1960 Evinrude Fisherman 5.5 hp Outboard Motor Tank Test

I rebuilt this one from a motor that had the lower unit broken off. I assume it was backed into something while clamped to a trailered boat. It was a real mess and had an array of shoddy work done to it prior to the lower unit being broken and subsequently sold to me. LOTS of work went into this one. I have many more hours and handmade parts in this motor than it is actually worth. It did turn out to be a nice runner. I'm looking forward to a boat ride with this one to see how it performs on open water.

[@lesabre1972]

You have the love for them gotta give you that.

[@lesabre1972]

seems to run smoothly for good and all that work you did

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

This one did seem to turn out well. It runs excellent in the tank. I'm looking forward to getting it on the water to see how it does on a boat. Thanks for watching!

[@PRACERZ]

Great as always.👍🏻👍🏻

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

Thank you. Looking forward to a boat ride with this one to see how it does. It sure sounds good. Thanks for watching!

[@tugikecil679]

I got my 58 Seahorse 10 working and been out fishing few times. These engines are really awesome!

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

Yes, they really are wonderful motors. Feed that '58 10hp 24:1 mix. 50:1 will shorten its life. Small bushing wristpins in those motors need the oil. Thanks for watching!

[@tugikecil679]

@@oldjohnnyrude8404 thank you! I watched your earlier video about the mixture ratio and I follow your advice doing only very good oil and 24:1 ratio. I can’t find new drive shaft so I have to keep in mind that I need to check the gear oil very often to be safe. My drive shaft is not in best shape anymore.

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

@@tugikecil679 Excellent! Those drive shafts are getting harder to come by for spares. Keep looking. Sometimes a different seal can be seated at a different depth in the bore to put the seal at a different spot on the shaft too. The drive shaft could be repaired using a Speedi Sleeve or welding the area where it is worn with stainless filler, turning, and re-grinding the built up area back to factory specs. That would not be the cheapest route though, unless you could do the work yourself. Until then, just keep the gear oil changed and don't leave the gearcase hanging in the water when the motor isn't being used. 👍

[@tugikecil679]

@@oldjohnnyrude8404 Thank you! I will do some research on filling my spare shaft (which is also quite badly worn).

[@dongill8769]

Sounds great!

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

Thank you and thanks for watching!

[@RonMillbrae]

nice running motor

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

Thank you and thanks for watching!

[@marksmith4582]

Great video! You managed to salvage another good ole RudyJohn! Stay warm! It's chilly here in southeast Iowa! Mark in Iowa.

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

Thank you! Yes, I saved it thanks to a couple of donors and some whittling tools and some moderate skills in the machine shop. Its chilly here in Michigan too. Supposed to snow a bit over the next couple days. Stay warm and thanks for watching, Mark!

[@chuckcecconi4571]

Im doing up the exact same engine. The one i picked up for $70.00 , she looks pretty good.. got an extra engine without a power head (1959). Good running little engines, they run like today's 10' s . Lol

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

Good luck with yours. Bonus that you got another parts motor with it. They are great running little engines. Run like today's 10's.... I've never had one do that.😲 They do pretty well for 5.5hp though. Thanks for watching!

[@fleetwin1]

What a beautiful "Evinson" you have there. The donor Johnson must have had an "exploded" powerhead, or I'm sure you would have revived that one. Sounds like somebody backed into this thing in a parking lot, or perhaps it was an auxiliary and got slammed by another boat/dock piling. These things don't have enough power to do that kind of damage on their own.... Machined a new high speed needle did you, impressive, sure wish I had machining skills. Now that you went through all that trouble, the original needle will show up on your work bench, always the way....

