Got everything cleaned and the tank patched...working on learning about how to polish aluminum...so have more to do there. I have a friend who is going to help me straighten the bump...so just waiting to find the parts I need to put the carb back together and for the spring I am missing. Thanks again to all and I hope you are enjoying the progress reports.






Doug Williams, Miami, Florida
doug@thedougwilliamsgroup.com

Doug, things are looking good! Wondering what it is that you are talking about polishing? Also looking at your latest pictures and noticed that there is a tab sticking out to the side from under the flywheel. Is there a similar tab on the other side? If so, I am pretty sure they are the mounting tabs for the tank as shown on the K2 on the oldmercs site. I believe they were two piece cast tanks that had a tendency to leak. That may or may not have been the case but I think something happened that made a previous owner put the steel tank on. You might be able to find a replacement if you wanted to go there. Also, if I can be of any help finding the spring for the impeller pin, let me know.
Kirk

Thanks Kirk....I could use some help finding that spring...I have had no luck so far. I was also looking for a tank that would have been the proper tank and then saw on one of the merc. sites that some of the early ones were fitted with small rectangular tanks...so gave that up and decided to fix the tank (which has been a learning experience too)...anyway....if I could find the right tank I would go in that direction, but was not having any luck so am moving along with what I found on it.

Appreciate your help..going to straighten out the wrinkle on the starter plate this weekend with a buddy's help.

All the best...Doug

Thanks to Kirk I located a guy who had a carb rebuild kit for me...so that is on the way. Got another part today...the tiller handle cover.

Soon as I get the spring I need I can put the lower unit back together....think I will go up to the local shop in the morning and see if those guys can come up with something.

Meanwhile just cleaning and polishing...Doug

If a coil spring is required they can be made. I am a little hazy on details.
There are some formulae and calculations required to arrive at a specific
force ,but, should not be required for a one off needed to apply some force
to keep parts in place as in this application.
You need wire diameter, number of coils length and begining and ending diameters as this is a cone shaped spring.
Louis
NOTE: spring wire sometimes breaks while being wound so eye and face protective gear sometimes makes difference between minor accident and major emergency room visit.

The thought just came to me about why it has to be a cone shaped spring? If the wire diameter and the unsprung height are close, why wouldn't that be good enough?

I can outline how to make the coil spring. Why designer chose that design
may reflect requirements,availability or some other consideration.
In any case maybe something a hardware store might have if spring making is not a skill you wish to develop
Louis

Amazing what you can find with a google search.

A compression spring is designed to get shorter when a load is applied to it. Examples are vehicle suspension springs, mattress and upholstery springs, and springs used in switches, controllers, and so on. Many compression springs are cylindrical in shape but others are conical (tapered) or hyperboloidal (hourglass/barrel) with a variable coil diameter. One advantage of noncylindrical springs is that their spring constant varies during compression. The larger diameter coil windings collapse and become inactive first, followed step by step by the smaller diameter windings, thus keeping the action of the spring constant. Another advantage of shaped springs compared to cylindrical ones is that higher effective spring constants can be attained with less voluminous springs, requiring wire of a smaller diameter.

Another source I found stated that the coils of a conical spring collapse inside of each other so they don't bind like a helical spring would. Maybe this along with the variable spring constant referenced above makes them the best choice.

Kirk

My education in spring technology began with a broken coil spring in garage
door mechanism...the horizontile coils on shaft above door. I thought I knew
what I was doing...afterwards I knew better. I have had to deal with broken
spring three times in 30 years...the original installation was marginal for
an over length wood door...so about every 7,000/10,000 cycles a spring breaks...and usually in Winter.
Lessons learned:
1) if one spring breaks replace both...spring life related to up and down cycles of garage door...identical springs will have close to same failure point...plus or minus a relatively small number.
2) ALWAYS bear in mind STORED POTENTIAL ENERGY...a sudden release of this
energy due to a wrench or bar slipping out of engagement or a wound spring breaking can be shocking even if you are clear of danger.
3) Internet article by an engineer goes thru the steps to arrive at longer
lasting installation...begins with knowing weight of door...once that is a
known to plug into calculation formulae the life of door springs of several
wire gages can be determined....no surprise that the small diameter wire
that is "standard" gives least number of life cycles...use of slightly larger gage wire gives expotential increase...formulae factors include
weight of door, diameter of wire coil, number of effective coils cable drum diameter,lift distance and wire gage of spring...the stuff engineers dream of
and the rest of us dread.
May seem(and is) far off subject of outboards but springs obey certain rules and knowing those rules takes the mystery out of making a spring.
Next time you need a broken garage door spring replaced ask the technician
about expected number cycles before failure...and cost to upgrade spring
to obtain longer life...extra cost should be nominal. Pay a little more
now and a lot less later.
Outboard related springs (in theory anyway) should be possible to make given basic spring knowledge, a source of material and some basic tooling.
Louis