Cold Running Motor…Revisited

[johnyrude200]

I’ll take all of your recommendations and tinker with it. What I’ll probably end up doing is putting aside one of the motors and use it to experiment with. Right now I’m just working my tail off trying to keep up with orders and repairs!

I have an eligible motor…’71 johnson 25 short shaft, tiller, electric start, which I think is a good candidate. I like the idea of making the pickup later in the throttle advance. Makes a lot of sense to help even out fuel delivery a bit, coupled with taking that recirculator hose right off and rerouting…all sounds good.

I still shake my head at how nice the mid 60’s 18’s run. Very smooth at all ranges, reminds me of the later 15’s from the 80’s.

[johnyrude200]

I also wanted to just say to everyone, thank you. I have switched over to working on these older motors full time as a career move, and without all of your help, this would not be possible. To me, it’s fun (most of the time), and I get a lot of joy out of working on them. It’s good to see these things put back into reliable service, and I can’t tell you how many people thank me for doing this for them for either budget fishermen or folks who want an older motor which brings back memories from years ago.

I have folks who simply want to keep them running because of sentimental value, and many have no outlet to bring them too that is either reliable or reasonably affordable.

[Mumbles]

So what are you doing? Running an outboard repair business?

[johnyrude200]

I have started doing that over the past 9 months primarily on OMC motors. It started as tinkering 5 years ago and has turned into how I pay bills now.

I read as much as I can and ask a lot of questions, and drawing off of experienced veteran mechanics is obviously important.

Im not aware of any school or courses out there that teach people about the older motors, otherwise Id sign up!

[fleetwin]

Experience is the best teacher! And, I don’t think any manufacturers offer training on anything but their latest/newest products.

[dan-in-tn]

Wheather you realize it or not if you establish a good Standard Diagnostic Procedure it will always seem like experience is the answer to all your problems. Experience is a great teacher and you will get better as you see things and learn the strengths, weaknesses, & strange behaviors of some models. It will always seem like the quickest way to fix an engine if you know what is wrong with it, easy to do! When you run up against one that just won’t cooperate, that is the time for SDP. Get you a procedure and stick with it. Every motor needs basic things to occur for it to run. That hasn’t changed from the beginning of time.

Dan in TN

[Mumbles]

quote johnyrude200:

I have started doing that over the past 9 months primarily on OMC motors. It started as tinkering 5 years ago and has turned into how I pay bills now.

I read as much as I can and ask a lot of questions, and drawing off of experienced veteran mechanics is obviously important.

Im not aware of any school or courses out there that teach people about the older motors, otherwise Id sign up!

Yeah, it’s great when you can play with your hobby and get some extra $ coming in at the same time! Boating season is around the corner here and the repair jobs are starting to trickle in but this year I have to devote more time to myself. I hardly got any boat time in myself last year.

[dan-in-tn]

Nothing will ruin a hobby faster than making it your livelihood, but that is how it has worked out for me since OMC bankruptcy in 2000. My problem is I want to retire and I can’t get my customers to leave me alone. No! It’s not because I’m so Great, I must have worked too cheap somewhere along the way. Anyway the following just want let me be so I can play with my little motors and old iron. I guess I just don’t have the heart to tell them NO. We only have a couple of dealer options for the DI engines here.
The money sure is good for buying old iron, but if you never get to do anything with the stuff you love what good does it do to buy it in the first place?

Dan in TN

[johnyrude200]

Mumbles and Dan, you are preaching to the choir. My previous career was in sports physiology in the private sector, and at my peak, owned a 10,000sf facility with 12 employees and a monthly overhead in the 5 digits. Let’s just say I went into it with a big heart, stars in my eyes, and my life savings, and left it with 2 inches less of hairline, 60lbs of weight gain, and a lot more perspective on that one thing that is more valuable then money will ever be…TIME.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a wall street executive or own a gym, work can easily make your health fall by the wayside if you let it.

We can always make more money, but we can’t make more time. The small OMC repair business is something I keep in the ‘enjoyment’ category, but also is sustainable income in this area. I don’t plan on letting it take over my life, and have no problem saying ‘no’ to business. I’m actually switching my career path back to coaching college sports, and this motor business fits well with it because the busy time of the year is when all the kids are home, so it’s seems to be a good pair of jobs without me going insane 🙂

I appreciate all the words of advice, keep them coming, I won’t turn it away!

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