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1976 johnson 55hp video test 5 opinions and advice desired

Sorry I had some interruptions in my plans today. A friend called up telling me he just bought a new boat(well new to him) 100_5139.jpg That bastard..lol he invited my wife and i out for a little cruise, so we took advantage of the day an went out. Before we did, I managed to drop the lower unit off the motor. Today bright and early im going to open it up, and see what i can find. I will update here when I figure something out.
 
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It occurred to me that some might be interested in the back story of this motor, and the boat it came with. I found it covered with weeds and fines in a field in the country. 1969 mckee craft 14ft with bimini top evinrude trolling motor, fish finder and 76 55hp johnson. I got it all for free. Guy who owned it was going to scrap it. Here is a link to the progression of this project in pics from time I found it to now.
https://picasaweb.google.com/105907903960619269809/BoatProject?authuser=0&feat=directlink
 
I cranked it with and without plugs, everything sounds fine. I wish I could run it without the lower unit on. Someone mentioned hooking a hose up to intake pipe to do that, but I dont know if thats a good idea.
 
Here is a question I have not posted before, at least not this way. Right now the throttle cable is disconnected so there is nothing external that can cause the throttle to stick. The throttle butterflies rotate well and spring right back where they should. But the lever I rotate in the video. It seems to me the idle lever should spring back on its own all the way to seat itself. Am I wrong?
http://youtu.be/MD3Q_ae1yF8
 
I think I'd wanna figure out what happened to make all that racket the last time you ran it before I'd be stressing out about anything else. Will it even fire back up?
 
It cranks over without any odd sounds. I haven't tried to fire it up because I haven't gotten the lower unit in place yet. I had a couple bolts strip out and I am putting helicoil thread inserts in right now. I will prob be another hour before I am ready to fire it off.
 
ok I got the lower unit on. Hooked everything up and tried to start it. It cranked and cranked and popped a couple of times. So I thought I would check the flywheel and the damn woodruff key was sheared off again. I replaced it and cranked it, it popped a few times belched white smoke out the exhaust when it popped, but never really fired over. I pulled the plugs and checked spark, spark is good. If it were running and belching white smoke I would be tempted to say blown head gasket, but it never actually started. Perhaps it is anyway.
 
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Actually the key I stuck in there the first time was from autozone. The one i put in a few minutes ago was the original off the water pump as they are the same size. I know first thing Im going to buy the right ones. from a omc parts house
 
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Take big steps in rapid succesion to your friendly Evinrude / Johnson dealer and buy the flywheel key for your motor !!!!!
 
I think I may have just put two and two together on something. The other day when the motor messed up, while it was running i happened to look down and see that water was no longer coming out of the holes it should be, then I checked my water level and noticed the water had dropped below the first hole on the intake. I shut it down and put more water in and started it up again but it was just a few moments later that it messed up. I bet its a blown head gasket. I think the shear pin happened when I tried to start it the first time today. It was cranking real slow and then suddenly cranked fast. I think that was the shear pin giving way.
 
Wrong again !---------Point blank --------Are you going to the dealer to buy a new flywheel key ???????????--------Why are you calling the flywheel key a " shear pin "
 
Wow chill dude wtf?? If you want to get technical about it, its actually called a woodruff key. I called it a shear pin because it sheared off and Im tired. What's your deal? Do you just troll around waiting for an opportunity to point out someones ignorance everychance you get. Does that make you feel superior. How bout trying to help a person out instead of focusing on how much less they know about a subject than you. Jeez. You knew what I was talking about.
 
I believe that is what I said I was going to do in my post just above where you say take big steps in rapid succession. I said " I know first thing Im going to buy the right ones. from a omc parts house" It is designed to shear off correct? I know its not a pin but it is a shear key for the flywheel
 
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Dan, from tbe viewpoint of those trying to give you some tech support FOR FREE this is kinda frustrating. You are getting good recommendations but you're jumping around like a pinball with your troubleshooting.... call it a day, get a "key" tomorrow and then begin again in more organized and thought out troubleshooting steps.

FWIW you blew my mind when you jerked the gearcase off again..... and the flywheel has been off 4 times ? I mean WTF?
 
I pulled the gearcase off because the only unpleasant sound I heard was coming from the water pump. I wanted to check that. I pulled the flywheel off the first time to clean the armature. Ants had made a home there. I pulled it the second time because I read about the sensor coming loose and throwing the timing off, so I checked that. The third time I pulled it off because it was firing way out of sync, that was when I found the woodruff key was sheared off, and then today because I noticed it move real slow on crank and suddenly speeded up I assumed I sheared another key,and I was correct. You have to understand this motor was sitting in bushes for six years. Ant and cockroaches had infested many parts of it. Its amazing it ran at all. When I removed the lower unit three of the bolts sheared off. I had to drill out those and retap and put in helicoil. It seems to you that I am jumping around doing things crazy but in reality Ive been following everyones advice. and doing things in a methodical order. I had electrical prob to sort out, then when I followed the manual for setting slow speed needle valve the manual setting was wrong, it finally started running good then blew a head gasket. because I let it go low on water in the tank i have.
 
Gotcha, I understand man. I have fought my way through a basket case or 9 so I know the drill. Sorry for the armchair attitude..... I just wanna hear this b!tc# run.

Once those old 55's are set up straight they are pretty bulletproof..... until they break a driveshaft that is. :)
 
No one wants to hear it run more than I do. Ive been working this project boat since the beginning of december, and the weather is already good for it. I feel fairly confident from the what I know has happened and the white smoke, not starting now that Its a blown head gasket. The gasket is cheap enough just not looking forward to removing the powerhead to change it. I mean i was really close and then this.
 
The powerhead does not need to be removed in order to change the cylinder head gasket !---------------The flywheel is driven by the locking tapers of the crankshaft and the flywheel when properly torqued.----The key merely puts the flywheel in the right position ( timing )-----And likely the key is NOT a standard woodruff key.
 
Well in all honesty I did not have the flywheel torqued to what it should have been. I was hoping the taking the head off would be something I could do without removing powerhead but it just didn't look like i would have the clearance to remove the bolts.
 
The only clues I have to a blown head gasket are blowing white smoke, failure to start (assuming because water is being sucked into cylinder. It was running pretty good before this started. Some I know it should start easily . I will defer to experience over my assumptions. What do you think ? Ohh also because was when I was running it in the tank I inadvertently let the water drops below the inlet and water was not pumping through the engine while it was hot
 
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Lap the tapers of the crank and flywheel together with some valve grinding compound.------Clean thouroughly--------Install the proper key.---------Torque the nut and see how it runs.
 
Why not do a compression check before pulling the head off? I don't know where the whole " white smoke equals blown head gasket" theory came from but I've never heard anything more crazy. If it got hot enough to blow the gasket it probably would have melted some wires and plastic....did it?

On the other hand it might be nice to see what things look and feel like in the combustion chamber. If the gasket comes off clean you can wipe a little grease on it and put tge head back on until you get the reast of the bugs worked out..... no sense in spending anymore money than you need to until you are certain that it's gonna live. Does your state require a title to register and use the motor, and if so do you have it?
 
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