92 Johnson 6 hp -- Tips?

[CATransplant]

In the middle of the winter, my dad shipped me this outboard, since he's given up boating at age 83. He installed a new impeller before sending it on.

So, it finally warmed up enough up here in the great white north and I put the barrel under it. Three pulls and it fired up. Runs great, pumps water great, shifts great, idles great.

I'm more used to the outboards from the 50s and 60s, so this is a brand new one for me.

Anyone have any tips for keeping this little sweetie running perfectly? 50:1, I know, and it's got the right plugs. Any weak areas I need to watch out for on this one?

 

[iwombat]

Re: 92 Johnson 6 hp -- Tips?

That's a great little outboard. Put seafoam in your gas, and it'll be unstoppable for years to come. You can still sometimes find a set of muffs for that one on ebay, but they're getting hard to come by.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: 92 Johnson 6 hp -- Tips?

Great! I run a bit of Seafoam in all my 2-stroke outboards all the time. It seems to keep 'em clean and running well. As far as the muffs go, it's not a problem, I have a barrel that fits under the motor while it's on the boat and on the trailer. Just takes a few minutes to fill, and it has a drain.

After fishing with crappy off-brand air-cooled outboards, I think I'll enjoy having this on my 12' aluminum boat. It won't shake the boat to pieces.

 

[iwombat]

Re: 92 Johnson 6 hp -- Tips?

I've got an '86 8hp that I use for a kicker on my 18' "lumey". Great little motor. I've retrofit the OMC charge kit and remote kit on it. After a few hours on the kicker rthe electric downriggers can take their toll, so I put the charge kit on and no more problems. I run an older simplex control so I can just pop in and out of gear w/o changing the throttle position that caught the last fish. Only problem I ever had with it was a powerpack, that was easy enough to diagnose and fix.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: 92 Johnson 6 hp -- Tips?

Sounds good. But I see where we're getting off a little. The control setup for my 92 is different from yours. The tiller handle comes out from the front of the lower cowling, and the shifter is on the front, too, right next to it. It works great if you're in the back of the boat, but...the normal remote stuff doesn't work on it.

They made the design change in 91 or 92, and it's been that way since. Here's a photo:

 

[iwombat]

Re: 92 Johnson 6 hp -- Tips?

Ah, I see. I had assumed it was the same as the '90. Silly me.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: 92 Johnson 6 hp -- Tips?

Well, the ice is finally off the local lakes, so I took my 6hp Johnson out for a sea trial. The boat is a 12' aluminum Sea King. A friend went along, with his GPS, so we could check speed. Started on the first pull, cold.

15 mph, on plane! I'm blown away. And that's with a trolling motor, a battery, and the usual fishing junk. Best of all, it did it with me in the back seat. I had moved the trolling motor battery up under the very front seat, and the gas tank just forward of the middle seat. Both are mounted securely and #10 wire from the battery goes to a trolling motor plug at the rear.

Now...I just have to wait for the May 10th fishing opener.

The thing also slows down to just a tickover, slower than I usually troll.

I'm a happy guy. I'm thinking the Johnson 6 is a nice outboard.

 

[iwombat]

Re: 92 Johnson 6 hp -- Tips?

toldja!

Nice motors those. And yeah, if they trolled down any slower it'd be reverse.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: 92 Johnson 6 hp -- Tips?

toldja!

Nice motors those. And yeah, if they trolled down any slower it'd be reverse.

You did, and you were right! I'm looking forward to many fine fishing trips with it.