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

Thank you, Sir. The donor Johnson had a seized powerhead, a broken bell crank on the shift shaft and was missing the faceplate as well as the carburetor knobs. Someone had already taken some parts off that I didn't have spares of. The Evinrude was complete with a solid powerhead minus the one carb knob. I'm almost certain the owner had this motor clamped to his trailered boat and backed it into something. It was definitely an outside force that broke it. It bent the drive shaft and the shift rod at about a 25° angle. Lots of band-aid fixes to undo on the top end of this one too, but it was still a very solid powerplant. Yes, I machined a new high speed needle out of a piece of 1/4" brass rod. I spent less time doing that than I spent looking for the original the day before. Having machine tools and being able to use them has gotten me out of a lot of jams. I'm quite sure that needle will show up again. It got lost when I was taking apart a bunch of parts motors . I had four apart at once and when parts started gettimg.put away and garbage got tossed it went somewhere. I figured the best way to find it was to make a new one. It will turn up now that ind9nt need it. It will get put in a box with carb parts and find a new home on another carb someday. Thanks for watching, Don!

[@fishingandboating821]

That motor is pretty nice love the videos

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

Thank you. I'm happy with how it turned out and happy to be done with this one. It was just one hack job fix after the other to make right on this one. It was Band-Aided together to keep it running before the lower unit was broken off. It lives to push a boat again and I'm looking forward to taking it for a ride next season. Thanks for watching!

[@AMERICANMUSICDJMO]

Very nice! I love your jacket. You must tell me where you got it.

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

Thanks John! As for the jacket, that one I got at Momentum in Traverse City a few years ago. I may have adorned it somewhat since then, LOL. Thanks for watching!

[@fredkennedy901]

It's just like mine, when you replaced the bearing oil line what type clamp did you use, what years had the blue starter handles every original ones I see are rotten compared to black ones, thanks for posting and panning camera at motor,.

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

I replaced the bearing oil line with poly 1/8" fuel hose. It is a tigh enough fit on the hose barbs that i have to heat and lubricate the line to get it over the fitting. There is no clamp needed, but it is not easy to install. On that small line, the crimp type clamps that were used originally are the best to use if you replace the line with OEM rubber line. Dark blue pull handles were used on Evinrudes in 1958 and 1959. The light blue ones were used from 1960 until about 1962 or so. Then they went back to the black handles. The light blue handles did not age well at all. The dark blue ones were not as bad. The black ones definitely last the longest. Thanks for watching!

[@nabox1435]

Quick question: what do you do to help with water contamination in your bucket? When I run any of my old Evinrude outboards, they make the bucket super nasty with 2 stroke oil. I think I heard some sort of pump or something? What do you use to flush the old smaller outboards? Awesome content. Good looking motor.

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

I add Dawn dish detergent to my tank now and then to help emulsify the oil in the exhaust residue. I'm probably going to put a skimmer in my indoor test tank when I get it set up. The 2-strokes will leave a slimy film on your tank water. On my outdoor tank I just add the detergent and hand skim it when needed. This year I had the tank full all season and never emptied it. It has gotten pretty nasty. I have added water to it several times to.keep the level high enough as it evaporated. It will get drained before long since the weather is going to force a change to solid state soon. I'm not sure what you mean about flushing the smaller outboards. I only run in fresh water so there is no flushing of salt water required. For that I would just run them.inna tank of fresh water for a bit and let it drain out. Drain the tank after flushing. It is always nice to get positive feedback from viewers on the channel content. Thank you and Thanks for watching!

[@steveaw5895]

My nephew picked up a 55 Johnson CD11 5.5 hp and brought it over to work on. The throttle was real hard to turn. He looked at it and asks Is that bent? Sure enough it had a curve to it the whole length of the casting. You would of thought it would of broken it.

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

Which casting was bent making the throttle difficult to turn? They will bend some before breaking but certain ones take less bending before breaking. I was a bit surprised to see the bottom end of the exhaust housing on this 5.5 bent enough to put the drive shaft against the side of the cavity inside the housing. Thanks for watching!

[@steveaw5895]

@@oldjohnnyrude8404 The tiller handle.

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

@@steveaw5895 The handle itself was bent? Those very rarely bend enough to cause any issues without breaking something at the steering handle pivot.

[@TheFrogfeeder]

Alright, going to show my novice ness here... What’s behind the carb, that’s the reed plate right? Whatever it’s called, am I able to switch it out with the 35hp also? Or does that cause like tuning issues or something? It would save me having to tap out those blown out bolt holes. But then I need gaskets right? How technical of a job is that, you pretty much know the extent of my experience and ability so far...and I’ll for sure have a million questions for you ;) I can make a video of what I’m talking about in the morning

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

If the 35hp reed plate fits i see no reason why you can't switch it. It should not cause running issues to my knowledge. They are essentially the same engine. You will most likely need to new gaskets, but if the old ones come off undamaged, go ahead and use them at least for a trial run.

