Dave, Holy crap, that’s a nice tank! If you can, please take straight on shots of the decals and send them to me.
The motor is from 1923, the first year for the Sport Twin. From the photos, it appears the lower unit has been painted to look like brass. If so, an aluminum prop is correct, and just the paint is wrong. I can’t tell from the photo, but the prop may be a replacement. In 1923, the tanks were all square and brass, so the tank has been replaced at some point, not uncommon because the brass tanks were a bit fragile. The brass tanks had the ID plate on them, which is why you don’t have a serial number available. The shape of the water tubes and the petcock, transom bracket and thumb screws, muffler, carburetor, and flywheel are all correct for that year motor. Only the cylinders were painted on that year motor, and they should be light gray.
The Sport Twin is reversible. It’s designed to work when the motor is running, but here’s what it should do to check it: Push in the button and raise the tiller up about 30 degrees or so. This should drop the lower unit about an inch. If this works, turn the lower unit around clockwise (as you look from the top) and it should lock into reverse at 180 degrees. Then press the button and lower the tiller back to the original position. Turn the lower unit around another 180 degrees and it should lock back into forward.
Should you decide to get it running, please stay in touch with me.
Any chance you’ll be at Mystic this weekend?
Tom Manley
Mansfield, MA
manleyt at verizon dot net
508 three three nine 3546
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