Mariner 3.3hp Restoration

I got this outboard for free - it was thrown in free when I bought a British Seagull off a guy. In fact I was told if I didn't take the Mariner, I couldn't have the Seagull. He was asking $75 for the pair, and I told him I would give him $75 just for the Seagull, but he said No - it was both or nothing.

Now I know why....

Before I show you the mess I found when I opened mine up - here is a link to a nice YouTube video showing the rebuild of a Mariner 3.3 - it might help you if you're doing one of these little fellas.

And here is one showing cleaning the carburetor.

And here is mine after stripping it down....

Yeah - it's seen better days.

And it fought me every inch of the way when stripping it down.

And now I know how it is seized - it's not the prop, it's not the drive shaft, it the piston - well and truely stuck solidly in the barrel - bummer.

The crankshaft is a rusted mess, all of the bearings are shot, which means somehow I'll have to split the crank to replace the big and little end bearings. Also the crank bearings, both sides.

The crankcase is full of gunk, looks a lot like mud, you can see the reed valves clogged with this mucky junk - but on the plus side, they should clean up OK.

Friday Dec 11 2020:

I took a drive in to see Anna at Cohoe Marine in Newtown (Sydney) today. I'd heard a lot of good things about her from various people on the internet/YouTube.

Cohoe are mainly a Tohatsu dealer, but for those of you who don't know, this little Mariner/mercury 3.3hp is actually a rebadged Tohatsu 3.5hp, so Cohoe should have everything I need.

I had a whole list of things to get, but when she saw the list Anna said it was going to cost me heaps, and suggested I save a bunch of money by buying an old used head/barrel/crank/piston unit - which I did, aved me heaps!! (Thanks Anna). I also got myself a Gasket and Seal kit so I should ahve pretty much everything I need to get the little Mariner going again, as long as there are no issues with the gearbox.

The Top End I bought had heaps of parts I needed, and a bunch extra. It had the head, barrel, crankcases, ignition coil, flywheel, crankshaft, both crankshaft bearings and seals, connecting rod, big and little end bearings, piston and ring. So between that, and the one I already have, I should be able to make a very good one and get it running again.



Sunday Dec 13 2020:

Now to start cleaning things up - first thing - the Head.

So now I've got two heads - I'll clean them both up and see which is best.

First thing was a good bath in degreaser to clean them up a bit. Then soak the water channels in C.L.R. to try and get rid of the scaling and oxidation. Both of them were moderately clogged up, but nothing too drastic. Soaked them in CLR, and my intital thoughts were positive. Pretty much as soon as I poured in the C.L.R. I could see the gunk dissolving and floating to the surface. That was quite pleasing, as this stuff is notoriously difficult to remove. But unfortunately, that was about as good as it got, and after about 20 minutes soaking, there was just a moderate improvement. I then put a small brass wire brush on my Rotary Tool and cleaned out the Water Channels and the top of the Chamber with that. They both came up pretty well, maybe it was the pre-soaking in C.L.R. Then I got out a plate of glass, some 400 Wet & Dry paper and began cleaning up all the mating surfaces.

They both came up pretty well - both of them are servicable and would work well, here's how they look now.

The one on the left is the one off my original engine, the one of the right is the one from the unit I bought at Cohoe Marine. I reckon I'll use the Cohoe Marine one. But there's not much in it - all the mating surfaces across both heads are nice and smooth. I might have another go at the combustion chamber on the Cohoe unit with the wire brush, just to clean it up a little bit more. Both they are both good - which works out well for me, as I will be able to sell one once the engine is going to recoup some of my costs. I'll sell it cheap too, to make it easy and quick to sell (I hate selling stuff), so someone is going to get a bargain. Then again - if I have enough parts left over, perhaps another trip to Cohoe and I might come home with another engine to fix up :)

Also took a trip to Repco today and got myself some Penrite Marine Grease and Permatex Anaerobic Gasket Maker to seal the crank cases when they gop back together.

So - next, the crank cases/barrel unit will get the same treatment as the head, and see which one comes up best.