jmendoza
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2008
- Messages
- 314
Here is a summary of what my 5-1/2 HP Sea Horse needed to get it back on the water fishing:
1954 Johnson CD-11 Restoration
This engine was rescued from a church storage shed by Paul Kralig who gave it to me around 2004. One of the transom clamps was seized in the bracket and I broke it off trying to remove it, the engine had been painted olive drab and had no decals of any kind. A shot of ether in the intake and she fired right up, a good sign. We cleaned it up a little and sprayed it real good under the covers with WD-40 and it sat on my side yard for a year before I took it to Big Bear where it sat for a couple more years in the barn. In 2006 I brought the engine back home to restore it.
After visiting Tom?s Old Outboard site, I decided to buy new coils, points, condensers, ignition wires and spark plug caps, new spark plugs, impeller and plate, head gasket, Mikuni diaphragm pump, single line fuel disconnect fitting, fuel lines, plastic float and a carb rebuild kit. The first step was to remove the power head and carburetor, and take off the flywheel nut and flywheel. This revealed a new set of coils, condensers and points had been installed by the last owner. I then took off the intake manifold to do the pressure to pulse modification and carefully bent back a slightly warped reed, then replaced the manifold. The block had an area at the crankcase seam that was repaired with JB Weld epoxy; apparently this engine had thrown a rod at some point and was repaired. I removed the head to scrape it and the piston crowns free of carbon, and noticed some pieces of what appeared to be shredded paper towel fragments in the water jackets. After blowing these out the head was replaced with a new gasket, but not torqued down. The timing was carefully adjusted and synchronized with the aid of a dial gauge indicator to determine each pistons position exactly, then the flywheel was replaced.
After ordering decals, the power head was taken to a local automotive paint store to have them custom match the original paint and put it in a couple spray cans and they gave me some clear coat in aerosol as well because I was not using the catalyst. While re-installing the power head, it was noted that the main water passageway was blocked at it?s inlet where the copper water tube discharges into the block. An extra long 1/8 drill was used to bore through the blockage, and a small bore (.25 cal. ) pistol cleaning brush removed the remainder of what appeared to be compacted shredded paper towel debris that had formed into a solid plug. It then became apparent what had happened: somebody flushed the engine in a trash can that had a paper towel in the bottom which got shredded by the prop, ingested by the cooling system, and plugged up the main water cooling passage. Next, the engine lightly seized a piston due to overheating and threw the rod. More than likely, the ignition had already been rebuilt, and after the overheating episode, the owner replaced the rod, fixed the case, and rebuilt the water pump. But since the engine had a blockage, it would not pump water and it was abandoned. More than likely it was assumed the block had too much internal corrosion and was not worth any more effort. So the act of removing the power head to use it for a paint sample proved to be a lucky move as it revealed the hidden problem this engine had, and the fact that someone had replaced everything I had just purchased in an attempt to fix it. I then took the head back off and blew out the block real good, replaced and torqued the head, replaced to top to bottom main bearing oil lines, and bolted the power head back on after verifying that a new impeller was in the lower unit. I had to get the reverse latch braised as it was broken, and used heat to remove the corroded remains of the transom clamp bolt. The next step was to prep and paint the engine and cowls, apply decals and clear coat them.
Now that the engine was painted and looking real good, the carburetor was torn apart and it was a mess inside, it took quite an effort to remove the brass float valve seat as it was corroded and seized in the casting. Heat and a lot of elbow grease coaxed it out 1/8th of a turn at a time, it took me an hour! The threads were chased and a new float valve, and float were installed. The carb was bolted back on and a fuel bottle was suspended over the engine with a hose run to gravity feed the carb for a test. The engine would start and run, but very poorly and was erratic. It did pump water quite well however. So the carb had to come off again and this time the Welch plug and both high and low speed mixture needle packings were removed. McKays was used to boil out the carb and all new gaskets, seals, packings and Welch plug were installed, Threebond 1104 was used to seal it. Then the Mikuni pump was installed, and the two line fuel fitting replaced with a single one. After that the engine ran great and would idle unbelievable slow and smoothly.
In 2007, and the following years, the 5-1/2 Sea Horse saw several hours of running and about 5gallons gas run through it with no other issues other than having to tighten the high speed needle packing gland nut a bit to keep it from moving. It?s a bit thirsty on gas and oil compared to modern engines, but it?s very reliable. This engine is ideal for training young skippers on handling of a small fishing boat as it has forward, neutral, and reverse, and is barely capable of planning the boat with a single person on board, so it?s not too powerful and fairly tame. For trolling it?s hard to beat; it idles lower than my 1975 9.9 and is easy to pull start due to the small displacement.
Lessons learned: Always tank and fire the engine to see if it pumps water, and runs normally, note any problems before proceeding. Always remove the head and lap it, replace the head gasket. Always remove the Welch plug and replace the packings, and boil out the carb thoroughly, use gas proof sealer on the Welch plug. The single line conversion is well worth the effort and cheaper/better than restoring a two line system. 25:1 Synthetic TCW-3 for oil and 87 octane gas, sync the timing, replace the beeswax coils if so equipped(original). Always replace the impeller, and always use new seal washers on the drain and fill plugs of the lower unit to prevent leaks, tighten them securely. Always replace any gasket you remove, it?s cheap insurance and good practice. Replace the cork float with a the new plastic one. Always make sure your trash can is completely free of any debris, or paper towels before running an engine in it!
Be ready to get comments, compliments and a lot of looks while boating with this classic outboard.
