!!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

[Blade_Link]

hey guys this is my first post, however i have been reading some of the others on here lot of great advise.

I recently was givin about 9 motors that had been sitting for years the pride and joy of this find was a 1952 johnson sea horse in great shape, i needed to replace the coils, points and condensers but apart from that it runs great, very little vibration, 1 finger shifting idles great alround great motor, im currently replacing the lube in the bottom end it had no water in it but this motor has been sitting for 15 years that i know of, judgeing by the lack of wear on the motor and low vibration and it not falling into gear with a jolt, it has very low hours on it. I am running this motor on a 10 ft fibreglass light fishing boat, runs like a dream.

my question is does anyone know where i can find a motor diagram and all that online i know the motor pretty well but i would like to have a reference to keep this motor running great for years to come, its almost 60 years old i wanna get a few more years out of it.

I love to work on the older motors getting pretty good at it the newer motors are hard to work on and you really need to manual to work on them. Plus i find that newer motors are not as reliable as the older classics.

 

[jonesg]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

original manuals are still available.
www.outboardbooks.com

and ebay of course.:redface:

 

[MushCreek]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

You can go to aomci.org. Try the 'Ask-A-Member' section for advise and parts sources. How many horsepower is your motor?

 

[samo_ott]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

Way to go.

What model is it? it sounds like a QD as you have shifting.

 

[jbjennings]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

I'm curious as to what model you have as well. You must be a pretty darned good mechanic if you can change out the coils on a '52 model. I hear you have to do some modifications. Anyway, sounds like you found some neat motors. Congrats on getting your favorite one running. It's a good feeling when you finally get a "new" one to fire up for the first time.
Got pics???
JBJ

 

[Blade_Link]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

hey guys its a QD 13 1952 johnson sea horse 10 horse power prop is the original and in great shape lower unit is in great shape.

I am still all giddy and smily after getting that beast running.

Actually changing the coils and all that is not hard, i swaped from an newer 18hp johnson what took the longest was getting the fuel mixture right it would only start in reverse haha the mixture was three and a half turns out lol

I started into these motors with a friend of mine, we just started taking them apart and figuring things out.

Best part with this motor was figuring out what way opened the throttle when trying to start it, i have the two halfs of the cover in different places in the shop im going to run it without the cover, it looks meaner haha ill post some pics tomorrow when i get it out on the water i had my drum to test it it ran in and out of gear for almost 2 hours before i shut it down best part was the heads where completely cold haha. all i have left to do is replace the spark plugs to what they need to be the ones im curently using at a bit too big but will do for a short time.

 

[KDT1961]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

hey guys its a QD 13 1952 johnson sea horse 10 horse power prop is the original and in great shape lower unit is in great shape.

I am still all giddy and smily after getting that beast running.

Actually changing the coils and all that is not hard, i swaped from an newer 18hp johnson what took the longest was getting the fuel mixture right it would only start in reverse haha the mixture was three and a half turns out lol

I started into these motors with a friend of mine, we just started taking them apart and figuring things out.

Best part with this motor was figuring out what way opened the throttle when trying to start it, i have the two halfs of the cover in different places in the shop im going to run it without the cover, it looks meaner haha ill post some pics tomorrow when i get it out on the water i had my drum to test it it ran in and out of gear for almost 2 hours before i shut it down best part was the heads where completely cold haha. all i have left to do is replace the spark plugs to what they need to be the ones im curently using at a bit too big but will do for a short time.

If you post your email or IM, I can help you out.

 

[Blade_Link]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

******* update*******

I took my little ten horse out today, i just rebuilt my transom in my boat, braced it up temporarly so i could play with it well i couldnt figure out why it wouldent plane out properly and try and stall at high RPMS well i was out playing around with it and i found the hi and low speed ajuster (i have the cover off for testing) well did it ever run it threw me back and my 200 pound fibre glass boat started to rocket down the lake at about 1/4 throttle, i opened it right up and well let just say my jerry rig braces for my transom didnt work, i just about took the whole damn thing off haha. needless to say it was a slow and painful troll back to shore who knew this little 10 horse had so much torque.

I have pics of this motor i will post them shortly the quality is not all that good due to i used my cellphone but pics are pics.

MY email addy for those who want it is casino_chef1011@yahoo.com feel free to email me at anytime, or just pm me , i dont bite i swear lol.

have fun like i said ill pout those pics up shortly

 

[Blade_Link]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

As promised here is some pics, they exceed size limit so i uploaded them to my facebook lmao heres the link tell me what you think of it

The quality sucks cause its off my cell phone ill remember one of my three digitals next time i promise

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=108126&id=514635063&l=dd967fc8de

 

[Blade_Link]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

what you think of the pics

 

[Revelation]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

Perhaps you can help me out. I am new to boating and marine engines. I was given a 16ft jon boat with a 1959 Johnson QD-20 Seahorse 10. It had been sitting for over 5 years with gas in it. I cleaned out the carb, ended up rebuilding the carb with new synthetic float, it still wouldn't run. I replaced plugs, and I took the view port off the points and reset them to the .020" that is marked on the head. I managed to get it started with a little starting fluid and lots of pulling. Ran well for 5 minutes at idle after I set the slow idle adjust on carb to where it is running smooth, but when I tried to adjust the fast idle on carb, I could not get it running smooth. At full throttle, it doesn't appear to have much more power than at slow idle (in or out of gear). My next attempt at getting it running is going to be using SeaFoam to clean out the engine. Did you run into similar problem with lack of power.

