RESTORATION OF A CHRIS CRAFT
CHALLENGER 5.5HP
By Chip Rathbun
One day last January, Dennis Schmitt called and asked me if I wanted to go look at some old motors a guy had listed on Craig’s List in MesquiteTexas. I said sure, so I met Dennis at his house and we took off. When we arrived at the advertised address, the seller was in his garage, surrounded with various motors. He had a collection of Johnson’s, Mercury’s, Scott-Atwater’s, Sea Kings, and a couple ofClintons. Dennis and I looked over what he had for sale, but did not see anything that we could not live without. Dennis asked him if he had any other motors. He said he had some in a trailer in the back yard,
We trekked out in his “back 40” and we came to an old wooden box trailer. He opened the lid and inside was 2 Evinrude Rudder Twins, a couple of old Scott-Atwater motors, around 3hp versions, and one Chris Craft Challenger. I asked how much he wanted for the Chris Craft and he said $200.00. It was pretty rough, but appeared to be complete. I pulled the starter rope, and it would not move. I figured the motor was locked up. I offered $75.00 and he took it. I paid the man, and loaded up the motor. Dennis did not find anything that suited him.
When I got the motor home, I put in my work stand and took off the starter cover. I pulled the rope and it would not move. I spun over the flywheel by hand, and it moved free. The starter was just frozen. I sprayed the pivot shaft with some anti-seize and let it soak for a few days, and tried it again. Still frozen. Sprayed some more anti-seize and let is soak a few more days. I pulled the rope again, it was still frozen. There is a hole in the starter wheel, so I got a drift punch and put it into the hole and tapped the punch with a hammer. Slowly, ever so slowly, the wheel started to move. After a few more taps, it broke free.
With the starter problem fixed, I took the motor apart and inspected the removed parts. The lower unit was resealed, ignition system replaced, carburetor cleaned and resealed. I cleaned the power head, stripped the paint (what there was of it) on all metal parts. The fuel tank was flushed and dried out. The fuel cap was not the original, so it was replaced with new. I painted the motor with factory blue metallic enamel paint, and installed new decals. I plan on setting the motor up on display in my office.
