Thanks Jerry! I’m not completely sure which year these motors went to the OMC Universal Magneto. My gut tells me it was 1951, but I am not sure. I have a ’49 SD-20 16hp on my to do list and it does not have the universal magneto. This QD seems like a strong runner, but she’s a noisy old girl. Should be a fun occasional runner though.
-Ben

I got the gearcase cleaned out today. The gears were a little rusty, but not terrible. I got those all cleaned up. The old seals are pulled out ready to be replaced. I have put a new shift rod O-ring in and cleaned up the sealing surfaces of the gearcase in preparation for the new spaghetti seal.
-Ben

Nick,

Thank you and I’m glad to hear my posts are keeping you motivated to work on yours.

To answer your first question, the adjustment I was making on the right side of the carb as I was facing the motor is the high speed needle. I had the linkage unhooked and was making the adjustment to the needle itself. Once the carb is dialed in as close as I can get it, I replace the linkage and set the dial in the middle of its travel to allow for fine adjustments later.

Regarding your second question, the gaskets you are needing are called exhaust cover gaskets. One goes between the block and the baffle plate. The other goes between the baffle plate and the exhaust cover. I’m glad you didn’t end up with any broken fasteners when you removed the cover. For future, I never remove that cover unless it is completely necessary. You can do what you like with that advice, but I leave them alone 99% of the time. A bit of carbon in there isn’t going to hurt anything. There is too much likelihood of twisting off fasteners and gaskets are getting harder to find for these motors. There are still some available and you should be able to get replacements though.

Try member Dan Gano for the exhaust cover gaskets. His email is ganotech at mchsi dot com. Dan is excellent to work with. He’s does his sales old school. You contact him and let him know what you need, he gives you the cost, you mail him a check and he’ll send you your parts after he gets the check. There may be a few other sources for this gaskets but Dan would be my first go to.

I understand the other projects limiting motor time. I’d have done this one in a day or two instead of 3 weeks if I had the time. I’ll be glad to get the gearcase resealed and get this one back together again. I have a few more I need to get through this winter. I’ll be looking forward to your video. Feel free to ask any other questions you may have. I’m nearly through with this one so I should be able to answer them.
-Ben

You will probably have to install a shim washer to adjust the gear lash. . . 😉

I got the gearcase back together and pressure checked it. At ~8psi it showed zero leakage after 40 minutes and actually came up a bit to around 9psi with the temp in the shop and my handling it while reinstalling the shift rod connector and water pump… twice… but we won’t go into that right now. 😳

And I got the lower unit reattached along with the shift rod. It’s ready to be reassembled once I make a new gasket for the lower section of the exhaust housing.

It’s almost back together. Hopefully tonight I’ll finish it and it will be another one ready for a boat test when the water softens up again.
-Ben