'57-59 Johnson 35

Wondering if anyone knows anything about the wiring for this old Johnson. The engine is electric start, and I've figured out which wires connect to the ignition to work the starter, but when I turn the key back to "off" the engine keeps running. I'm guessing I don't have it wired correctly and the ignition is remaining live even with the key off. <br /><br />I've also figured out which wires operate the choke, but other than that, I'm stumped. Anyone have any ideas or know where I might find a wiring diagram for this thing?<br /><br />Thanks in advance.

Re: '57-59 Johnson 35

There's none online. Obtain an aftermarket repair manual from Iboats, your local library, or get a technically superior OEM repair manual from one of the following places:<br />TheOutboardWizard<br />Mastertech<br />Marine Engine<br />Ken Cook <br />They are worth their weight in gold. <br /><br />To answer your question though, to kill the engine you must connect together the two black wires that originate from up under the flywheel. They should connect to the two 'M' terminals on your keyswitch. If you're engine has no low voltage wires coming from the armature plate below the flywheel, your engine was not equipped with a kill switch. Adding one is relatively simple though.<br />Do not mix your ignition (spark not start) system with your starting system. The ignition works completely independantly of the battery, and if it gets connected in you'll fry an ignition coil. The engine will start and run completely without a battery - it's just there to start the engine and operate the electric choke.<br />Watch those black magneto wires - when the engine is running, there's about a -90v pulse on them that'll get your heart going.<br />One of the magneto wires should connect to the vaccum cutout switch, which is attached by some hose to the intake manifold. It's purpose is to try to stop the engine if it runs away. Runaway, where the engine turns up to incredible RPMS all by itself, can happen when the engine is operated at greater than 1500RPM without a load on it. So do not rev the engine!<br /><br />Good to here it running!<br /><br />PS - Do you have a generator? It looks like the starter but is connected to the flywheel by a belt.

Re: '57-59 Johnson 35

This motor should only be push-button type starter from what I understand.

Re: '57-59 Johnson 35

These engines used the choke to kill them. Like Paul said easy to add in, just make sure you have the correct key switch. If the wires are not there they go 1 wire to each set of points and to the "M" on the key switch. When you turn they key to the off position it shorts the points together and kills the engine!<br />Richard

Re: '57-59 Johnson 35

wow... you guys are great...<br /><br />I'll take a look at it and see what I can figure out. <br /><br />Paul - I'm not looking at it right now, but from what I remember, I saw no device connected by a belt so I'm guessing I do not have a generator. It would be nice though.. How many starts do you think I can get off of a full battery charge? The motor draws no power off of the battery once it's running right, as these engines were designed to run without a battery?<br /><br />tgissel - I have no idea about the push button. The thing is, my dad gave me this boat (14' Elgin) when I was sixteen. I did some work on it then and bought an ignition switch at a local parts store and wired it in (sort of). So, maybe it wasn't supposed to have an ignition switch? I haven't touched the boat in years (I'm 25 now) and I'm finding it quite humorous to go back and look at the sixteen year old version of me's mechanical work.<br /><br />Again, thanks for all the advice guys. I'm sure I'll need more soon. <br /><br />In fact... here's another question:<br /><br />I'm thinking this boat must be at least as old as the motor connected to it. How does fiberglass hold up to age? It feels fairly solid, but I'm worried about it just cracking up and sinking at first contact with someone's wake.

Re: '57-59 Johnson 35

rwise: you posted while I was writing my last post...<br /><br />You know, I remember when I used this boat nine years ago I used the choke to kill it. I thought it was a pretty half-a$$ed way to go about it, but maybe that was the way it was meant to be done?

Re: '57-59 Johnson 35

Hello.<br />the wiring of the '57 did not have an on-off key,but instead the choke doubled as a shut off The '58 and '59 already worked with a shut off key that works as Paul described.<br />The color code is as follows:<br />The black 4 gage cable is ground<br />the red 6 gage cable is power feed to the starter.<br />The black wire goes from the cutout switch to the starter solenoid.<br />The blue wire is the generator "field".<br />The red wire is the choke solenoid hookup.<br />the yellow wire goes to the generator armature.<br />About the fiberglass,I have a '57 35 on a '57 Herter's 16 footer and the fiberglass holds up just fine. they made it quite heavy in those days.<br />The '57 is the RDE19,58=RDE20,59=RDE21.These model numbers can be found on the transom clamp.<br />Hope this helps.

Re: '57-59 Johnson 35

Unless the wood structure underneath the fiberglass is all rooted, the only thing that happens to fiberglass over time is it gets weak and flexy from fatigue. But as compensation, it seems to me the older fiberglass boats were overbuilt anyway.<br />Don't worry about the generator if you havn't got one, it's not really that great a rig and only provides about 10 amps at full throttle.<br />When I was thinking of scrounging one up for my 28hp, I ran the numbers on the electric start and figured I could easily get around 500 starts of a smallished sized battery without recharging. My search ended there. <br />The main consideration with the battery is running lights and mabey a radio. The engine itself draws nothing once it's started and you've got the choke off.<br />Remember, you're just starting a little 35hp there and the starter only draws around 40 amps.

Re: '57-59 Johnson 35

Mine was the choke to kill, but the law here says you MUST have a dead man switch so I added both in! Was not hard to do at all!