Shellback

Just patching the motor hasn't worked out very well for you so far. If you want something reliable, you need to fix it right. I'd bet if you looked around, you could find a decent used 4 banger for less than $500. Possibly a lot less if you wanted to deal with picking up a complete boat that someone would be happy to have gone from their property. Slap a used motor in it for now, and rebuild your present motor properly over time.

They do sell XL shaft motors. Some refer to them as "sail" motors. They have a 25" shaft and are common on sailboats. Most are between 8 and 15 HP. I had a nice Yamaha 9.9 four stroke 25" motor that I used on a transom like yours. That said, I'll go with the others recommending an I pilot or Xi5 electric bowmount. That will let you troll any speed below 2 MPH. Over 2 MPH you can run your main motor and bowmount together. By doing that, you use the bowmount on a lower speed to take advantage of the auto pilot feature, and the main motor for the faster propulsion.

Pitting on the cam surfaces doesn't sound good. Add in the engine knock and the motor must have had some serious lubrication problems. More than likely, the crankshaft surfaces are also damaged with the knock. Might better get a price on a reground crank and bearings, cam bearings, and a set of rings.Hopefully the cylinders and pistons are good. That 4 banger motor is about as simple as you can get. I think the OP got some bad advise and half a**ed repairs by his mechanic. If I pulled a cam out that was pitted, over and above the lobes being worn off, I would have had serious concerns on the rest of the motor.

Good for you! Now get a timing light on it and set the timing properly. Hope everything works out for you after all the work you had done.

Are you speaking about the pushrods for the valves? I've always adjusted them with the engine running. Back off the nut till they start clacking, then tighten till they stop and add a 1/2 turn or so. The pushrods should still rotate when adjusted properly.

Yes the carb could be messed up. Did he have it off when he did the cam job? If it was upside down or sideways, it could have effected the float. I don't see a reason to have the carb off doing the cam though, and think it's unlikely to be your problem, but you can't rule it out. Personally if everything was right with the distributor timing and firing order, I'd start thinking about valve adjustment. Could some be set too tight? That will cause a problem for sure.

In an earlier post, you listed the point gap at .022. Set the points at that, and don't worry about the dwell. That 4 cyl, point ignition, carb motor is about as basic as you can get. Engine TDC on compression stroke, rotor pointing at #1 wire, firing order correct, and it's getting gas, you should only have to adjust the distributor timing a little as it cranks, then it should run if the cam and lifters were installed properly. Once started and running, set the timing with a light.

Your picture in post #34 shows the firing order is correct. But as rolmps stated, your #1 position has to relate to where the rotor is pointing when the engine is at top dead center on the compression stroke. If you bring the engine to TDC and the rotor is not pointing at #1, you can move #1 wire to the position the rotor is pointing, then plug in #3, #4, and #2 following #1 in a clockwise direction.

Keep in mind a four stroke engine's crankshaft rotates 2 times for each rotation of the camshaft and distributor. The timing marks have to line up when the engine is on the compression stroke. You can do this by way of watching the intake vale open as I said in an earlier post, or if you can bump the starter with #1 plug removed, you can feel compression coming up with your finger.

You have to stop guessing. Turn the engine over until top dead center comes up on the pulley on the compression stroke. Also watch what way the distributor rotates. Once on top dead center, drop the distributor in so the rotor is pointing at #1. Then make sure the firing order coincides with the direction the rotor turns.

Do you know which direction the rotor turns? If it's clockwise the firing order is correct. If it's counter clockwise, the firing order is wrong.

Rotate the engine in the proper direction. Watch for the intake valve opening. Once it opens, then starts closing, continue rotating until the top dead center mark on the crankshaft lines up with the timing mark plate. The distributor rotor should now be at #1 cylinder. The missing shim shouldn't affect timing, but it could cause irregular wear on the cam or lifters. All this cam and distributor timing is pretty basic mechanic stuff. Nothing high tech about it. If the engine ran half decent with the bad cam, you shouldn't be having these problems if the job was done properly. I'd have to question your mechanic's abilities. Some motors oil pumps are driven off the distributor. If the distributor doesn't drop all the way in, you may have to rotate the engine some for everything to line up. Once it does drop all the way in, rotate the engine again to make sure all the marks line up. You will have to rotate the crankshaft twice to bring the distributor back to #1.

You probably have to reinforce the area under the track. It's probably only 1/2" plywood. Hopefully you can put an aluminum plate or another layer of plywood from underneath..

I had a new 998 that was crashing on start up. I disconnected the GPS antenna and the unit started up and worked fine for sonar. H/B sent me a new antenna, and it's worked fine after that. Make sure your battery is fully charged, and wire the unit with a fuse direct to the battery. Electronics are very sensitive to voltage, and fuse panels, multiple connections, and such are susceptible for voltage loss.

Have you disconnected power to it? Not shutting it off with the power button on the unit, but disconnecting the cable collector from the back of the unit. I've had H/B units go stupid on me due to low voltage, and they had to be disconnected from the power source before working properly again.

They are Scotty extensions right? I'd like to have them and would gladly pay for shipping. Thanks, Ron DUH, I just saw "Scotty" molded on them!