Sea King Boat Motor

OWDouglas · Oct 24, 2006

My Dad gave me his 12 foot fishing boat and a 7.5hp outboard motor, the last time we used it was about 12 years ago and the motor has been sitting in the garage since. I got the boat and trailer road and water ready and now I want to get the motor running.
The motor is a Montgomery Ward Sea King 7.5hp
Model K7514106A
Type XTV 50475

It was made by Clinton Engines Corp. (now called CEPCO) in Maquoketa, Iowa.

Know for my questions, I tried find a service manual for it on the internet and called the company (just get an answering machine) would any body know where I would be able to get a manual?

My other question is, is this motor air cooled? I can seem to find any water intake on the shaft so I don't know if there is an inpeller in there to pump water for cooling.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

RonR · Oct 24, 2006

Suggest you go to this site for antique outboards: The Antique Outboard Motor Club Website - AOMCI.org If you post your motor pics there, someone can help you probably.

Dad had a SK 12HP, which was a 2 cylinder outboard. It ran quiet. My GUESS is it was about a 1950 model.

From memory of it and the pic of yours, I'd say yours is pre-50.

Ours was water cooled, and ran smooth and quiet. I thought all "modern" (including yours) motors were water cooled and used impellors, but I might be wrong.

Ron

Tallman · Oct 24, 2006

My brother has an old Clinton outboard engine and it is air cooled. His is less then 10 hp. It looks about the same. I believe he purchased it around 1965 plus or minus a couple of years. I think it was purchased from Montgomery Ward.
Ken

California · Oct 24, 2006

OWDouglas said:
is this motor air cooled?

I think I recognise that starter on top. Clinton air cooled engines were also sold as Chrysler Industrial general purpose small air cooled engines. I had one that came off a Wacker brand asphalt tamper (similar to a jackhammer but a flat foot). About 7.5hp single cylinder, all needle and roller bearings so it had more mechanical clatter than a Briggs.

A modern boat shop may say they never saw one like it. I suggest drive this around to a rental yard or repair shop that is familiar with the tampers and ask ther oldest employee. A small-engine shop should be able to get parts. A carb overhaul kit and points/condenser set are about all there is to fix, aside from the spark plug.

If it's air cooled it will have fins on the head and cylinder, and a metal shroud covering the fins similar to a lawn mower engine.

MMagis · Oct 25, 2006

I believe that the engine is air cooled, and the leg is water cooled. Sometimes you can find parts and manuals on Ebay. A search through the forums on Iboats.com will probably give a lot of details.

jwnge · Oct 25, 2006

I had an Uncle who had one like it, It was air cooled. The motor quit and he put on a Briggs and Stratton 4 horse off a lawn mower, ran great.

phxraptor · Oct 26, 2006

Clinton also marketed those motors under the Eska name who also made yard equipment such as snow blowers and tillers.

California · Oct 26, 2006

They are great little motors and can stand terrible abuse. I had the throttle on mine permanently wired wide open since it drove a water pump that loaded it down to a steady 3,300 rpm. It ran with 100% throttle, 100% load, for the lifetime of the engine. When it would occasionally lose suction and race with no load, the reed valves floated and limited rpm. This didn't seem to hurt it.

I finally killed it (actually, just reduced the compression so it was hard to start) when I grabbed the wrong can and ran a whole gallon of Coleman fuel by mistake. That's the same thing as Stoddard Solvent, the stuff for washing parts, so it ran for 2 - 3 hours with no lubrication whatsoever. I think a set of rings would have restored it but I already had a heavier Briggs engine/pump that I put in service.

OWDouglas · Oct 30, 2006

Thanks for the responces guys. Still going to look for a manual, but I am going to guess that it is air cooled. Here are a few more close ups of the motor, they look like cooling fins to me. Thanks.

Ford960 · Oct 30, 2006

It's definately air cooled, I've had a few of them in the 70's, some ran, some didn't. The exhaust was under water to muffle the noise. Most boat shops want nothing to do with them either.