7.5 Ted Williams

[urrlord]

Last year I bought a small boat that came with a 7.5 hp Ted Williams outboard(basically a tecumseh mower engine).I took it out a few times,probably less than 3 hours use in total.A series of family emergencies put an end to my fishing last year.The motor ran okay, a bit buzzy and hard to start.I'm used to Evinrudes and Mercury,never had an air cooled before this.

I pulled the motor out today to give it a tune up.I drained out the stinky dark black oil out of the foot and refilled with Pennzoil Marine Lube.Pulled out the spark plug(a NGK CS5) and took a look at it....black and sooty with almost no gap.No kidding. I tried to measure the gap on a gapping disc and the disc would not fit on the lowest end .So the gap was less than .017.No wonder it was hard to start and seemed to burn rich.(from my research that plug in no way applies to this motor)
I replaced the plug with an AC R45S which is the modern version of the recommended plug and gapped to .035.

I took the motor and put it in a barrel of water and started yanking on the pull rope.Once I got the tank(filled with 32:1 mix) pressurized I sprayed a bit of starting fluid near the carb and got it fired up.Played with the choke and lean-rich setting and got it idling pretty good,put it in gear let it run about 45 minutes on a low setting.I ran it up on "fast" as marked on the tiller handle and it seemed to develop a "skip" and I backed off the throttle.Anyone have any ideas about this "skip"?

Once the engine was warm I turned it off a few times and it restarted easily.Hopefully I'll get out on the water in the next week or so.

 

[901Memphis]

The new plug might have some evidence if it's easy to pull and inspect.

 

[ironman_gq]

If there was no load on the motor, the skip could have been it just hitting the end of its useful rpm range. 2 strokes will start missing if tuned properly at a given rpm.

 

[urrlord]

Originally Posted By: ironman_gq
If there was no load on the motor, the skip could have been it just hitting the end of its useful rpm range. 2 strokes will start missing if tuned properly at a given rpm.


No load to speak of.Just the motor hanging in a barrel of water.So that is good news.
Thanks.

 

[RobtE]

Originally Posted By: urrlord
Last year I bought a small boat that came with a 7.5 hp Ted Williams outboard (basically a tecumseh mower engine).


FWIW, the outboard is an Eska.

Eska Outboard Motors

I bought one new almost 50 years ago. The two major problems were noise and vibration - a half hour with your hand on the handle and it let you know it was there.

Mine was low-end so you needed to keep a supply of shear pins with you. However, it worked fine and was dirt cheap.

 

[Tuffy1760]

we had one, probably new in 1972 or so... ran great... never failed... back then, we got EVERYTHING from sears...
need a lead gas additive?? just wondering...

 

[urrlord]

Originally Posted By: RobtE
Originally Posted By: urrlord
Last year I bought a small boat that came with a 7.5 hp Ted Williams outboard (basically a tecumseh mower engine).


FWIW, the outboard is an Eska.

Eska Outboard Motors

I bought one new almost 50 years ago. The two major problems were noise and vibration - a half hour with your hand on the handle and it let you know it was there.

Mine was low-end so you needed to keep a supply of shear pins with you. However, it worked fine and was dirt cheap.



Yep,as noted mine is a bit "buzzy".Vibration and a bit louder than a regular outboard.I'm wondering if I can find a gel or rubber handle cover to place on the hard tiller handle.Maybe a bit of foam pipe insulation and a zip tie.I'm also thinking about some type of rubber covering for the transom clamps.

I learned about the shear pins the hard way last year.First time out in the boat I had a mile and a half paddle back to the boat landing after hitting a stump at a very low speed.Now I have 4 pins in my tackle box.


Today while cutting the grass I took a break for a few minutes and I fired up the outboard motor.First pull with the choke closed it sputtered to life for a second or two.Each suceeding pull I opened the choke a bit more until pull 4 or 5 it ctarted and stayed running.I got it set and put the motor on a low speed idle and let it run about 15-20 minutes with very little smoke,less than some standard type motors I've seen.It restarted easily after it was warmed up.Maybe in the next few weeks I can get out on the lake.

Thanks for the Eska link.I was aware of the company being the maker of this era Sears outboards but I did not have a parts link if I needed it .Thanks.Hopefully it will be helpful to others here also.

 

[ironman_gq]

Originally Posted By: Tuffy1760
we had one, probably new in 1972 or so... ran great... never failed... back then, we got EVERYTHING from sears...
need a lead gas additive?? just wondering...


Lead additive is not needed on a 2-stroke provided the fuel you use meets the octane requirements of the motor. The lead additive sold is for older car engines that do not have hardened valve seats and had high compression ratios (pump fuel came up to 105 octane at the time). The lead additive prevents the seats from being pounded or burning with non-leaded gas.

 

[urrlord]

UPDATE

Last week I went to the lake put the boat in ,fired up the motor and let it idle a few minutes to warm up.Hopped into the boat and attempted to put it into forward....to the sound of clashing metal.WTH?

In an hour at the ramp I got it into gear once out of 20 tries.In the past month the motor ran in gear in a barrel probably three hours without any problems.

I have not worked up the nerve to drain the foot lube yet to see if it is filled with metal flakes.Some of the boat forums suggest using grease in the foot of these type motors in place of gear lube.Apparently the factory used both.Probably whichever was cheaper.

I may mess with it tomorrow.Any ideas folks?