Parts availability for 50's era evinrude/johnson?

[breeze]

I have 2 motors. First up is a '57(i think) Fastwin 18hp. A friend of mine found it in the trash, it is seized, and looks like it has been for some time from looking in the spark plug hole, a bit of rust. I would like to tear into it over the winter and see what I can do to rebuild it. Are internal components (pistons, rings, gaskets, etc.) available anywhere? I do have the rather large manual for these years that tells me how, and I am very mechanically inclined. I want this to be my "educational project motor" to learn on so maybe in the future I can tear into:

My '55 RDE 17 johnson I currently run now. This motor does start and run, however as I run it the "compression sound" changes pitch every so often and at the higher rpm's I am getting a cylinder knock. If adjusting the mixture doesn't clear the knock up, I'm thinking I may be developing a connecting rod issue.

Any help or links would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Parts availability for 50's era evinrude/johnson?

you need to order parts manuals for both motor. most parts are still available or find-able. http://www.outboardbooks.com/

 

[F_R]

Re: Parts availability for 50's era evinrude/johnson?

The '55 25hps would develop loose wrist pin bushings in the rods. They would also develop total catastrophic bearing failure due to water intrusion.

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: Parts availability for 50's era evinrude/johnson?

Your tear-down plan would be a good learning experience. If you find catastrophic failure inside, it might be cheaper/easier to find and use a replacement powerhead that is known to be sound. They come up occasionally on the schmebay site and the free classifieds at www.aomci.org is another good source. The links page there lists many outfits that specialize in parts for the old iron...still among the best in the world.

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: Parts availability for 50's era evinrude/johnson?

I tore down a 1957 Johnson 35, that had a bunch of needle bearings come loose in the wrist pins. Boy what a lovely mess that was.

Some of the needle bearings went into the cylinders and had the schitt kicked out of them, by the piston crowns. While doing so, they also got caught in the ports and hashed the cylinder walls.

This one sounds like it has a blown head gasket, if there is rust under the spark plug.
I worked on an 18 one time that ran on one cylinder and the other blew water out the spark plug hole. There's a likely chance that this is the case here. If the water isn't immediatly wiped clean, then rust will take hold pretty soon. The previous owners didn't clean the cylinder out, when the problem was discovered.

For this block, you would have to have the cylinders punched, in order to put it back to service. It would be cheaper, just to buy another good, used powerhead.

Leon

 

[breeze]

Re: Parts availability for 50's era evinrude/johnson?

Thank you all for the advice, you gave me a good place to start and what to look for. I checked out the amoci.org site and it looks good, good news is the northeast chapter does a lot in my state . I'll see what the winter brings for "spare time I dont have" and hopefully make some progress, a few more weeks of leaves and yard work, and I should be good to go!