Dad bought V4 60 new in 1965 and put it on his 14′ Aluminum Crestliner Voyager that was rated for 60 HP. With a 12 inch prop and me alone in it, trimmed up, it did 41 MPH, and 38 with an 11 inch prop. (I only weighed 150 then as a teenager). I learned to ski barefoot behind that boat. Downside was it was a lot of weight on the back of a light boat, so you had to know what you were doing to drive it, because the weight of motor +battery+gas at the rear messed up handling. It was no longer a boat we could let just anyone drive, like we could with the previous 40 HP. We used it a lot for skiing and it used less gas than the 1960 40 Johnson it replaced – probably because the 40 was run at WOT most of the time, and worked harder to pull up skiers and plane off, although I was able to routinely pull three teenage gals out of the water on two skis with that 40. The 40 (don’t know what prop it had) had a top speed on that boat on high trim of 33 MPH. Keep in mind those old speedometers were anything but accurate, but numbers I’ve given for the 60 and the 40 were with the same speedometer.
We ran the he!! out of that motor, running about 200 gallons of gas each summer for almost 20 years before trading it for a used I/O. It was often abused, run at highest trim setting, cavitating to high RPMs on quick corners, etc. It was bulletproof, but it was the same basic design as 75 and 90 HPs and maybe bigger ones yet, just smaller cylinders, so most of the parts were designed for much more HP. I only had to replace the normal stuff – spark plugs, fuel pump diaphragm, impeller, and once I replaced the distributor rotor. We ran SAE 30 non-detergent oil at 40 to1 with no problems.
As you check out that motor, look at the distributor cap inside and out – they are no longer available and if you can find one, it will likely cost a mint if it’s new. Note that the early V4 60s still had adjustable high speed carb jets – nice! Of course – look for the wiring, ignition key switch and solenoid box to be included. On motors of that vintage, I ask what gas/oil mix has been used and if they say 100 to 1 – I walk away.
Dave
An old photo (1968) of the 60 on the Crestliner:
