This is a 1965 45 HP outboard. Built one year before West Bend was bought out by Chrysler. The 'racing' stripe on the hood is reflective tape someone added.

I got this shot from a guy who has rebuilt and repainted his West Bend. These are apparently the original markings..

I snagged this photo off of eBay.. This is an early Chrysler badged 55. Same hood shape, with Chrysler logos.

I can not nail down when Chrysler moved to this new hood shape, I maybe different depending on models, I have a 1967 55 HP motor that has the new(er) hood style. But my 45 is only 2 years older with the older rounded hood.

In the 70's Chrysler stopped putting metal logo's and names on there hoods and switched to all Vinyl.

This is the right (Starboard) side of the west Bend 45. Very similar to the Chrysler's.

Changes that Chrysler made is they used a 'Tower shaft' to hook the throttle linkage to the carb and magneto plate. And later units had the control cable ends attached to fixed points and used the movement of the sheathing to operate the controls.

The same fuel pump was used for several years, and then in the 70's it switched to one that has a plastic filter housing attached to the pump

You might notice that are no coils or rectifiers or CD units on the side of this motor. Thats because this is a magneto ignition system without any charging circuits..

You might also be thinking, where's the terminal block for the control wiring? We'll get to that in just a second.

Also, the older, this being an example, motors had a tendency to crack the starter mounting points on the casting. There was even a service memo put out by Chrysler for an upgrade kit for the starter mount.

This motor has 2 steel brackets that were added to the motor to stiffen and repair the broken casting.

Oh, and this OLD West bend is a POSITIVE ground electrical system in it.. Later Chrysler's switched to Negative ground like the rest of the world.

Differences between this oldie and Chrysler's is the carburetor.

Original Westbend is Tillotson Model OM-20a
Early Chrysler 455xx used a Tillotson WB-4A
Newer Chrysler 45 HP use Tillotson WB16C7 or 434061-2

The newer carbs have a round metal float bowl where this carb has a squarish cast aluminum bowl. Still a very serviceable carb, if you don't mind making your own gaskets. You can swap in a newer carb, with some mods for this one. Thats what I plan to do because you can still get parts for the newer carbs..

Also interesting the choke solenoid of the West Bend of mounted on the hood pan and connected to the butterfly by a cable. The Chrysler's moved the solenoid to the motor and use a rigid wire in its place.

Very clean basic head on this one. There isn't even an over temp sensor on this one..

You might notice the difference in the throttle linkage. That V shaped piece on the top of the block is the throttle to plate connection.

Its also interesting that this old west bend has feet on the back of the hood to keep it from tipping when its off of the boat.

The Chrysler's don't' have any kind of feet thus they don't sit well on the ground..

Instead of a screw terminal block on the side of the motor, West Bend used these push terminals Not too bad as long as you keep it clean, etc. It was REAL fun to diagnose what these connections were when I 1st got the boat as best I can figure out they are:

Wiring Connections at Motor:

#1 Choke Solenoid
#2 No Connection
#3 No Connection
#4 Armature - Probable Kill Wire
#5 Negative side of electrical
#6 Armature - Probable Kill Wire
#7 Routed through Neutral Switch to Start Solenoid
#8 Ground (Positive Ground System)

I think I have the right manufacture for this.. Either way this is the control box that West Bend used with their motors. I don't know if this one is standard or has been modified. The ignition key is installed in the top right of the control box and the choke push button is on the top left. The silver bottom to the right of the throttle control is the warm up button. It disengages the shift mechanism so you can run the motor at fast idle..