Elgin motor rebuild

Rutgers

Rutgers

Well-known member
Last summer I picked up a 1952 2 HP Elgin outboard at a Garage Sale for $35 if I remember right. At that time I couldn't get the flywheel to turn at all. I was told by a number of people that it was seized up, but I figured for the money I had into it, worst case I'd repaint it and put it in the library for a decorator.

Last night my buddy Rick Troutman was over and we started messing with it. I've been periodically soaking the cylinder with PB blaster over the last year, and it still wouldn't turn, so we started taking parts off.

We took off the prop and the cap that the shaft goes through for the prop. Forgive me, but I don't know the proper name for it. Come to find out, that shaft is frozen inside what looks like a brass bushing (maybe some kind of bearing?) and the motor now turns freely. Looking at some websites, these motors look pretty simple wo work on and parts are still available. I'm pretty excited and looking forward to this project. I have know knowledge of engines at all, so this will be a pretty good learning experience for me.

This motor will be going on my Brant 2. For all the time I've been hunting, this will be the first time I've had a motor on a boat with the exception of my tender for layout gunning. It should open up some new opportunities for me. I can't wait!

Anyone have some tips or advice for me before I get too far into this project?

Thanks,

Paul
 
Elgin was sold by a hardware conglomerate back in the 50's Their chief competitor in that price range was Wizard. Glad to hear you can still find parts for it (That in itself is amazing) Bet there is a group of Elgin enthusiasts out there somewhere that can give you a lot of info. Try Googling Elgin outboard motors. Motors from that era were gas hogs and famous for being unreliable (needle valves in the carbs frequently gummed up and got stuck and they burned up spark plugs rapidly as they used about a 25/1 gas oil mixture. In other words take a paddle up the creek with you if you get it running.

Thanks for the walk down memory lane,
Harry
 
Paul,

Even if you have a good manual to go by,, take plenty of pictures and notes as you do any teardown. Take special note of which surface of a given part faces which way, etc. It is all too easy to get something installed backwards and sometimes the hardest to figure out after the fact.

Nice thing about any motor similar to this in size and vintage is that everything on them is pretty basic and careful observation will usually get you thru.
 
http://www.aomci.org/

Great group of guys, just like here, ask specific questions and they'll help you out. I have a '58 35hp Johnson on my duck boat, runs like new and has never failed me. My pleasure boat is a 1959 Playstyle with a '59 35hp Johnson. I also have a bitty Wizard 2.3hp, pretty cool. I just love that kinda Old Iron!
 
Haven't had much time to work on the motor lately. As I write this, Michele could go into labor literaly any second now, so I've had bigger fish to fry, but I did manage to get the "prop assembly" freed up. Seems a bunch of heavy fishing line got sucked in between the shaft and the fitting and jammed it up. Got the shaft all cleaned up and polished and everything turns. No Spark, so that's next, then to get the carb cleaned up and tuned. Can't wait to hear her run!
 
Do a proper refit on it. Replace the coils, points, condensor, plugs, impeller and seals. That covers the easy things that are neglected on these things.
 
Do a proper refit on it. Replace the coils, points, condensor, plugs, impeller and seals. That covers the easy things that are neglected on these things.
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This is good advice, however, I'd first comfirm that you have no major problems with the engine before adding to your finacial investment. Put some oil in the cylinder and check the compression. See if you can get it to run as is. If it runs at all then you can consider getting it to run top notch.

Sometimes these motors have so many hours and wear on them they are just worn out and it is cost prohibative to fix them up. With out knowing the history it is anybodys guess, till you check things out.
 
Dave, you are so right!. A compression check would be the first order of business. You would be surprised at how many of the old OB's have few hours on them. They were notoriously cranky if neglected, and tended to stop working all together if left for long periods of time. I believe that many just purchased new in the '70's instead of messing with a 20 year old engine. One of my 35hp engines was at factory spec for compression, did a refit for age related parts and have a brand new 50 year old engine!
 
Terry,

Seems when one finds an older motor laying in the back corner of a basement, it is there for one of two reasons.
(1) It is only good for parts.
(2) It never got used.

Lets hope Paul found the later. :>)
 
From my observations over the years only two or three percent of motors ever get worn out. The rest are just neglected.The only ones that wear out motors are duck hunters and die hard fisher men. Some motors were just fussy and poorly engineered but most would last.
 
The only ones that wear out motors are duck hunters and die hard fisher men.
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Oh, I don't know about that Pete. I put a lot of gas thru my boat motor pulling skiers over the years. Hot conditions, full load, lot of extended hole shots, puts a lot of wear on a motor. I eventually had to replace one motor due to the wear on the crank and main bearings.

Can't say that I've done that to any of my fishing motors and I usually am on the water more than most in this area.

As you say, the ones that are just run and not maintained are the first to crap out.
 
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