Yamaha 60AE Timing Specs

[Boer Chris]

Recently rebuild two Yamaha 60AE's dating from somewhere near the end of the 70's. Been searching on the internet for a few months for the timing specs with no luck and the local Yamaha agents in South Africa don't have information on these old motors

Timing specs were set yesterday according to information we got from Holland on the 55AE and will be taken for sea trials this coming weekend

Max: 26° BTDC
Min : 5° ATDC
Pick up : 4° BTDC

I was hoping someone might be able to confirm if these settings are correct for the 60AE.

Yamaha 60AE 675 L 300177
Yamaha 60AE 675 L 300277

[99yam40]

Yamaha did not sell motors here in the USA until the 80s I think, so will be hard to come up with specs for that old of motors.


but My 1999 C40TLRX has specs close to that if that is of any help
7ATDC idle and 25 BTDC WOT

[boscoe99]

This is a Yamaha USA dealers website.

By the serial numbers above, they are 1978 model year motors. Not offered here in the USA.

First Yams came to the US in 1985. A 50 and a 70, but no 60.

1984 50 HP spec is -5* at idle, -1* carb pick up and 25* full throttle.

1984 70 HP spec is -7* at idle, -7* carb pick up and 20* full throttle.

Not sure if this helps or creates more confusion.

[Boer Chris]

I am talking under correction, but I think they were supplied by yamaha to the USA for their mercury start up. I believe that the first mercury 55hp were the original 55AE's.

This pair run like a dream at WOT, but we do a lot of trawling and have been having nightmares with over fueling. All four carburetors have been jetted down on their main and idle jets but the closest spec we could get from yamaha locally was

Max : 25° BTDC
Min : 7° ATDC
Pick up : 4° ATDC

At these settings we were still having major over fueling issues and adjusting the air/fuel mix had little to no affect. We have now adjusted them to the settings from Holland for the yamaha 55AE and the motors are running much better. Today we are going to be placing the water drum around the motors to do the final carburetor balancing and idling speed. And then off for a sea trial/fishing trip tomorrow. Hopefully the yellowtail or our local snoek are running. Snoek are similar to barracuda and we hand line them.

[Boer Chris]

And talking under further correction, the old 80's mariner 55hp were also an identical copy of the yamaha 55AE?

[99yam40]

I am not sure running too rich(over fueling) would/could be from timing settings.
have you made sure the thermostats are working properly and letting the motors get up to proper temp
along with the proper spark plugs.

are you going by the spark plug color saying running too rich?

[boscoe99]

And talking under further correction, the old 80's mariner 55hp were also an identical copy of the yamaha 55AE?

It is unknown by me (and probably anyone here in the USA) if the Mariner 55 HP model was identical to the Yamaha 55AE. If so, and if you want the timing values for a Mariner 55 HP model you would need to get in contact with the Mariner (Mercury) folks.

Here are the timing values for all of the US models that were sold here in the US. I included the 55 only for reference.

[Boer Chris]

Hindsight should be sold in aerosols... In our excitement of using the new settings from Holland and setting up and balancing the carburetors, we forgot to charge the batteries...

The port motor started first time and idled well, starboard motor did not start that easily. Motored a mile or so out and inspected the starboard motor. In the process an intermittent electric fault on the port motor showed it's head. And since the batteries were not charged fully we called it a day.

We have been battling with over fueling since we got the motors. We have dropped the fuel mix from 50:1 to 100:1. We totally rebuild the motors and the carburetors and replaced all four idle and main jets with the smallest sizes they recommend for the 55AE.

Our fuel consumption has been cut by over 60% and the motors run like a dream at open throttle, coming onto the plain quickly and running at 32 knots with ease on a 16ft fiberglass boat. But still the idling and trawling problem.

The only three things that we can still think of is to trace and repair the electrical fault on the port motor, make 100% sure of the carburetors pick up timing and look at putting in larger idel air jets u.

And unfortunately in Cape Town, South Africa the Mercury/Mariner agents are less helpful than the Yamaha agents on motors this old.

[Boer Chris]

99yam40
In the beginning there was no mistaking the over fueling because the black carbon tar was running down the trunk and the boat had a black ring around it from the oil on the water. That's when we dropped the fuel mix from 50 to 100:1. When we were still getting black carbon tar running down the trunk, we replaced both idle (pilot) and main jets. We still got tar down the trunk, but much less and more powder than tar. Turning the air/fuel mix screw did not do much to the running of the motors and that's when we thought that it could be the carburetor (idle) timing settings. When we changed from 5°ATDC to 4°BTDC, we started hearing a difference on the air/fuel screws.

I am starting to think that we need to increase one size on the air jets since we went down on the idle jets. My thinking being that we might have gone from over fueling to not enough air/oxygen for the idling. The spark plugs appearances have improved from carboned up black oil to a slightly coffee colour with less oil on.