nut to see if it
was moving any as I drilled over the engine. It did, a hair.
I believe Mumbles mentioned using a lathe for breaking
in a power head, but believe I already had the lower unit
attached, etc., but will keep that idea in the memory bank
for the future.
Will try rope starting it tomorrow for kicks, and find the
correct spark plug in the near future. Don’t know if it
will ever go on the boat, but I had fun hearing it run today!
Hopefully Thorwald and Elmer perked up a little at the
sound of it running.

Prepare to be boarded!
April 18, 2018 at 2:58 am #74221
joesnuffy
Participant
I looked up the autolite 3116 heat range and it was a 5 . That should be middle of the road heat range I would think combine that with the cold water you were using I would think the motor would have ran cooler on the rear of cylinder. I can’t help but wonder if their is a restriction of flow of water or if it might pump more when mounted on an actual boat. Just a thinking out load.

https://www.sparkplugs.com/product.aspx?zpid=7748

When I have used hotter spark plugs they normally get pretty hot to the touch of the base of them fairly quickly like 1 minute I can tell when their a hot plug using my finger on the base of plug. Sometimes it also lets me know when a plug isn’t firing as it should after like a minute or 2 I feel the plug bases to see how they compare to one-another.

Joe
April 18, 2018 at 3:29 am #74224
dave-bernard
Participant
US Member
IS the head water cooled?
April 18, 2018 at 3:32 am #74225
Mumbles
Participant
You’re my idol Buck. Now you are giving me inspiration to try and get mine running!
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