What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

[gjonz]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

Well I'll post pics as soon as it is finished.

By the way...other than the starter, what else needs replaced to make the electrical system 12 volts.

I've already replaced the starter, and plan to do the coils, condensors and points.

What about the electric choke?

Thanks gang!

Greg

 

[samo_ott]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

Just the starter and the electric choke for 12v. The ignition system does not require any power and is self sufficient.

 

[samo_ott]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

Look here, McCullough Man,
Keep up the remarks about my black beautys
(aka. early-morning-arm-breakers) and I'll let the secret out of what you've been buying!
Every SERIOUS outboard man has to have at least a couple of mercs! You know you're a real man when you can change the water pump out on a Mark 10. (I can't--or at least don't want to that bad...)

Of course I'd keep the 30! I like the looks of the '56 30hp a lot. And if I saw one on a curb I'd probably wreck my truck turning around to get to it first. But I'm a little far form Ohio so it's safe from me gJonz......
good luck with it. I'm anxious to see the completed javelin!
JBJ

Hey, at least I didn't pay for the 2 McCullouch's. Each one was thrown in free when I bought 2 good ole OMC's!.

 

[gjonz]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

Thanks Samo-Ott! I thought that was the case. I imagine anything that would fit the 1957 or later carbs will work for 12 volt. IE: the choke solenoid from my Seahorse 18, etc?

Greg

 

[imp63]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

I'd get rid of it, if you can. I tried to give away my old Javelin, boat, trailer, and all and nobody wanted it. It had all the chrome, covers, electric start and choke, shifter, knobs, etc. Not a part was missing. I couldn't get that thing to run right the whole time I owned it. I even repaired and painted the old fiberglass boat and replaced the wheel. Rebuilt the carb twice thinking I had messed it up the first time. I eventually hauled the whole works to the dump. If you can sell it, take what you can get.

 

[freddyray21]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

you hauled a Javelin to the dump? What a waste.

 

[imp63]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

yeah. It ran on one cylinder all the time, but for the life of me I couldn't get both to go. Spark was good. Carb was rebuilt. Timing was right. I even picked up a good used tank with hoses for it. Sometimes it would fire on both cylinders for a few seconds, but not in any predictable way. The compression was good and even in both cylinders. I worked on it every weekend for two summers and finally came to my senses and hauled it from the boat ramp to the dump after oaring myself in and never looked back. But the motor and boat looked like new. The red paint on the motor was like new and the covers were only a little faded. All the chrome and emblems were perfect too. I tried to give it away, but there wasn't a person around that wanted that kind of trouble and I couldn't even find a shop that would touch it when I got tired of trying to fix it. The real waste was the time and money I put into it.

 

[imp63]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

By the way, 12 volt will work just fine without changing anything. I never had a bit of trouble using it on mine, and believe me, I ran it through the gauntlet. Both the starter and choke worked fine when I hauled her out. Just be mindful that when turning it over for periods of a minute or more with the battery charger hooked up, keep your fingers away from it because it gets smoking hot.

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

Nah....taking an old OMC to the dump is pure abuse....especially if you're addicted to them. My very first motor (1946 Evinrude Zephyr) is still with me, after 16 years (longer than my first wife) and it got me hooked.

I'm restoring a big monster too, gjonz. Below is a pic of it.

1953 Johnson 25

 

[jbjennings]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

Imp63,
Too bad you didn't post your motor on aomci.org----there's a hundred people who would have paid you well for your motor if only to get the chrome off of it. But I know they'd have fixed the whole thing and treasured it. It IS just a motor, but a neat one to look at and i hear they run great. Intermittent spark is a common problem but hey, you could've replaced every part in the ignition system for about 100 bucks and that motor would've been great.
Those ignitions can drive you to drinking, though!
I'm eager to see gjonz' javelin after completion.
Later,
JBJ

 

[gjonz]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

Well the Javelin and it's "ugly twin sister" have been torn down as follows.

Power heads torn down. New bearings, needle bearings, pistons checked and replace as needed, rings replaced, cylinders honed by qualified tech, new gaskets throughout the motor, new head gasket, carbs rebuilt, new ignitions coils, points, plug wires and condensors. The lower unit gets new bushing and seal replacement, new clutch dogs, and hardware as needed. All chrome trim is in the shop being refinished.

For the RD-18, though it will be decorated as original, though I am converting this to electric start, and have obtained other missing parts as follows: New carb coverplate, knobs, intake filter, tiller arm, electric start flywheel, starter and bracket.

