1971 2hp Johnson Sea Horse

[Tom Maslar]

Well, You know the other day I went to a marine consignment shop and boat this little mtor for a hundred bucks. Get it home and smell the old gas--what the heck...I wrap the cord around the starting pawl and give it a yank. Starts on first pull and scares the bejusus out of me. I was smiling with a kind of grin that was reaching deep for my ear lobes. So I push the advance to see what shes got and nothing happens. I shut her down, drop the bowl and squirt some compressed air and do a mild clean up. Back together she goes and I give it another whirl. This time she fires right up and gets plenty of throttle with the fresh fuel I added--but in twenty seconds cuts out and does not start again for the next hour. So I patch up the bleeding rope burn on the outside of my pinky and try again in the morning. Fires up one time on first try and dies in twenty seconds--does not start for ten minutes. Pulled carb and dissasembled it. air flows freely but cork float is ugly although working, the needle valve grommets are dry rotted and deformed. Carb halves are soaking in paint thinner. ???? Motor has a lot of spark--I turn the flywheel a half revolution and can see/hear a bright spark. Using 87 octane with sunoco synthetic marine 3 ounces to a gallon which is fifty to one(one sixth of a pint)

 

[oldcatamount]

Re: 1971 2hp Johnson Sea Horse

Take it out of that paint thinner and get a spray can of "carb cleaner". A re-build kit (with the float) should be all you need. That's a sweet little motor you got!

 

[boobie]

Re: 1971 2hp Johnson Sea Horse

I hope you had the mtr in a barrel of water all the time you were doing this. If not, it's water pump time.

 

[nwcove]

Re: 1971 2hp Johnson Sea Horse

nice lil motor, but .....it will probably need more tlc than just a carb kit. you will need to clean the tank, and re-clean it. the little filter in there will also need attention. make sure the vent in the cap isnt gummed up either. also, unless you know for sure when the impeller was replaced, add that to the parts list.

 

[twocyclemania]

Re: 1971 2hp Johnson Sea Horse

Picked up the same motor about a year ago. Like yours mine needed a carb cleaning. From what you've described about it needing to sit for a while before it will re-start makes me suspicious of the gas tank and gas line (as nwcove suggested). My tank was rusted and I landed up etching it and using a tank sealer. If you do something like this make sure you don't seal up the little filter inside the tank. My motor looked like new but was overheating. The impeller and the head gasket (easy jobs) were shot; just something to keep in mind. Also, I find that motors with gravity flow tanks need more than a little bit of fuel for some reason to get adequate flow to the carb. Make sure you have a decent amount of gas in the tank.

 

[Tom Maslar]

Re: 1971 2hp Johnson Sea Horse

Is the paint thinner a problem? I had carb cleaner but thought the paint thinner would do less damage--thanks for the post and I think its pretty cool too! I have a 14 foot jon that is getting married to it soon.

 

[Tom Maslar]

Re: 1971 2hp Johnson Sea Horse

Tank is clean looking but I will do as you suggest--makes sense! Thank You great advice

 

[Tom Maslar]

Re: 1971 2hp Johnson Sea Horse

we have a lot of wine around here so i just plopped it in a fresh barrel---yes, it was in a barrel on a custom stand...lol

 

[oldcatamount]

Re: 1971 2hp Johnson Sea Horse

I'm not a believer in soaking carbs. Some carbs have adhesive/sealants in them that soaking can deteriorate. I take them completely apart, use carb cleaner, and blow them out with 20 psi. compressed air, then reassemble. Heck, I wouldn't run right either if I was run in a barrel of wine! (Lol)

 

[boobie]

Re: 1971 2hp Johnson Sea Horse

You can soak any carb in BRP Engine Tuner for as long as you want and it won't hurt it. Even the plastic ones.

 

[Tom Maslar]

Re: 1971 2hp Johnson Sea Horse

You can soak any carb in BRP Engine Tuner for as long as you want and it won't hurt it. Even the plastic ones.

Great Tip--I will try it. I noticed 3 in 1 oil and a soft brass narrow dremel brush are excellent and i mean superbly excellent at starting the cleaning process in conjunction with soft rags and compressed air in a can. all passageways are clean and the carb looks new with no damage to finish. The carb kit came with six cork o rings and two nylon????? no directions. any idea what the six cork washers are for? i have two jets. I THOUGHT ONE CORK AND ONE NYLON PER JET WITH FOUR EXTRA OR THREE CORK AND ONE NYLON PER JET IN SOME SORT OF ORDER???:facepalm:

 

[oldcatamount]

Re: 1971 2hp Johnson Sea Horse

It won't hurt anything to pile a couple of the cork washers (with the nylon on top) but generally one cork and one nylon is all that's needed.

 

[Tom Maslar]

Re: 1971 2hp Johnson Sea Horse

Ok, I got her all together and she runs great and then I see she is not pumping water and overheated. I inspected the water pump impeller beforehand but that forty year old impeller split on one side of the nylon center rendering it useless. So, I hope I did not do to much damage? Ran for about five minutes and cut out when it overheated. Did not sieze and still has good compression i think.