Today I was fortunate to become the owner of the 28th ELTO Pal ever made, serial no 4203-00028(Oldest known?). I did not do a deep imnpection of the motor itself until I got home, at which point I found a few problems. the lower unit skeg as seen in the pictures is far from perfect (replacement-worthy?), and the gears inside are somewhat usable, but are very rusty and need a lot of refinishing. the crankshaft seems to be dragging somewhere because it turns over rough even with the lower unit completely detached and a bunch of wd-40 in the crankcase. The gas tank is Ok but dented, the driveshaft housing is good, the transom clamp is good, the carb is OK(would work after some tweaking), the exhaust tube is very bent and dented(around 1″ deviation from where it should be), and there is no spark. There is a chance that the resistance is inside the flywheel, but I am unable to take it off until later. All in all, it is a very rough motor. Should I be trying to keep it original as possible( AKA salvaging slightly sketchy gears), or should I just keep everything on the outside original and replace any internal parts that are not quite functional? I am also uncertain as to weather or not I should replace the lower unit housing as it is in rough shape. I’m additionally on the fence about whether I should keep it in rough but original shape or give it a good restoration.
Any thoughts are appreciated, and I understand that it is my motor and consequently my decision, but given the potential significance of how early it is, I want to make the best decision possible about this motor and appreciate opinions regardless of how subjective they are.
"Outboards seem to multiply exponentially..........I find that for every finished project, there are two more waiting to be completed."
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