1913 Evinrude Row Boat motor back in service.

[Pappy!]

As some know, I enjoy antique outboards......
To make it Valk related there is one hidden in the garage in the video.

I bought this engine a while back and it ran only one time and was a bear to start. Lots of blow-by which on a 2-stroke is a killer. It sat for a while,  then I disassembled it, then it sat for a while longer, then I diagnosed what had to be done. A friend of mine has access to a shop that can true and hone blind cylinders. He took the cylinder up to Tennessee and had that done. Brought it back a few months later.
Then I measured the cylinder, then it sat for a while longer.
Next step was getting a piston ring made for it. Not an easy venture however I have the luxury of being close to a great machine shop with an older master machinist that is tired of the same old stuff. When I brought him the old ring and told him what it was for his eyes lit up. A few weeks later I had a completed ring.
From this point it was a simple task of making gaskets and assembling the rotating assembly again. Not much to one.
It's not often a person gets the honors of bringing back a 107 year old piece of mechanical history.
Anyway....if you are interested this is part of what I have been doing with our stay in place time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kVFGwRMBQs

[The emperor has no clothes]

Pretty cool ! 

[Valkorado]

Wow, impressive project there.   Now that she goes, is she going back into retirement?

[Pappy!]

Thanks for the question.
No! I will be running this one as often as I can.
I have 4 of these old RBMs (Row boat Motors) two of which are gorgeous restorations and two will be un-restored runners. Three have now been run. The fourth is a 1914 Evinrude that shouldn't take much to get running compared to this one.
Both the 1913 and the 1914 will stay as found, with their 106 and 107 year old patina and history showing on them.

[Savago]

Wow, pretty awesome!

Do you happen to have a few photos of the engine disassembled?

Another question: which kind of engine oil it uses?

[Savago]

Damn... this is really cool!
"Ole Evinrude was a perfectionist and his motors were reliable compared to others available at the time. Former president Theodore Roosevelt used an Evinrude for his 1913-14 explorations in Brazil and commented on its reliability under extreme conditions."

Ref: http://www.evinrudenation.com/owner-zone/technical-tidbits-the-detatchable-rowboat-motors-the-early-evinrude-outboards/

If it was good enough for Ted Roosevelt, I guess it should do it for anyone.
 

[Bighead]

Wow, pretty awesome!


Another question: which kind of engine oil it uses?

2 stoke engine dont use traditional oil. Just 2stroke oil in the gas.  He stated 16:1 or 20:1.

[Pappy!]

No photos but the crankcase on the engine is bronze. The connecting rod is also bronze. Crank is probably cast iron.
Piston is aluminum and the piston pin is steel. Pin is retained in the piston by a simple cotter pin so no press fit.
The carburetor is really just a mixing valve with a small spring operated poppet valve at the bottom of where the venturi would be located on modern carburetors. Since a 2-stroke operates on a balance of positive and negative crankcase pulses the poppet is pulled open against the spring with a negative pulse and a fuel charge is pulled into the cylinder by negative "pressure" and the air entering past the poppet. Sort of like an intake valve but no camshaft. Poppet valve opening distance is controlled by an adjustable stop at the opposite end   of the poppet. According to instructions back then the poppet opening should only be adjusted in smalll increments until "highest performance" was obtained.
The engine only produces 2 hp!

[Jess from VA]

Very cool indeed.  

Growing up on an Island in the mouth of the Detroit River with Lake Erie, on very rare occasions (with the winds abnormal and other factors lining up), the water would go way out and we would go walking out on the lake bottom to see what we could find as kids.  As the Island back in Prohibition days had been used as a regular smuggling point bringing whisky over from Amherstburg Ontario Canada, we were told by our old neighbors that there had been running gun battles out there with loads of whisky thrown overboard.  We never found any of that, but by the 1960s it (and a lot of other stuff) would have sunk deeply into the Lake Erie bottom mud.  Still we found all kinds of old anchors and boat parts and unknown thingamabobs.  (and giant stinking dead carp)

My brother discovered an old 2 horse Evinrude of indeterminate age (maybe 40s), and brought it back and tore it apart and worked on that thing for many months off and on.  He was in Elementary and this was when he began showing special skills (and fascination) with all kinds of machinery.  With no training and no manual he finally was able to get it running, though not very well and it never went on any boat.  The whole family was amazed.

It looked something like this:


The only other things I ever discovered out at the end of our dock was two freshly drowned men floating face down (both times after big storms).  Dad always made me go in and call the cops and wouldn't let me out there when they fished them out of the water (which was fine with me).


Canada right, Michigan left

[DGS65]

If you lived closer I would happily give you an old motor in my garage my father in law gave it to me years ago.  I believe it was once used for a canoe.  If anyone is interested I can take a picture it probably would run will very little effort I have never tried.

