# bass boy what do you think



## hardwatergrampa (Apr 2, 2009)

i can pick this up for 400. its a mid 70's whats your pros and cons been sitting in a heated garage for about 4 years its all original. Is it worth the chance


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## Macgyver (Apr 2, 2009)

I'm not bassboy (obviously.lol) but I can tell you that motor is a good solid motor even if you have to put some money into it .


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## CarlF (Apr 2, 2009)

Its worth that much in parts!
I think it would be a good buy, see if you can check the compressions & the lower unit oil. Run it too. If she runs & there are not obvious problems, heck yeah it is worth $400.


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## bassboy1 (Apr 2, 2009)

If all checks out, buy it. I have that same motor (well, the blue Evinrude, but aside from paint and stickers, they are about identical), that is my main motor. Very reliable. Good design. Doesn't like to idle real low, but that is the nature of that size motor from that era (ie, look at something else if you are trolling with it). 

And, if for whatever reason, you need some odd parts, I have a parts motor for those (lower unit is shot, and flywheel is cracked - previous owner abuse), but the rest is fine. 

400 is worth it for that. I paid 325 for mine, in a sort of running state (he pull started it for us, and idled it for a bit, but it didn't run well). It needed a starter and the flywheel was cracked (which is why the parts motor now has a cracked flywheel, even though it didn't before). Since I already had the parts motor, I swapped the flywheel, starter, and fuel pump, then ordered new carb kit, spark plugs, points, condensers, and all lower unit seals, and now have around 475 or 500 in the whole motor (bought all OEM parts, for some stupid reason - I wasn't thinking, and just ordered them from BRP #-o ). 

I am using it about once a week on average through the late fall, winter and early spring, and 1 - 2 times a week throughout the late spring (now) and 3 plus times a week in the summer. I have put around 50 hours on it since I got the boat in the water the last week of July. Will probably more than double that by the end of this year. Unless I find a stump or something at speed, I see no reason why this won't last me as long as the boat does.


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## hardwatergrampa (Apr 3, 2009)

he was asking 500 for it just got an answer back from him i made a counter offer of 350 he said thanks and gave me his phone # to call ill let ya know how she runs thanks for the help guys


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## redbug (Apr 3, 2009)

good luck with it

Wayne


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## Macgyver (Apr 3, 2009)

good score man , good luck .


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## hardwatergrampa (Apr 4, 2009)

picked the motor up last night looks like a solid motor no primer showing on the head anywhere so dont think she ever got over heated at anytime motor is as clean as the pictures has a few scraches on the cover prop looks like new guy says the motor was serviced every year Doesn't like to idle real low, but that is the nature of that size motor from that era (ie, look at something else if you are trolling with it). about what is the lowes trolling speed she likes i have a 4 horse kicker if i need it


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## hardwatergrampa (Apr 4, 2009)

the last post didnt post the way i wanted it to but bassboy about how low a seed will it troll at in your boat i troll 2 buckets with the 25hp and gett down to about 1-1.5 on the gps


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## bassboy1 (Apr 4, 2009)

hardwatergrampa said:


> the last post didnt post the way i wanted it to but bassboy about how low a seed will it troll at in your boat i troll 2 buckets with the 25hp and gett down to about 1-1.5 on the gps



I have never GPS'd it, as I also have a 4 horse beside it I troll with. Towing 5 gallon buckets, I am fairly sure that it could get down to 1.5 or 2, but it doesn't like doing so. It just isn't a smooth idler, and I am sure that if you tried it for a while, it would start to get fussy, and want to stall out. Not to mention try to carbon up. This motor was clearly a WOT motor, and it will do that all day, every day.


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## hardwatergrampa (Apr 4, 2009)

ok bass boy maybe you can help me out with the motor i just picked up the 40 hp like yours went out this afternoon to see if it would run i am getting what i would call a intermedeit spark i have changed acoail,put in new plugs new key at the flywheel cleaned the magnets and flywheel unhooked the starter wires and tried to pull start it no luck she has tried to start a few time but doesnt catch reset the points they look like new any help on what to do next i have also looked for shorts in the wiring .if i unhook the leads to the coails and turn the motor over i get a light on my test light when hooked to the coail wires


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## bassboy1 (Apr 4, 2009)

So the test light shows a spark? Provided the plugs are good (you said they are new) the spark light will show whether or not you are getting spark. 

If you indeed are getting spark, the problem may be a fuel related problem, in which the most likely problem is that the carbs are clogged, and a simple carb rebuild is all that is needed.


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## hardwatergrampa (Apr 5, 2009)

let me re word that if i unhook the mag wires from the coail i get a light on the test light from the mag wires but hooked back to the coails there is no fire at the plug wires i tried a spray of gas into the cyclenders as well with no luck


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## Macgyver (Apr 5, 2009)

my 25HP won't spark when the wires from the points are connected to the kill switch , I disconnect those wires and it'll work fine , (the wires when connected together kill the engine by shorting the points to each other) even with the wires not hooked to anything it does this . take the wires off completely and it works just fine. so I just run it without the wires and choke it to kill it .


