60's model 40hp johnson

[ccvolsdhf]

Who's got or worked on any 60's model 40 hp johnson's. Are these good motors, and if anyone knows what's the difference in models RD, RDL, RDS, RDSL-28.

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

I happen to own 6 of the same beasts.

RD is a manual start motor without electrical accessories
RDL is the same motor but a long shaft model
RDS is with electric start with electric choke and sometimes a generator
RDSL is the same, but in the long shaft

 

[ccvolsdhf]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

Thanks Zephyr....I happen to have just purchased a 66' RDSL-28. The PO says it died on him on the water, and he related the problem to fuel flow. There appears to be alot more electrical stuff and parts on this motor. How hard is it to work on these motors as compared to the 18, and 25 hp Im getting used to. The motor came with 11 gallon tank,and fuel line. a bundle of wires with a box that has something that looks like a small transformer that all the wires hook to,and the throttle controls. Any line on a digital copy of a service manual for this model. And beast Is right I now have a bruise and knot on both arms and legs from carrying this sucker LOL. Are they strong running I've got a 15 ft fiberglass 79' INVADER boat that's rated for 85hp motor. Do you think this motor will push this boat sufficiently.

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

Yea, yours is the upgraded model long shaft. If you have a generator, it would be mounted on the port side of the carb and a small belt running to it from your flywheel. These motors are no harder to work on, than the 18's and 25's. The ignition is exactly the same. The carbs are pretty much the same, just a tad bit bigger. The box that looks like a transformer is likely your junction box and/or your voltage regulator. That motor will push your boat fine. I won't be the fastest on the water, but it'll be a good efficient motor that won't cost an arm and a leg to fix, should something break. These old 40's are a dime a dozen right now and lots of parts are available. It's pretty easy to find a spare parts motor, as you can tell by my list in my signature. Actually, all the motors in my list are good runners, but you get my point. Luckily, you got the manual shift model, versus the electric shift. Manual shift lower units are much easier to work on and parts are much cheaper. Post some pics of that bad boy

 

[ccvolsdhf]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

Will do Zephyr...I'm quiet sure I got the fever now as in the last month Ive added the 59' 18 hp Johnson $25 the 66' 40hp Johnson $200 as well as the 15ft Invader boat $175, and the boat came with a 40 hp Johnson. . Plus my original 69 25hp Evinrude. The sad part is none of them are running. The 40 that came with the boat is locked up. The boat set out for a long time so I'm hoping it's just rust. The plate that is on the mounting bracket is gone. So I'll post some pics of it as well. See if you guys can help me pinpoint a year. The bad part is the carbs do not look compatible even thu I'm pretty sure the locked up motor is a 60's model as well. Tomorrow it's points,coils condensers and plugs for the 25 evinrude so maybe I'll have one running by the end of the weekend. And I'll differently get some pics up of the 2 40hp Johnsons and the new old boat.

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

Well, I gotta tell you, those old 35's and 40's are quite forgiving motors and pretty darned tough. I picked up three of these darned things last Fall for $50. A '58 Lark 35, a '61 Lark III and a '62 Lark IV. The old 35 was laying in the floor of a boat, with the flywheel off and the coils exposed to the weather, plus it was stuck. That was the first motor I started in on. I sprayed the heck out of the cylinders with WD-40 and started tweeking on the flywheel with my hands. Once I got it free, I went through the ignition system and got it running like a clock. After about an hour or running, It tested out at 130 psi in each cylinder. The '61 Lark III tested out at 120 per cylinder and the '62 Lark IV tested out at around 110 each. When it was said and done with, I ended up with three good running motors with only a $67 investment for a new set of coils and wires on one. So the bottom line is, unless these old 40's been run out of oil, it's pretty seldome that anything would nuke one out. You can pull the bypass covers off and get an idea of what the pistons look like. You can see if there is scoring causing it to be stuck. One of these that has been run without oil, will score the pistons up pretty badly, before they sieze up. If you look in there and don't find any scoring, then it's pretty safe to bet, that it got stuck from sitting and not much will be needed to free it up. Tilt the motor up and fill the spark plug holes with a 50/50 mix of ATF and acetone and let it sit for a few days.

Yea, I know about the fever. LMAO!! I've got it too, but not very bad. My collection is only up to 12. If I could find good enough deals, then I would add 12 more in a New York minute.

