Home › Forum › Ask A Member › 1961 Evinrude Lark 40 › Re: 1961 Evinrude Lark 40
You should be fine on the shifter pivot pin. If you have fwd neutral reverse as you tested then it is working. You can take it back out and look in the hole and see the shift fork and receiving hole if you really want to double check.
From my non scientific observations, OMC used Phillips head screws on things that the lay person may not want to touch. Shifter screw, coil mag plate screws, exhaust clam shell cover screws, etc. of course it makes no difference to us now and may not even be true, just what I have noticed.
Did you take the spark plug leads off/change plugs? Sounds like you have them reversed. Top on bottom, bottom on top. I made this mistake before and you get backfires in this condition.
I have three similar motors and love all my big twins. Good luck with it, you will love it, please feel free to reach out if I can help.