[Pappy!]

Jess, the engine you posted is an early Evinrude Ranger minus the lower cowlings. Model # 4406 or 4407. Don't have my reference guide handy or would tell you the year.

[msb]

Very cool, Pappy. I grew up on a large lake here in BC and we had lots of very old wooden boats and cobbled together outboards....though none as old as that I would imagine. Had the regular old Seagulls, etc. and an old Elgin in particular that was the first power my brother and me were allowed to use after being restricted to oars until the old man decided we were responsible enough  

[Disco]

Very cool, Pappy!!   

[Pappy!]

DGS65 -  Sure, take a pic and lets see what it is.
MSB - Lesa (my wife) has a tiny little 1.25hp Elgin air cooled that is a fun little engine to run. Very good running engine.



And here she is running her little British Seagull....look familiar?

[cookiedough]

I have a mid 70 4hp evinrude identical to this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V315nh06O1g

what do you think is wrong with it,  starts fine, runs and idles fine, but every say 1-3 minutes running normal and good the engine dies down to idle speed barely running never dies goes fast then slow then fast again all by itself.  Is almost like it is dying of gas then comes back to life running at any speed.  Engine never dies just slows down rapidly sputtering like starving for gas then roars back to life all on its own back and forth back and forth.

Is not the fuel line but has to be something right, any ideas? 

[Pappy!]

The engine is dropping one cylinder. Can be verified with a set of spark plug wire pliers while the engine is running to determine which cylinder. From there,  in order to troubleshoot it properly a peak reading voltmeter should be used.
If you have separate coils you can swap the coils to see if if moves with a coil. If it stays the same then I would say to change out the powerpack. Usually  when they do this hot it is a cracked solder joint on the circuit board in the pack. Cools off and makes contact again.
That engine had very few issues with the charge coil or timer base under the flywheel.

[msb]

DGS65 -  Sure, take a pic and lets see what it is.
MSB - Lesa (my wife) has a tiny little 1.25hp Elgin air cooled that is a fun little engine to run. Very good running engine.



And here she is running her little British Seagull....look familiar?

Ya, our Elgin was a definitely a few years newer than that one, but I've never seen another Elgin. We lived on Kootenay Lake , and back then a lot of folks visited each other in the Summer by boat. Although us kids never realized it, we didn't have a lot of money, so the old man was always finding old boats and motors to fix up for fishing and getting around. Those Seagulls were everywhere I remember....all you wanted was something to troll whatever boat you had  so you could fish for those big Rainbow Trout and Kokanee , so we would see all sorts of interesting outboards, big and small.
GREAT hobby you have there I've lived on or near lakes all my life  so have always had a boat of some sort....love small boats and those old motors

[Pappy!]

Antique outboards are like Valkyries....an addiction.
Probably have 125 or so outboards and, I think, we have 7 boats now.

[Patrick]

Pappy from the Keys ?

I like those old motors. I don't have one that old, that one is kewl. It looks like quite a knuckle buster.

[Pappy!]

Patrick - Yep, Pappyfromthekeys would be me.

[Robert]

Need some help with this, I think its around a 56 but want to get parts or sell it. Its been sitting for awhile and it cranks but have not even tried to start it since I haven't had the time. Any information would be appreciated, I like it because I can remember when I was a kid playing a bit with these engines and my parents had a bigger version engine like these in 35 to 40hp range. I may try to get it going now because I have some time but I would be interested to find a bit of information on it. Parts would also be a good thing.
  
I always loved boats and outboards and remember these engines before I could ever own one.

 I used to go out on the bay with a 35 to 40hp version of this engine on a Larsen or Old Town boat that my parents owned and making some pretty good speed. I always loved boat engines since I was on the water a good part of the time. With my own money I purchased a 40hp Merc and a molded plywood boat and would spend summers out on the water. At the time it was fast and would have no problems scooting across the flats at low tide when no one else could do it. It was a different time for a kid since I cut lawns for money and was out in the bay or at school.

When every year I would watch the HP increase of the motors and my friend had one of the vertical 6, 150HP Mercs on a Glasstron bow rider and that thing would fly. A couple of time jumping waves we went vertical and it could have gone either way but, it came down perfectly and we went on.

I did eventually buy a 200HP Merc to go on my 18 BAHA and that thing would go. Top speed was around 75 and I would ski behind it. When up on plane it would ride on the skeg of the engine and the last foot of the bottom of the boat. It would perfectly just sit there wide open and skim across the top of the water. Since there was so little in the water I could go in water as low as 1.5 feet deep and be ok as long as I did not stop.