Installing new spark plug cables 1947 TD 20 Sea Horse

[crosbyman]

great a new member… now you can go to MEMBERS ONLY…INNER SANCTUM …library find …Garry Spemcer’S drop box …..and download the red johnson manual to service your TD 🙂

Joining AOMCI has priviledges 🙂

[Shamus]

Thanks, Crosbyman! I did download the service manual – alone worth the price of membership. Now, does anyone have any suggestions about refinishing a 1954 Dunphy Dolphin?

[Shamus]

I want to thank all of you who replied to my initial post. Armed with the valuable advice and instructions, I gathered up my courage and replaced the plug wires on my TD 20. and the operation was a success, despite really shaky hands when I got near the coils.. Although, I didn’t think so at first. After I completed all the soldering, securing the cables, adding new clips and cable boots, I put together the old lady and Easter morning after church I put her in a garbage can of water and pulled the starting rope and …. nothing. Foul sounds and recriminations erupted from my mouth. I dragged it back to the workshop and took her apart again and went over everything I had done, used the multi meter on all the cables, coils and points, then realized…got to move the magneto to “start”…. (Yes, I know, I’m an idiot) Suffice to say she started right up (after a squirt of starting fluid into the cylinders and carburetor). Joy in Mudville..

For anyone attempting cable replacement in the future, realize that few people actually fabricate spark cables anymore, including all of the five auto parts stores and one Farm Fleet store I went to here in Bemidji, MN. Not only did the sales help not know how to do it, but only one actually carried the correct tool for crimping plug cables ($38.00) (one sold me another tool that apparently crimped everything BUT plug cables), but their supply of plug connectors, wire and boots was either non-existent or very limited. Even at the most hands on store, which does machine work on premises, the copper core wire was found only on a dusty back shelf, and they did not carry plug boots. Apparently, making your own plug wires is a thing of the past. It required the salesmen searching through seldom used parts catalogs.

One hint I can give is that a hot air gun will prove to be very helpful in getting the cables to conform to the very sharp bends they make particularly near the ignition coils. I was able to carefully heat the wire and get a bend that got the cable to curl right up to the coil soldering terminal. With my shaky hands, that proved invaluable.

I did notice a couple of things when I finally got it running. First, in addition to water jetting out of the pee hole as it should, water was spraying out of the joint between the two auto pilot screw clamps, and it seemed to me that the lower part of the body was in danger of falling off or is at least in need of tightening. See photos IMG_5754 and 5756. There are two holes right below the rubber seal; the water seem to be coming from the location of the rubber seal. Does anyone know if this is normal?

Again, thanks for all the help in getting the old lady started. I have to learn about rich vs lean, and try to find a way to minimize the smoke and occasional backfires I get when I boost her to top speed. I presume that is a issue of adjusting the fuel setting?

Now onto the other motor I have – what appears to be a 1951 or 52 Evenrude Big Twin 25 hp. But I have to find a customer’s manual before I can figure out how to take off the cowling…

• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by Shamus.

[Shamus]

t

[Shamus]

This is a repeat of a post I submitted, but which seems to have disappeared after an edit attempt. My apologies if you have received it or a version of it twice.

I wanted to thank all of you who contributed advice and straight out instructions for replacing spark plug wires on my TD 20. I screwed up my courage and went ahead and did the deed, and it went smoothly…sort of. After soldering the wires with very shaky hands, rerouting the new wires, crimping new wires and adding new boots, testing the coils and wires with a multi meter, I put the old lady back together, hauled her out of the workshop Easter Sunday into a garbage can of water, and let her rip…and nothing. Muttering vile imprecations, I hauled the motor back to the workshop, tore her down, rechecked all connections…and realized I had forgotten to move the magneto from stop to start…(I know, I’m an idiot). I put the motor back together, hauled her back to the garbage can, and with the help of some starting fluid got her up and running. Joy in Mudville!

A couple of observations that might make the process a bit easier for the next person – 1. I used a heat gun to gently heat the cables to allow them to conform to the tight turns they make on the base which holds the points and coils, and allows you to curve them right up to the coil terminal – helping to stabilize the tinned cable ends right up to the coil terminal – a great help for people with trembling hands.
2. Be prepared to have a hard time finding cable parts – Apparently making your own spark plug cables is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. I went to no less than five auto parts stores and one farm supply store (L&M Fleet Supply) and none of their sales people had ever made their own cables, only two had spark plug boots and snaps, only one had copper core spark plug cable and only one had a spark plug cable crimper ($38) although another one sold me what they assured would work (which it did not). To find the parts I needed involved either blank looks or long dives into seldom used parts catalogs.

Anyway, the old lady seems to be working fine now, although I am going to have to learn the fine points of lean vs rich gas mixtures – at top speed in the garbage can she was putting out a lot of smoke and backfiring a few times. At start speed it ran just fine.

I did notice that while the pee hole seemed to be jetting out water normally, there was also water spitting out of the joint between the two pilot screws on the lower shaft. If you refer to the photos marked 5754 and 5756a, the water seems to be spraying from the rubber seal or ring at the joint above two holes. Is this normal or does this warrant some further adjustment/inspection?

Anyway, thanks much for all the advice and help. I’,m now considering pulling apart the second motor I inherited, which appears to be a 1951 or 52 Evenrude Big Twin 25 hp, but I’ll have to find an owner’s manual first, just to get the cowling off?

Regards,
John Egelhof
Bemidji, MN

[aquasonic]

The two holes in the mid section are for exhaust relief. Because this motor has combined exhaust with spent cooling water, water will spray from the relief holes.

Improvise-Adapt-Overcome

1 user thanked author for this post.

Shamus

[crosbyman]

I’,m now considering pulling apart the second motor I inherited, which appears to be a 1951 or 52 Evenrude Big Twin 25 hp, but I’ll have to find an owner’s manual first, just to get the cowling off?

well you new Johnson service manual …….should help a lot with your project

Joining AOMCI has priviledges 🙂

1 user thanked author for this post.

Shamus

[jeff-register]

Please NEVER use starting fluid, it washes all the oil film from everything & you are now starting without any lubercation until running on fuel!!!
AND P.S. clean your soldering tip while hot & use steel wool, before soldering your connection get a drop of liquid solder on the tip for better heat transfer, & place on top of the materials to heat that first, like Mr. Robb says get the heat off ASAP!! Just like boiling potatos, transfer heat using a H-2O as a transfer medium, same for soldered potatos. Tasteful!! : > ) !!!
Jeff

• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by jeff-register.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Shamus

[Shamus]

Thanks, Crosbyman! I downloaded it. Still need the owner’s manual.

[Shamus]

Thanks, Jeff! I never knew that. Hopefully, it will start properly from here on in. I’m learning as I go and hate learning by trial and error! I did follow your instructions vis-a-vis the soldering and it worked like a charm.

[Author]

Posts