I went to buy a part from a guy and he wouldn’t sell me only what I wanted. He said I had to buy everything he had or nothing. So clearly I ended up with everything which meant I ended up with three parts motors and I have a hard time throwing things away.
I put the good stuff in the garage and did my best to store a couple of the parts motors under the deck in garbage bags…bad idea.
Last summer after about four years rotting under the deck I decided to pull them out and see how they did. I had built a dolly for them with casters so I could move them by myself.
When I pulled out the first one, it looked pretty good. The previous owner told me this one had been sunk in 1969 then dried out and used for years. So I figured many of the parts could be useful for a pair of these I’m building to run as a twin engine setup.
This 1973 model was another story. The chipmunks had gotten into the motor and made quite a nest. I’m sure the neighbor watching me tear this thing down thought I’m a nut.
Once I took the carbs off, I was able to drop them in a vinegar bath. After soaking for a few days I could take them apart enough to send them back to the vinegar bath.
After the vinegar bath I dropped them on the grill and boiled them in Pine-Sol a few times.
As you can see here, they are looking better and the gunk was soft enough to scrub with a toothbrush.
I then had to spray some of this lubricant on them to further dismantle.
I then dropped them in an ultrasonic cleaner with Pine-Sol. Overall, they look like they may work. I sprayed some more deep creep on them and dropped them in a box. They won’t be my first choice, because I have others that weren’t this bad, but I’ll probably put some gaskets in them and fire them up on a motor just to prove that I brought them back to life.
I’m really interested in your ideas of solvents to use in my ultrasonic cleaner and also polish to make these look brighter.
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