1992 Johnson 8hp low power

markf96

Cadet
Joined
Apr 23, 2020
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Let me preface this by saying I know very little about outboards, but have worked on inboards pretty extensively. I recently acquired a Johnson 8hp 2 stroke for pretty cheap. I threw it on my jon boat and it had very low power, but had no problems starting or idling. I got home and did a compression test and the cylinders were about 75 and 70 hp. I thought that was pretty low so I put a new head gasket, exhaust cover gasket, and water/cooling cover thingy(?) gasket. the tops of the pistons and the cylinder had quite a bit of carbon buildup so I spent a little while cleaning that up. Cleaned fuel pump, which looked brand new. I also took the lower unit off and put a new impeller on, the old turned out to be falling apart. The guy i got it from said the carburetor was just rebuilt and it looks pretty clean, But I dont know anything about these kinds of carbs.

Did another compression test and its basically the same. Some folks online are saying that smaller 2 stroke engines dont have those high compression values like larger engines. Is this true? If the compression is okay, what else could cause low power? I haven't been able to get it back on the water since doing all this, but does anyone have any ideas?

thank you in advance
 

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