Re: 1973 Wards Sea King 7hp Neutral Clutch

[retiredoz]

I’d throw it together and see if it’ll fire up. It’ll be OK to run it briefly without the water pump – it wouldn’t be operating in neutral anywhoo ? There is a spring in that clutch somewhere, so it may require a few more RPMs to engage the driveshaft ? It’s been a long time, but I coulda sworn the default on the clutch is forward. My service manual says if the outer shell is detached from the spring it means it won’t go into neutral (which appears to be your case) or if the spring is broken internally, it means it won’t engage the driveshaft. In either case, the remedy is to replace the clutch, and without sounding facetious, good luck. So far the only motors I’ve found to use that setup Are the J700 and K700 models produced ’70-’75.