Maintaining Johnson/Evinrude 9.9 & 15 hp outboards 1974 – 1992   (Converting to Electric Start)

This article is not meant to be the bible for these conversions, but to give you some guidelines.

Converting over to a electric start, NO charging system :  This would be the easiest to do with just a electric starter style but without the charge capability.    This would involve replacing the right flywheel (with starter ring gear) to match your ignition system, bypass cover that acts as the starter motor mounting bracket, wiring from the battery to the push button switch & on to the starter.    It just will not recharge the battery.   A fully charged battery may last a week of normal electric starts however.   The electric start does come in handy to start the motor if in a somewhat emergency situation, or if you are using the motor from a front console or steering station.

Converting over to a full electric start /charge system :  This full blown electric system involves all of the above & a lot more.   It can be done, but may not be cost effective if you price new parts (which may not now be available) depending on the year of your motor.  Plus, in my experience, if you are using it only for trolling, these charging systems DO NOT charge enough at a trolling speed to recharge the battery (been there - done that).  This charging system only has a 5 amp output at full 5000 RPM, so at 600-700 RPM idle speed, you will not be charging very much.

The simplest would be to buy a complete used set of parts, or another motor that has a blown powerhead or lower unit.   As you can see from the information on the regular article that the ignition & therefore also the charge units are vastly different.  So you would have to acquire your new /used parts off motors that use the same electronics.   Starters & the by-pass cover are the same from 1974 up to 1992.  The under the flywheel parts differ & are matched into families of the motors "improvements" over the years.

When it comes to flywheels, new ones are expensive if even available now-days & trying to find the right used one may take some time.  There are differences in the electric start flywheel over the rope start type.   The rope start version has only the larger cast in aluminum toothed lower gear, while the electric start in addition to the manual start cast in gear, has a steel ring gear for the electric starter to engage into which is larger diameter & placed higher on the flywheel.  

I will list these parts by transgression of the 4 OMC electronic ignition systems.  The type numbers listed below are my numbers only & are used for clarification for the different systems here.  At the time they were in production, the factory had no idea what improvements were to come along during this series of motor lifespan, so in looking back, we can now categorize them into types.   Again these are NOT factory designation numbers.

My Type I  would be the 1974-1976 that has a straight magneto setup under the flywheel with points and condensers to external coils for each cylinder & then on to the spark plugs.    This flywheel will have cast into it that the points need to be set at .020" & will have point setting marks for both top & bottom cylinders.  However without inspection holes in the flywheel, it is impossible to locate the crankshaft rotation to set these points at the marks unless they are using a special plate.

My Type II  would be the electronic ignition of the 1977-1984  which have electronic Capacitor Discharge Ignition, sometimes called a CD Ignition, or as OMC called it then, Mag Flash ignition.  This has a charge coil under the flywheel that sends a small voltage to the power pack, which ups the voltage to 300 volts & is then sent to individual external coils & on to the spark plugs. 

My Type III is from 1985 thru 1988 a supposed to be a slightly improved version of the system & was called CDII.  All the above flywheels are cast aluminum with metal driveshaft hubs & the magnets cast into them.   I believe the flywheels are interchangeable between the Type II & III types.   These flywheels are painted black.

My Type IV is from 1989 thru 1993 another system called the UFI (Under the Flywheel Ignition) was used.  These flywheels are also painted black.

The  1993 to 2006  2 stoke uses a totally different system as to size & shape so no parts will interchange off these types. 

Type I rope start 1974 - 1976	Type I  electric start 1974 - 1976	Type II  electric start 1977 - 1984	Type II  rope start 1977 - 1984

One thing to be aware of if you tend to buy used parts off eBay or even elsewhere, is that MANY sellers do not know what interchanges with what.  Just because the motors were made from 1974 to 1992 does not mean that all the parts interchanges as some so called mechanics may think.    And most of them will try to sell the flywheel separate from the timing plate /driving coils.  This is bad if they don't know the year the parts were off of & you are trying to find something in a compatible year that hopefully fits your motor.   Also if you are trying to upgrade your motor to a electric start / charge system, the flywheel needs to be compatible with the timing plate / driver coils. 

Type III  rope start 1985 - 1988	Type III electric start  1985 - 1988	Type IV  electric start 1989 - 1992	Type IV  rope  start 1989 - 1992
	need to find a motor to photograph
	need to find a motor to photograph
	need to find a motor to photograph. but suspect the same as Type 2 or very similar		The rope start version is basically the same as the photo on the left except that it does not have the 2 copper wound  charging coils nor the rectifier or the wires leading to it

The part numbers listed below should be cast into the actual flywheels.   Some later run superseded flywheels may interchange with the numbers shown below that were taken off existing known year parts manuals.  Also some flywheels may also interchange with the different charging systems like possibly the type II & III systems??

