HPBCANADA.COM

Well after reading a topic I put on about an engine that is jacked up banging on bottom mounts,
I am now wondering how do I tell if my engine mounts are good or bad ?
There is no problem at all with it mounted normaly on the transom, but when jacked up it
was a bit different.
as far as I know everything is original and the powerhead has never been off since new.
now 1995 means the engine is 20 years old, only used in freshwater as far as I know until
I got it 3 years ago and its rinsed after each use.
so might need plenty of WD40 or similar to let a few bolts soak.
Is there a certain amount of movement allowed or is it a case of if you can move them at all they are shot ?
my engine is a 1995 evinrude 3 cylinder so the bottom mounts are dead easy.
But with my luck its bound to be top mounts that need doing.

Providing all the bolts don't snap and come out ok, I am on the understanding that I
only need to undo 3 bolts each side and 1 bolt tucked under at the back.
obviously I will undo the mounts for the belly pan and whip off anything that can come
off easy too.
I will take off the gearbox first anyway, so that will just leave me the mid and powerhead to play around with.

Now while I have the powerhead off, is there anything else that can be done to give the
engine a bit more oomph.
like is there any sort of restrictors that can be cleaned up or taken away ?
would it help to enlarge any area's that I can get at easy or polish them up a bit ?
and as for fitting new top engine mounts, is it best to stay with oem type or go solid mounts ?
or infact get some poly bushes and put those in ?
any advice on this while I get ready to do the job will be a help.
I don't want to put it back together and then have a bright idea ha ha .

.

check your steering and tilt tube bushings

are yes steering tube, good idea. cheers for that Wildcat.
ive already had the tilt tube out a little while back and cleaned that up.
with the steering tube is that on a roller bearings or a taper bearings that can have slack
taken up etc ?
or is it a press fit ?
never had a steering tube out of any outboard, probably just been lucky in the past.

.

Any slop in the steering tube will degrade your control over chine walk etc. Not sure about bearing etc? I did the tilt and steering bushings on my OMC then last time I had the head off.
They weren't too bad, but ... while your there, might was well check it out. Not very expensive for the parts - if your already that deep into things.

yeah especially as they are only plastic.
But I know the tilt tube is definitely ok, like I say done that a little while ago when
the engine was on a crane.

I have a spare complete bracket I will check that out and if that needs bearings I can do
that one ready for a swap if the original has gone bad..

I have an old top mount that aint too good, so thinking about turning that into a solid or
putting a pair of poly bushes in each side of it.

I don't know if the solid would be better for me, its only 60hp and I will never get this boat to
50mph without dynamite.
at the moment I am stuck at 42.3 , but hoping to get 45mph and be satisfied.

But first I have to go to garage pull boat out and check the mounts, I am hoping they are ok
But if they bad I shall be stripping it down and probably breaking so much that I will kill the engine.
I will be armed with spanners WD40 and big hammer, the hammer is for the first person close to
me that when i break a bolt says
" you didn't want to do it like that did ya ".

.