 

[kbait]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

I've got a 14' fiberglass yarcraft w/'65 big twin 40hp longshaft. Boat rated for 60hp max. Pushes me 24mph, which is fine, but I never get to use my 4hp lightwin kicker. The 40 will sustain SLOW trolling just fine! So the 4hp is relegated to emergencies.. Like my bigtwin is ever gonna fail.. I got it a few years ago from a barn somewhere. Clean/reset points, carb clean/new needle packing/fuel lines under carb, impeller and thermostat. Runs like new!

Your boat is rated for 85, and is probably heavier than mine. You'll likely plane out, but you won't break any speed records.

Good luck!!

 

[ccvolsdhf]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

Zephyr you guys up there get some super deals on outboards. I'm assuming it's location as it relates to large or numerous bodies of water. I'm in middle TN, and you cant get the cowl for a running motor for 50$ down here. You can get stuff cheaper ,but it's gonna need some work. Or if it runs it's gonna be a minimum of 400$ and that's for single digit HP. 5,6,7 hundred for almost everything else. Here's some pics of the new motor

 

[ccvolsdhf]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

Here's the Invader boat I'm trying to put it on.

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[ccvolsdhf]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

And here's the 40hp Johnson unknown yr that came with the boat. Any help Identifying yr would be great. The clamp plate is gone, and the only number I could see is a serial # on the block. 2169463. with the color change from block to lower unit I'm not sure if this is original block.

 

[ccvolsdhf]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

Few more hopefully to help identify

 

[HighTrim]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

In your second row of pics, page 1 of 5, if you look in the upper left corner of the pic, you can see the t stat housing. Just beneath it, you can see a round welch plug. What is the number on that plug?

50 bucks a cowl! I have stacks of those 40hp cowls from the 60's, Im rich!

 

[ccvolsdhf]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

What's up Trim. I think It's just the serial number 2169463. My 25 evinrude has a serial# and a model # on that little plug,But this motor only has the serial.

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

That's a decent looking motor. I've revived motors that didn't look near that good. I think if you clean it up you'll have a good motor. But yea, pull the bypass covers and take a look at the pistons, before you even waste time pouring anything in the cylinders. On those engines, the bypass covers are on the port side, unlike the other OMC engines

Well, after looking at your second motor again, the powerhead is a 1960 model. 1962 and later did not have the compression release heads. 1961 and newer had the carb with the low speed needle only and no adjustment on the high speed. The first motor looks all original though. It looks a lot like my '64 Johnson.
And who built a red powerhead It must have been repainted at one time. It's a good possibility this motor may have been built from different year parts. The cover looks later though.

 

[HighTrim]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

And who built a red powerhead It must have been repainted at one time. It's a good possibility this motor may have been built from different year parts. The cover looks later though.

Most definately. A little bit of a Franken-Rude as I call em.

 

[ccvolsdhf]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

That's what I was thinking Frankensteiner. It's gonna make It kind hard to get parts huh. Well I guess I'll worry bout that later. Got two other motors to get running before I try, and tackle these two. Got my 25 rude on stand in Kitchen now . Fixing to start on Ignition system.

 

[HighTrim]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

LOL now thats funny. My wife would freak! HMMMMMM, might be interesting for saturday night entertainment, gotta run

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

That's what I was thinking Frankensteiner. It's gonna make It kind hard to get parts huh. Well I guess I'll worry bout that later. Got two other motors to get running before I try, and tackle these two. Got my 25 rude on stand in Kitchen now . Fixing to start on Ignition system.

Well, I would say that anything from 1960 will work on the "franken-rude" The cavitation plate on the lower unit, is of the older style lower unit. One of these days, I want to build a frankenstien swatch 5.5 with different color parts from different years

 

[ccvolsdhf]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

LOL now thats funny. My wife would freak! HMMMMMM, might be interesting for saturday night entertainment, gotta run

LOL gonna give it a try Huh.

Well, I would say that anything from 1960 will work on the "franken-rude" The cavitation plate on the lower unit, is of the older style lower unit. One of these days, I want to build a frankenstien swatch 5.5 with different color parts from different years

Cool that's good to know I was thinking would be awesome to get them both running, and put them both on the boat. I think she might haul a little ***** then. Whats a typical 85 hp motor weigh. These beast gotta weigh 120LBS apiece. Not sure if that would be too much weight or not, but it would look cool

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: 60's model 40hp johnson

Yea, you'll be looking at an easy 260 pounds plus with two 40's.

I'm going to tinker on my '64 Johnson 40 this weekend. It needs new plug wires and the carb cleaned out.