Compression checks good on the cylinders, and in fact the one I was going to scrap is in better shape than the Javelin. However the tech who is working on the cylinders has assured me that if we need to bore the cylinders out, the motor will still be a great runner.

The lower unit parts and cowlings are in the paintshop to be blasted, primed, and repainted.

All that said, first thanks to everone for getting me excited about repairing what was expected to be a "parts donor". Your help on this board is invaluable.

Second, what is the deal with the intermittent spark issue? Can it be corrected? How? Or is replacing the coils and other ignition parts the cure?

Thanks again everone. JBJennings: sorry to disappoint you if you stopped by my curb looking for the motor.

Well thats where we're at with the project as of Thanksgiving morning.

Greg

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

Yea, the intermittent spark, sounds like a coil issue to me. A lot of times when they do this, it's because it's arcin' out on the armeture plate. Also, the spark plug lead may not have a good connection, inside the coil. I usually clip off a 1/2" of the wire and re-install it in the coil. The boot end, sometimes fails too and I usually trim of a little there too.

 

[gjonz]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

Thanks Zephyr! I'll watch for these issues when the time comes. I was very careful with the plug wires, and checked with a meter for continuity from the plugs to the points. Seemed okay.

If these motors work at all, I'll be very happy since this is the first time I've ever done this type of thing.

Thanks again!

Greg

 

[jbjennings]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

Dang GJonz,

Sounds like you are SERIOUS about getting these two back like new. I'm impressed you were able to round up the parts you mentioned. They should both be just like new when you finish. I hope you're able to post a video link when you get them done and take the "maiden" voyage. All new wires, condensers, coils, and points should fix any ignition problem you might have and considering you're going to do a true restoration like you've described, I'd go ahead and replace all that. After you finish, those motors will probably last another 50 years.
good luck,
JBJ

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

You're welcome, gjonz. Glad I could help. I believe you'll do fine with this restoration.

I totally agree with jbjennings. A good restoration should give you at least 50years of service, if you replace everything in the ignition system now. Stripping down all the paint and replacing bearings and seals, does wonders too. That's what I'm doing on my 53 25hp now. Good luck and keep us posted.

Leon

 

[gjonz]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

Thanks guys. I really wanted to do the Javelin only, but when I found such great potential in the second/parts motor, I figured two is better than one and really easier since I can just order parts in multiples of 2 for each motor.

Seaway Marine has been wonderfully helpful for parts! They had almost everything I needed. AOMCI has been another huge help. Like this board, so many giving people to help out. Had that not been the case, I wouldn't have dared try this. But with a team of advisors such as this board, how can I screw up?

My guy who is doing the cylinder work says the same thing, that these motors will likely outlast me after this rebuild. They'll go another 50 years in his estimation too.

I just think the older Johnsons are such beautiful motors, I want to do them proud and give them a life again. They seem very commonsense-ical with respect the design and engineering.

I'll have some $hell$ spent on them, but it's still cheaper than a new motor of equivilent hp today. They look much classier on the back of my Thompson cedar strip TVT Lake.

I'll post pics when I'm done.

Greg

 

[imp63]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

I read a thread on here the other day that sounded exactly like the same problem I had. The bottom cylinder wouldn't fire, at least not for more than a couple seconds every hundredth time or so trying to start it. Everything checked out good. The thread I read told of a guy that had a bad seal under the powerhead and it was pulling water up to the motor. He pulled his apart a found water in the cylinder. I didn't get that far with mine, but he had pictures. I tried to find the thread to post it here, but couldn't.

 

[imp63]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

I had once kicked around the idea of putting a lower seal kit in it because the output shaft was leaking, but in the end I tossed the whole works. Out of curiosity, would that have covered all the seals or just the output area? I'm sure the ignition was good, because when I had it running on one cylinder, I could pull the plug wire by hand and it would shock me unmercifully. It just wouldn't fire the cylinder. The boat I had is the one in my avatar, the Javelin is on it.

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

Glad to hear you're working on both motors. You can never have too many OMC's from the 50's, or any other old iron for that matter. Keep your 18 hp, too. The day may come when you want to put twin or triple 18's on your boat...I tried twins and liked them and toyed with the idea of triples for a while.
Imp63...shame on you bro for scrapping a Javelin. Next time, post it on the aomci site or here so one of us old iron junkies can get ahold of it.

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: What to do...What to do? Repair or sell or junk?

Well, hopefully, someone rescued that old boat and Javelin, before it got anywhere near demolition.