TOPIC: Tomahawk barn find

Hello I’m new here. I take down old buildings all over SW Virginia and have found several cool items. Last week it happened to be a boat. We already have a boat we use every weekend on our lake so I really don’t need another one but something has drawn me to this one. I believe it’s a 1964 Harley Davidson Tomahawk Arrow. It has a 40 horse Evinrude that I finally got to turn over today. The trailer is original and I believe the motor is to. My question is should I spend the money to get this motor running or just buy another vintage motor for it?
Thanks!

Hello Smlboater and welcome to Fiberglassics.

Condition is key but try to keep original if possible.

Pictures larger than 1meg will not post.

Terry

Would love to see pics!

That boat is in amazing condition! Does the outboard have similar appearance?

If the 40hp has good compression, it should be able to be made to run again.

An ignition Tune-Up Kit would be in order. Perhaps a couple of ignition coils, depending on the condition of the current items.

A new impeller most definitely. Very likely you'll need to pull the carburetor, pop the screws off the float bowl, inspect/clean.

A gasket kit for the carb is cheap. You may need to service the fuel pump.

All these are nothing out-of-the-ordinary to replace when you're "waking up" a motor that hasn't been run in a number of years. The parts I listed are all typical "consumables".

There are plenty of parts for a 40hp BigTwin on the market still, so it's a perfect Vintage outboard to have hanging on the back of your mint boat.

If the motor is in bad cosmetic condition, you can either repaint it or find something more suitable. Paint that's color-matched to OE is still available via the aftermarket.

If the cosmetics are decent, and the powerhead checks out, I'd vote for putting it back in service.

Using your motor's model number, you can find the appropriate parts list here and see what is available. Armed with parts numbers, you can also search on eBay for good deals on parts.

When you get a chance, post a pic of the 40hp intact, and another with the hood off so we can see the external condition of the powerhead.

HTH..............ed