This table shows actual OMC part numbers
Year	Rope start	Electric start
1974/75	#581216	#581175
1976	#581423	#581175
1978/79	#581676	#581693
1982	#582141	#582144
1987	#583007	#583078
1990/91	#583913	#583915
	more to come

You need to get all the parts needed, as flywheel, timing plate assembly, starter, starter bypass cover bracket, start button, neutral safety switch, junction block, & rectifier.  One thing to be aware of is that the timing plate cam on the motors from about mid 1980s on is simply a drop in / held in place by the timing plate base & the actual timing plate when they are bolted together.  It is indexed by a couple of protrusions that go into recesses & many times gets misplaced or the person does not know where it came from.  SO if you purchase used parts & the person selling them is not familiar with this unit, you may well NOT get this cam.

You could put the complete "KIT" from any year motor onto any other motor within the 18 year series, no matter whether it originally was the earlier 74-76 points ignition or not.    HOWEVER trying to upgrade the earlier 74-76  motors with later components will turn into a hassle as there is no provision for mounting the powerpack.   And you would need to purchase the individual newer coils & powerpack in addition to the other conversion parts.

The old bypass cover that is located on the LH side of the motor is replaced by one that has provisions to mount the starter into using the 2 bolts that attach the starter.  Do not pay too much for a used starter as there are a couple of aftermarket companies who make & sell these starters for about $100 or less.

One thing if you do get a used starter, be careful if you have to remove the red power input wire.  The nut that attaches the wire to the terminal usually gets rusty & IF the stud that goes into the motor happens to turn inside while you are trying to remove the nut, you very well can twist off the inner wire.  This is then very hard to reconnect that NOW SHORT wire internally.

Bypass cover/motor mount	74-92 electric starter

If you do find the right charging system, you will also need to be sure to get & install a rectifier in the charging system.  There needs to be a connecting wire, (usually red) from the red wire on the terminal block to the incoming hot wire at the starter push button from the battery to make the system recharge the battery.   There will be 3 yellow wires that will be yellow, yellow with gray stripe & yellow with blue stripes.  These need to be connected to the terminals of the terminal block to the same color wires from under the stator / flywheel.  You may find a rectifier that has an other wire that is usually blue.  This usually goes to the kill button on some versions of electronics.

voltage rectifier	terminal block

If you try to purchase an original OMC push button starter switch #_____ the cost was $46.85 in 2005, while you can go to a marine supply store & get a aftermarket Sierra 30 Amp switch  #MP39160 for $15.99.   Note - this can not be a standard  15 Amp push button automotive starter/horn switch because these motors up to 1993 do not use a starter solenoid, as the switch is directly in line from the starter to the battery.  A standard push button horn switch will burn up in usage.

If you are going to place the starter button in a remote position, like at the console or steering station, then you can use a lighter button & can run lighter wires to an added small solenoid that will need to be placed near the starter.  (I will try & research this one)

The actual electric start flywheel is also slightly smaller than the rope start flywheel by about 1/4" overall diameter.  This smaller size is to allow clearance for the starter shaft nut that extends upward at this area.    The original electric start flywheel is made differently & uses the starter ring gear as the lower edge of the emergency rope groove.

One thing you can do, is that you will have your old flywheel but you can only find a different ignition version than is needed, is to take it anyway if the price is right & remove the ring gear.   OMC does not sell just the ring gear as a separate item.  I suspect it is not made by OMC but another supplier, since there are numbers & a trademark stamped on the underside of this gear.  The numbers appear to be,  j E:T.N 4   511208 ( M ).  The M is inside a parallelogram. The inside diameter of this gear is 7.0".  

Have a machine shop, or if you posses a metal lathe, make a tapered shaft to fit the flywheel, or use an old crankshaft & mount your old flywheel on it, then turn your flywheel down to the EXACT size of the one that had the gear on it.  Heat the gear with a propane torch.  This will expand it just enough (just hot enough that you need a rag to hold onto it),   Install it quickly by dropping the heated gear over the flywheel's newly machined surface.  You might have to tap it into place before the heat transfers to the aluminum flywheel & locks it there.  This is called shrinking the gear in place which is the same as all the automotive starter ring gears are attached to their flywheels.   The gear expands slightly when heated & IF the flywheel dia. is RIGHT it will stay there after it looses it's heat from being placed on the cold flywheel.

You can lathe turn the outside diameter of a rope starter flywheel to be compatible with the starter nut clearance & re-cut the emergency starter rope groove & deepen the notches.

The internal diameter of the flywheels for the stator diameter is 4 1/2" on all style ignitions.

A Type I   repainted 1974 was a electric start motor that had the starter & rectifier removed at some time, but still has the charging coils & terminal block in place.  No powerpack was needed nor used on these early magneto ignition motors.  If it was a rope start version, then the 2 rear coils on the stator would be missing.	This Type II   1977  is a CD electric start version, notice the starter shaft at the top of the photo.  Also notice the black powerpack on the starboard  rear.   The carburetor silencer was removed for photography purposes.
This Type III  1987 is a CD rope start model.  Again the visible powerpack at starboard rear.  Also the shift handle is black plastic.	This Type IV  1992 electric start with UFI ignition, notice no powerpack on the block as it is built into the UFI .  Also showing the voltage rectifier & junction block on the lower left of the powerhead