1980 Johnson 35 HP-compression

gdc0581

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 23, 2009
Messages
43
I just did a complete powerhead rebuild on my 1980 Johnson 35 HP. I had it bored .030 oversize and replaced pistons and rings. I've put it together and have run it at idle on the work stand for about 20 minutes. I've checked the compression and I'm getting 110 in one cylinder and 120 in the other. This seems low. I would expect about 135. I'm concerned about my boring job possibly being a little undersize. When I placed the rings in the cylinders to check end gap, I got .007, which is what I think the minimum is. Being concerned about broken rings or, worse yet, broken lands on the pistons, I pulled the head. The cylinders are beautiful.

Is it possible that I just need to run it some more? I really hate pulling the power head on this motor, but if I do have a problem with rings and I score the cylinders, the motor is toast. Opinions please.
 

nwcove

Admiral
Joined
May 16, 2011
Messages
6,293
Re: 1980 Johnson 35 HP-compression

jmo, but if it were mine, id put a new head gasket on it ,mix it at 25:1, and run it through a proper break-in procedure on the water.
 

gdc0581

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 23, 2009
Messages
43
Re: 1980 Johnson 35 HP-compression

Thanks for the replies. I'll give it a try.
 

mjw210

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Messages
43
Re: 1980 Johnson 35 HP-compression

I just started my rebuild on my 1980 35hp Evinrude. Did you run into any weird issues during the rebuild? I'm having a shop do the boring on the motor.

Do you want to run 25:1 all the time? I thought I saw it was 50:1. Hope it works good for you! Let us know if you test the compression again. I'm very interested in what you find out since I'll be comparing mine with it shortly.
-Mike
 

tx1961whaler

Vice Admiral
Joined
May 31, 2008
Messages
5,197
Re: 1980 Johnson 35 HP-compression

25:1 (or 24:1) is the mix to use when breaking the motor in after a rebuild.
 
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