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## hardwatergrampa (Apr 5, 2009)

Macgyver said:


> my 25HP won't spark when the wires from the points are connected to the kill switch , I disconnect those wires and it'll work fine , (the wires when connected together kill the engine by shorting the points to each other) even with the wires not hooked to anything it does this . take the wires off completely and it works just fine. so I just run it without the wires and choke it to kill it .



 i dont have a kill switch or if i do i havent found it only kill switch is in the ing switch which iam sure must go to a groud some where . spent the day working on it after church this morning i did manage to get it to run several times today i let it run a good 5 min boy she sounded good untill the tank ran out of gas then forget it no fire at the plugs again i have changed the plugs again pulled the carb and went through that replaced the fuel lines for some reason i still think its a loss of spark 

i have some type of switch on the stator plate that looks just like the netural safty switch ( same type of switch) maybe thats the kill switch


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## Macgyver (Apr 5, 2009)

whether there is a kill switch connected or not , the wires are there coming from the points to a junction block on the side of the powerhead. how the kill switch works on these older engines is by connecting the points together via those wires to short out the points from working , therefore no spark. I don't know why mine will work with no wires connected to the points themselves ,but if I connect the wires to the points, they don't even have to be connected to the junction block and I get no spark. (even after replacing the wires, so I know there is nothing wrong with the wires themselves) so instead of worrying about it , I just run mine without the wires and just choke it to kill it .


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## hardwatergrampa (Apr 6, 2009)

thats my next step is to remove the wires and clean them and all the grounds maybe the pickup coails are gone or not grounded thanks for the helpfor the few min. i had it running it sounded good


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## Macgyver (Apr 6, 2009)

if the coils have any cracks in them at all , replace them .


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## hardwatergrampa (Apr 7, 2009)

one of the coials have a crack in it but it works on my 25 hp motor if it was bad wouldn i see an arc too bad i have 2 new ones on the 30hp rude but there notthe same


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## Macgyver (Apr 7, 2009)

one of mine also has some small cracks in it and still works, but I expect it to lay down on me at any time.


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## hardwatergrampa (Apr 7, 2009)

i think i might have found a lead was going to check the points again and found the key way broke again i dont think the fly wheel is staying tight have a guy picking it up in the morning to do some tast on it iam wondering if the flywheel has been spun on the crank


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## Macgyver (Apr 7, 2009)

check for a beveled edge of the keyway on the flywheel . install a new key and torque the flywheel to 40 - 50 ft lbs.


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## hardwatergrampa (Apr 8, 2009)

nope that wasnt it looks like i got taken on this one sent it off to the shop today should know in a week


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## Macgyver (Apr 8, 2009)

I'd be willing to bet the carb is gummed up full of varnished gas.


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## hardwatergrampa (Apr 8, 2009)

Macgyver said:


> I'd be willing to bet the carb is gummed up full of varnished gas.



1 of the first things i did was pull the carbs and rebuild it but it was clean as it could be iam thinking the flywheel has been spun on the crank


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## hardwatergrampa (Apr 20, 2009)

ggot a call from the service man on the motor today he says he checked the motor out needs a few minor parts says the motor is a strong unit and well worth fixing so with the minor repairs full tine up and compleate water pump job would run 150.00 should have it back for the weekend


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## Macgyver (Apr 20, 2009)

good deal , $150 more to what you paid for it still isn't bad at all..


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## bassboy1 (Apr 20, 2009)

Macgyver said:


> good deal , $150 more to what you paid for it still isn't bad at all..


Definitely not bad. Around here, the Marinas try to rape you. I saw a guy on a local message board that paid 515 for getting the carbs rebuilt, and the impeller replaced on a late 80s 15 horse Johnson. 
Parts wouldn't be 50 bucks, and being a marina that sells parts, they surely get them below retail. 465 for labor on rebuilding a single barrel carb, and a water pump impeller. Lets see, each of those tasks would take me 30 minutes, if I am working slowly. 

Because of this, I have found that there is good money to be made working on motors around here. For example, I rebuilt the carbs, replaced the sparkplugs, and replaced some fuel lines on a 150 Johnson a couple weeks ago, and got 175 labor for it. Good money for me, and a whole heck of a lot cheaper than the marina would charge. Woulda cost him close to 500 just in labor if the marina did it.


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## Macgyver (Apr 21, 2009)

ya , I hear that. I do some side jobs on older ones also . Fixed an old early 70's Chrysler 35 hp, and older 70's era Merc 200 20 hp, and and 60's 10 hp johnson and of course my 74' johnson 25hp and the 57' 5.5 Evinrude.


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## hardwatergrampa (Apr 21, 2009)

the guy doing the work is from mass retired and doing some side work i think he just moved up here and is living in wells ill let ya know how it turns out if he does what he says and the motor runs id say i still came out on top


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