1956 Johnson 5.5 Resoration Project

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tmarston2010

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I picked up this 1956 Johnson 5.5HP Sea horse motor. The model is a CD-13A. This is my first motor restoration. I currently have a 12 V-hull that I put mahogany seats in and I also made the transom with mahogany as well. I ran it with a sears gamefisher 3 HP but its just not enough, especially in a river. IMG_2031.jpgIMG_2032.jpgIMG_2035.jpgIMG_2036.jpgIMG_2037.jpg

I got the motor off of Craigslist for $125 the owner said it hadn't run in 10 years. It seemed to have compression when I pulled the string. The major flaw is that the lower end had a small hole in it. I had to take the majority of the motor apart to give the lower unit to my welder to fix the hole. That has been finished and I have been slowly picking up part to put everything back together. I have a new water impeller, power head gasket, and the lower end seal kit is showing up tomorrow. Once the lower end is back together and installed I plan on spraying the whole lower half and the repainting the cowling too. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that she'll turn over when it is all said and done. If nothing else I am certainly having a lot of fun working on it.
 
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bbstacker1

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Re: 1956 Johnson 5.5 Resoration Project

Great old motors they are, keep the pic's coming as you progress.
 
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ljrichey

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Re: 1956 Johnson 5.5 Resoration Project

there's just somethin about that "old school" fishin or boatin that you just cant beat---good luck on the jonnie--
 
kfa4303

kfa4303

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Re: 1956 Johnson 5.5 Resoration Project

sweet little motor. the duckworks article is great and you can get factory authentic paint and decals from nymarine.com. They're a little pricey, but they look great. Keep us posted on the progress.
 
nwcove

nwcove

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Re: 1956 Johnson 5.5 Resoration Project

nice find!! my avitar is the cowl off my 56 5.5, i just love those motors.
 
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tmarston2010

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Re: 1956 Johnson 5.5 Resoration Project

Thanks for that link. Sure enough I pulled off the flywheel today and there were two cracked coils. What a bummer but at least I found them now. Ordered them up along with the condensers and points. This gives me time to prep the cowling and and lower half for paint. After I found the coils today I decided to build a motor stand for it so I have a place to store the motor and have a nice stand to paint it on. At least it was not a wasted day.
 
kfa4303

kfa4303

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Re: 1956 Johnson 5.5 Resoration Project

Sounds like you have some projects to keep you busy until the parts arrive. A stand is one of the best tools you can have. It makes everything so much easier. You're gonna have a sweet little motor in no time, with plenty of season left to use it too.
 
1946Zephyr

1946Zephyr

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Re: 1956 Johnson 5.5 Resoration Project

Be careful about welding holes shut. These motors have drain holes there that serve a purpose.
 
HighTrim

HighTrim

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Re: 1956 Johnson 5.5 Resoration Project

1946Zephyr said:
Be careful about welding holes shut. These motors have drain holes there that serve a purpose.
Click to expand...

Yeah I just did a motor the other day where the gearcase drain hole was clogged solid. Thought it was the usual mud daubber nest, so got out my extra long drill bit to bore it out, but found it to be JB Weld. Why in the world would anyone NOT want their gearcase to drain? Strange
 
1946Zephyr

1946Zephyr

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Re: 1956 Johnson 5.5 Resoration Project

Yea, unfortunately these have been known to plug up and then they get packed full of corrosion. Very common on the 35 and 40's They made the drain holes too small and they plug up too easy. They went to larger holes on the newer motors, to prevent plugging up.
 
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tmarston2010

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Re: 1956 Johnson 5.5 Resoration Project

I had a 1 inch stress crack along the leading edge on the bottom most part of the gear case and one small round crack that looked like it was made from the inside out. When I took the gear case apart I found nothing that could have caused the round crack, it was pretty rusty, not sure how long its been since is held oil. I am about to put back together the gear case and and linkages and attach them to back to the exhaust housing and prep the lower end for paint. Also I received the coils and tune up kit, started replacing the coil when I saw I couldn't reuse the spark plug wires. Three calls to different marine specialty stores I found a guy that will make up that cables with connector for 6 bucks each and all I need to do is cut them to length. Lastly this past saturday I spent some time to make the motor stand the only thing I need to add to it is some casters. I will post all my pics tomorrow.
 
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Beek14

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Re: 1956 Johnson 5.5 Resoration Project

If I'm not mistaken, I believe the spot that was welded was where the drain hole was located...
 
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tmarston2010

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Re: 1956 Johnson 5.5 Resoration Project

Beek14 said:
If I'm not mistaken, I believe the spot that was welded was where the drain hole was located...
Click to expand...

Drain plug is still intact. The hole was similar to using a punch from the inside of the gearcase and you hit the punch so hard that it stressed the gear case enough to make a dent the size of a pea and one side of the circular dent was cracked all the way through. The propeller shaft looked like it hadn't seen oil in years there was so much rust in it.
 
chum1

chum1

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Re: 1956 Johnson 5.5 Resoration Project

Make sure you test points with wires unhooked with ohmeter, and check for continuity between end of spark plug lead to green wire on coil before putting it all back together it should read 1.4 ohms i believe. Just put in all new electrics on a 56 sportwin 10 horse and spent way to much time chasing down " NO SPARK!!":mad:

One of the local boat maint. guys let me borrow his factory coil ring tool and timing tool similar to these:

ring tool: http://mysite.verizon.net/respdyk0/id3.html

Timing tool: http://mysite.verizon.net/respdyk0/id1.html

setting points to .020 will work also but this way is more accurate
 
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Rudemen

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Re: 1956 Johnson 5.5 Resoration Project

chum1 said:
Make sure you test points with wires unhooked with ohmeter, and check for continuity between end of spark plug lead to green wire on coil before putting it all back together it should read 1.4 ohms i believe. Just put in all new electrics on a 56 sportwin 10 horse and spent way to much time chasing down " NO SPARK!!":mad:

One of the local boat maint. guys let me borrow his factory coil ring tool and timing tool similar to these:

ring tool: http://mysite.verizon.net/respdyk0/id3.html

Timing tool: http://mysite.verizon.net/respdyk0/id1.html

setting points to .020 will work also but this way is more accurate
Click to expand...

Ohming the coil out is the best way to check them. On the Primary winding in the coil, this is the two little wires should read .7 ohms or close to it, this winding is almost always good. The secondary winding is the one that always goes out, check it with a test lead on the little pin inside where the plug wire is inserted into the coil and the other test lead to any of the two little wires, I always check it to each and this reading should be between 3.5k up to 6.5k ohms and not much higher.

I agree with Chum1, it's best to set timing with the points instead of setting points to .020 where as with a new set of points (Aftermarket maybe) could have your timing way off and these motors don't run well out of time and maybe not run at all.
 
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tmarston2010

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Re: 1956 Johnson 5.5 Resoration Project

Thanks very much for all the info I will definitely do that. I just finished installing new plug wires, coils, points an condensers. After all that work I will make sure to do the timing. Brand new ignition system is only as good as the setup.
 
JohnRudeMan

JohnRudeMan

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Re: 1956 Johnson 5.5 Resoration Project

Nice find! I like them with their original paintjob, so I wouldn't repaint it... but it's your choice:).
 
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