1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

[P 0 P E Y E]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

That frigging engine is older than I am (by Months)

I grew up with that same engine on a copy of a whaler. What joy.

Congrats on the fine specimen of American maritime Heritage.

 

[samo_ott]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

The 18's are great. I rum em all the time

 

[mchin]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

The 18's in my opinion are some of the best motors out there, I find them easy to work on, parts are easy to get and man they haul butt on the water. Nice looking motor and thanks for bringing this one back to life, you're gonna love her.

 

[57chris]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

I'm hoping for 20-25 mph on my vintage 12' Sears Gamefisher. The boat has turned out to be more work than the motor, lol...

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=317761

 

[alangf]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

good, you had me worried there for a minute...I do need that plastic float, i'm looking for one right now...i'll check that site you listed thanks. I don't have a compression gauge, so don't have those numbers yet. It feels strong compression wise tho, very hard to turn over by hand with plugs in, nice and easy with them out. I am trying to test run this thing by gravity feed now as I don't have a pressure tank and am waiting on my backordered fuel pump for the late model tank conversion...so it is possible that gravity feed is not enough right? I have a tank elevated a couple feet higher than the motor. I used to run Volkswagen motors like this with no fuel pump, so I thought it would be fine...This is probably what's holding me up.

Instead of trying to gravity feed try being the fuel pump! All you have to do is squeeze the primer bulb. "Sneezing" is caused by too lean a mixture so attempting to gravity could be the problem. Best of luck with your fine old engine!

Edited to correct spelling

 

[coolguy147]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

I'm hoping for 20-25 mph on my vintage 12' Sears Gamefisher. The boat has turned out to be more work than the motor, lol...

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=317761

u can probably expect more formt hat motor. maybe about 30mph

 

[jbjennings]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

I'm hoping for 20-25 mph on my vintage 12' Sears Gamefisher. The boat has turned out to be more work than the motor, lol...

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=317761

Chris, you'd better HANG ON when you open up that 18 on a 12 foot lightweight boat. I'd put a little weight up front, too. I'd expect over 25mph on it as well. I figure about 26-28mph, and it will be really squirrely, particularly in a slight wind (weight up front will help with this) Be careful.
Later,
JBJ

 

[57chris]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

I've gotten just about everything done, put the seal kit and water pump kit in the lower unit today...everything looked beautiful inside when i opened the housing, sure doesn't look like I thought a 50 year old marine gear box would. I cleaned the inside of the housings, replaced all seals, and cleaned and oiled the gears before putting it all back together. Happy to say everything works, better than expected to be honest...shifts into forward, neutral, and reverse, idles perfectly and revs way quicker and higher than expected. I've even got my new solenoid and key switch temporarily fixed in a plastic box, one bump of a key and she's purring. Plus my '57 is fueled by a brand new plastic 6 gallon tank, never have to worry about rust again. So tomorrow's the day, the little Gamefisher is sitting out on the dock tonight, splashed it for the first time today and it floats. I just have to see how it sits with the motor on it, so i'll take pics cruising around the Arroyo Colorado.

Pics of the gearbox opened up - before cleaning

 

[57chris]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

My 12' Gamefisher is rated for a 14 according to the plate on the transom, so 18 should only be a little too fast, just how i like it And yes, i'm going to wear a life vest when I drive or ride in it. So here's the good stuff...FDE-11 coming to life with the bump of the starter, and showing off some thrust.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWVKaz-WXSM

 

[samo_ott]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

Good looking LU.

Gotta love getting an engine up and running huh

 

[57chris]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

I am having a problem with the 90 degree tiller gear staying meshed, at full throttle it will slip apart and I'm stuck idling. I have taken it apart and shimmed the bottom gear up in an attempt to tighten the mesh, but it is still jumping off...rather easily I might add. Has anyone else with this or simlilar motors had the same problem? I suppose i'm going to be shopping for either new gears or a remote throttle. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[Sea18Horse]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

That's really kind of surprising to me. They updated the gears in mid year 56 to address just this issue. Do you have the later cast gears with the round teeth? Or the early stamped gears with square teeth? If you have the correct cast teeth then yeah you've got some extra wear somewhere. A bushing missing or worn out, excessive wear in the tiller pivot or something. Good luck!

Cheers...........Todd

 

[57chris]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

Todd, it does seem like I have excessive play in the arm that goes up into the motor, right where it goes through the bottom pan...anyway...the teeth on the gears look good, no chips, not much wear. I tried to shim the horizontal gear back toward the vertical gear, but there wasn't enough room. The two gears are locked together tight right now, and appear to not be able to come apart during my non-running test. But I've done this before, and time and again it fails on the water. I'll have to do some more research on what bushings are in there.

 

[Sea18Horse]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

Oh I see. You're talking about the vertical gear and the pinion on the end of the short tiller shaft. I thought you meant the gears in the tiller itself.

Is the washer/spacer there between the horizontal gear and the tiller bracket? That sometimes falls out and people don't realize it. Without it, there is too much space and the gears will slip. There is a nylon bushing under the vertical gear. There shouldn't be a whole lot of play in that. You might want to think about getting a new pin that goes between the vertical shaft and the slot in the vertical gear while you're in there. They're plastic and tend to break.

Cheers............Todd

 

[57chris]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

That's it! The plastic pin that goes into the gear is broken on one side...I remember breaking it and putting it back together thinking I would fix that later...of course I forgot. That's got to be what's holding me up, thanks Todd!

 

[samo_ott]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

The early ones were plastic... the later ones were metal... the plastic broke a lot...

 

[pillazilla]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

i have a 57 rude big twin? possible for me to somehow rig a fuel pump onto it? that pressure tank seems like a ticking time bomb to me makes me nervous

 

[57chris]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

i have a 57 rude big twin? possible for me to somehow rig a fuel pump onto it? that pressure tank seems like a ticking time bomb to me makes me nervous

I've never looked back on my fuel pump conversion, no problems whatsoever. I tapped into the bypass cover on my 18hp and threaded in barbed fitting, hooked that to a vacum pulse fuel pump ( i used a briggs lawnmower unit of comparable horsepower ), the only other thing i needed to do was block off the factory air hose that runs back to the tank. I'm not familiar with the big twin, but if you have bypass covers on the side of your cylinders you should be able to drill and tap them for this conversion.

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

Chris, call Engine, Blade & Prop in Milwaukee...they have the bushing that keeps the throttle gears synched.
Pillazilla...please start your own thread rather hijacking someone else's.

 

[Les Robb]

Re: 1957 Johnson 18 FDE-11

I remember as a kid we had a 50gal drum my dad used to run all our small motors in and we could go in in gear at a pretty good clip without splashint all the water out. To get to the point, if you keep using the same water your going to ruin your new impeller with the oily water you pump through it. They'll turn soft unless they have changed the compounds over the years.