Harry's Corner
PIE RAT MOTORS MOTORS
1957 Scott Atwater 7.5 hp. |
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1958 Scott Atwater 7.5 hp. |
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 Closeup of the Bail-a-Matic bailer |
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1968
Sears Ted Williams 7 1/2hp |
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Year & Model:
1968 Ted Williams |
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Dad's
view:
Low-profile fishing motors became all the rage in the 1960's, OMC came out with
the 9.5 "squat" motors in '64 and Chrysler got into the act in the
late 60's. However, in 1959 Scott/McCulloch was the trend-setter with the 7.5hp
Fishing Scott, the first motor on the market of this design. (Okay, in fairness,
the '46 to '57 Flambeau, '38 to '40 Clark Troller
and '36 to '40 Bendix motors were earlier attempts
at low-profile outboards.)
The goal of making a low-profile, compact and very light weight motor were definitely achieved by Scott/McCulloch. And, to improve on a major shortcoming of the Bail-a-Matic motors, they even moved the waterpump and bailer impellers down below the waterline. Keeping the waterpumps below the waterline helped improve their longevity over the previous model.
The downside with all the low-profile motors is that they are IMPOSSIBLE TO WORK ON!!!!!! To do just about anything on this motor (carb, waterpump, shift linkage) you need to remove the powerhead. Accessing the fasteners holding the powerhead to the tower is a challenge since you first need to take just about every darn part off the motor. The waterpumps are mounted upside down on the spray plate and you need 3 hands to work on them. There is also a fair amount of plumbing for the bailer and cooling systems with press-fit connections, all possible places to leak and reduce cooling water flow. There are other screwy things like the tiller that folds down - a problem when you go to tilt the motor up since it hits on the seat of your boat. All of these motors have problems with the motor cover being cracked, broken or missing. This is because the cover is made from the cheapest, flimsiest plastic I have ever seen. Even when new, the cover, latches and hinge were not strong enough to support anything - I'm sure more than one broke on the showroom floor! Add 40 years for the plastic to get brittle and you have one really fragile item. If you have one of these motors never, ever, use the hand-hold provided in the back of the cover to tilt or cary the motor.
Despite the fact that the Ted Williams seen above came to Harry in pretty good shape, it needed a lot of work to get it operational. I have worked on a lot of motors over the years and this one is, without a doubt, the hardest and most challenging outboard I have ever dealt with. In addition to the wacky waterpumps, the carburetor and float are bizarre - the latter needing a ton of tiny intricate gaskets. I was able to find some new impellers but all the other parts like the carb gaskets I had to make. Other parts that were broken or missing needed to be gleaned off parts donors.
Should anyone attempt to restore one of these, my suggestion is to have at least 2 donor motors for parts. As with earlier Scott's, every fastener tends to fuse into whatever it is screwed into. A lot of PB Blaster (or like product) and heat is required but some of the fasteners are impossible to get at. (and they are the ones that are the most stuck!) I had particular trouble with the lower rubber vibration mounts coming apart, they must be unfastened to do the waterpump. It took a number of tries to get a useable one off the parts motors - they kept breaking.
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