Re: Frozen 1954 Evinrude Super Fastwin 15

[Don]

How much is little $$? Might be worth the gamble for a few bucks. Might just be stuck from sitting, or maybe the gearcase is rusted/jammed causing the engine not to turn.
Worst case scenario is that the engine was submerged, never serviced, and is now totally rusted and beyond economic repair. Is it in nice cosmetic condition? Parts are not too tough to find for these engines.
Before buying, see if the owner will let you mess with the engine a bit. Pull the lower gearcase lube screw (not the phillips head screw! This holds the shift linkage in place), see if either gear lube, water, or perhaps nothing is present inside the gearcase. The gearcase is probably not the problem if gearlube is present when the lower drain screw is removed.
Pull the spark plugs and try to peek inside the cylinders with a light? Are the plugs all rusted, can you see any rust inside the cylinders? Try rocking the flywheel back and forth slightly by hand. Will the flywheel move at all, even the slightest little clunk indicates that the crank/rods are probably free, the pistons are probably slightly rusted to the walls.
How does the engine look with the cover removed? Is the cylinder head badly discolored? If so, the engine was probably badly overheated. I suppose some fool might have run the engine with no oil/not enough oil mixed with the fuel causing the pistons to seize to the walls, but I am "guessing" the engine is just stuck from sitting.
So, might be worth the gamble of a few bucks after this closer inspection. These are great running engines, and many of the parts are still available.