1983 Johnson 40 hp workhorse

[Fishhall]

Just got a 1983 Johnson 40 hp workhorse and was wondering how to add electric start. Looks like I will need some donor parts but off of what motors?

 

[racerone]

Any of the 40 commercial motors of that era.-----Must be the same style motor and not a looper.----Or the 74 through 76 models of the 40 HP motors.------Likely some parts from the 62 to 70 models as well.----Research the part #'s on various resources.----So, is there a separate steel ring bolted onto your flywheel, yes or no ?

 

[hardwater fisherman]

Shop Evinrude shows the 1983 workhorse as only a rope start motor... So probably no ring gear on the flywheel...The starter bracket is fairly common and used on earlier 40hps and even 1960s 28hp and 33hps... The starter and solenoid can be found easily.....The difficult part is finding a flywheel if you dont already have the ring gear on your existing flywheel....Also if you need to add a electric start flywheel they have 2 extra magnets and the driver coil under the flywheel needs to be swapped out.. Because the manual start driver coil looks the same but it does not work with the electric start flywheel... this I know from experience and also it states this in my manual....I did a conversion only because I found a parts motor and if I had to find all the parts I needed new then it is not worth it..... There was other bits I got off the parts motor like a charging coil, rectifier and neutral safety switch...If it was my motor and I know what I know now and not 10 years ago I would would not sink any money into another motor like ...But just try it out first to make sure it is worth it.... It is not that bad of a motor but I found it is the kind of motor that after a day of fishing you need to work on it before you go out again....The ignition system is finicky to say the least....