[@TheFrogfeeder]

Found a tote for 20$ delivered! Can’t wait to get it and get my tank made :)

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

That was a score! Mine was $45 and I had to pick it up. It was only about 3/4 of a mile from home though.

[@TheFrogfeeder]

I didn’t even notice that exhaust system you got on it, that’s nice! Mine gonna be outside. Man the skitwin had a broken retainer ring on the gear assembly, the broken part musta been ground up in the gears.. another good thing I did this short/long swap... reassembly tomoro just got my gasket kit. Apparently, my poor old frankentwin was treated like a red-headed stepchild most of its life...

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

@@TheFrogfeeder This tank sits outside. It still need the exhaust on it to keep motors from choking on their own fumes. Sounds like the SkiTwin was desperately in need of your caring hands. It is a good thing you're finding this stuff now. It does seem that it had been ridden hard and put away wet.

[@TheFrogfeeder]

@@oldjohnnyrude8404 do any of the bearings in the gearcase get greas, or its just purely gear oil in there? I had to use some grease to hold the rollers in for the shaft bearing, then I smeared some around in there after they were all in, should I clean that off? There’s also the bearing at the back of the prop shaft... boy getting that prop shaft seal out was fun...

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

@@TheFrogfeeder The bearings do not need grease since they run in an oil bath. If you have some grease on them, no biggie. It will just mix into the oil and drain out next time you change it. The prop shaft seal can be a good one. I usually put the seal carrier back into the gearcase amd screw the halves back together to pull it. That way there is something to hold on to.

[@18Stingray1]

How do you keep your test tank from freezing?

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

I empty this one when it gets consistently cold enough to make it freeze up. I have a stock tank deicer I will use in my indoor tank once I finish setting it up. Thanks for watching!

[@clydedenby1436]

What fuel/oil ratio are you using? I have a 61 and was told by the previous owner to use 1/3 pint per gallon. Now, it starts in one pull, idles well, but smokes like crazy and leaves a heavy coating (not just a sheen) of black oil on the barrel water.

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

I'm using 16:1 mix in this motor. That is 1/2 pint per gallon. Yours is a 61. It is the first year of needle bearings on the crank journals. The rest are plain bearings though. 24:1 (1/3 pint per gallon) is correct for your motor. The black residue on top of the test barrel water is normal. Add some Dawn dish detergent to your barrel water to help emulsify the oil. That will make it less messy. That is normal and not any problem though. Thanks for watching!

[@clydedenby1436]

@@oldjohnnyrude8404 thank you very much.

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

@@clydedenby1436 You're welcome 👍

[@clydedenby1436]

My 61 Evinrude has a corner busted on the cowling and I am going to redo some past patchwork. Could you provide a resource for the appropriate paint color?

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

Good luck getting your 61 back to looking better again. A good source for the proper paint colors in very good quality paint is retropaint.com. You should be able to look it up by Make and Year. Thanks for watching!

[@clydedenby1436]

@@oldjohnnyrude8404 thanks! Unfortunately, that particular link is broken.

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

@@clydedenby1436 let me see if I can find you a working link.

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

@@clydedenby1436 Try retropaints.net

[@clydedenby1436]

@@oldjohnnyrude8404 no rush or need for undue effort. With your level of experience with these old motors I just kind of assumed that it was probably scrawled on a toolbox or something else. If you cannot find it I completely understand. I appreciate your efforts to help either way.

[@williamgarcia2829]

que buen

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

Thank you and thanks for watching!

[@jonhutchens9770]

Yes but what did you NOT replace?

[@TheFrogfeeder]

That dirty white handle looks factory ;)

[@oldjohnnyrude8404]

The lower pan, cover, tiller and handle, nothing inside the powerhead, recoil (except the pull handle), the transom swivel and clamp screws, and most of the carburetor. Other than that, pretty much replaced everything, LOL. Thanks for watching!