 

[jonesg]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

what you think of the pics

Looks like it was in good condition when you got it, looks clean.

 

[jbjennings]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

Nice pics!
I'm curious about your ignition swap. Did you swap the whole ignition plate with the magneto on it?
Glad you got it running,
JBJ

 

[Blade_Link]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

Perhaps you can help me out. I am new to boating and marine engines. I was given a 16ft jon boat with a 1959 Johnson QD-20 Seahorse 10. It had been sitting for over 5 years with gas in it. I cleaned out the carb, ended up rebuilding the carb with new synthetic float, it still wouldn't run. I replaced plugs, and I took the view port off the points and reset them to the .020" that is marked on the head. I managed to get it started with a little starting fluid and lots of pulling. Ran well for 5 minutes at idle after I set the slow idle adjust on carb to where it is running smooth, but when I tried to adjust the fast idle on carb, I could not get it running smooth. At full throttle, it doesn't appear to have much more power than at slow idle (in or out of gear). My next attempt at getting it running is going to be using SeaFoam to clean out the engine. Did you run into similar problem with lack of power.

i did not have this issue, check your fuel mixture mine was way out it started and ran but it didnt run right id check then it might be on the lean side also if your motor has a high low speed ajuster you may need to turn it up a bit let me know what happends, it could be you need a fuel pump i think yours has one but im going on thinking, if it does not (you need a pressurized tank) id check the connections on your gas line, i run my points at .018 about the size of the top of a smoke pack folded in half so it fits in snugly, if it does not work message me here or on PM and ill look into it a bit more, i have a similar motor at the shop, its a winter progect

 

[Blade_Link]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

the motor wasnt in bad shape when i got it it was fairly clean but i took some gas and a rag and cleaned it right up relubed everything but it wasnt too bad when i got it my 63 now that was fun it was home to a mouse or two at some point lol

My ignition swap, i did not have to replace the magnito i just did a straight switch with the coils, points and condencers, my coils that i put it where a little weak about 4 ohms but that is not a big deal as they came out of a bigger motor. my motor takes about 2-3 pulls from cold, sitting for a few days-week and 1 pull if used everyday.

ill get more pics once i get the cover back on and get my boat fixed, im a little embarresed that i had to row back, well at least till i knew i wasnt in 100ft of water so if my transom gave out completly and i didnt catch my motor i could get it back lol

 

[Blade_Link]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

any change with your motor Revelation

 

[Blade_Link]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

****UPDATE****
so i took the old beast out for a long day run today well it got kinda ugly, it was running absolutly fantastic comming across the lake to get the wife, we go out and boat around, then we stop to go swimming and what not. Well i go and start the motor up seems really sluggish, i figure its just a bit flooded make it a bit more lean starts clipping along pretty good then al of a sudden my hood starts shaking a rattling.. well i borrowed a guys dock, took the cover off, then the recoil, MY FLY WHEEL CAME LOOSE lmao so i tightened it the best i could with what tools i had avalible and we went on our way a couple of mins later it did the same thing, so i limped it back to somones dock again and repair it again, well if that wasnt bad enough.. comming away from there to head to the closest place to take this boat out of the water (does not need a ramp) i hit a shoal, got off that pretty quick. then my motor did it again, so i fixed it and left my recoil off used my shoe lace to start the boat, well it was really sluggih but running, made it as far as a filling station and my fly wheel came loose again, so i had to have somone tow me to a ramp.. nice of the guy i must say. so i go to take the tank out of the boat (trucks outta commision right now) so i could leave the boat, well dont i notice that my fuel line had a split in it. Frig me man what a day, all fixed now and runs like a champ again.

Fly wheel issue was a missing lock washer i dont have one that size so i had to make one.

fuel issue new lines

 

[Blade_Link]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

*****UPDATE*****

so i replaced my sparkplugs and ran some carb cleaner in brand new gas got rid of the other stuff and the old beast runs like a dream, idles great, planes out noprob even wants to run in reverse couldent be more happy with the motor, i prefer it over my 1985 15 merc lol moldy oldy is the true beast here

 

[Sea18Horse]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

Glad to hear you got it up and running! I hope that flywheel holds up for you. one usually doesn't get that many chances. Did you torque it to the proper specs once you got the lock washer situation handled? I'm concerned because if it was torqued properly it shouldn't have come loose that quickly, lockwasher or no.

Cheers......................Todd

 

[Blade_Link]

Re: !!!1952 johnson brought back to life!!!

hey todd,

I torqued it to the specs, we have no idea why it came loose and continued to but i fixed it now, lock washer and i had to damage a thread but it works, the coils points and condencers are new so im good there for a while with the bad plugs it was causing a bad vibration, a misfire on number 1 cylinder, so it made it worse, but now all is good