Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

[sgtck72]

Hello all! I am a Service Memeber stationed at Fort Campbell, KY and have recently acquired my late grandfather's Johnson Seahorse 10. I am hoping that someone out there can assist me along the way as I attempt to bring this beautiful machine back to running condition. I remember boating as a child with my dad and grandfather, while this machine was powering the boat and hope to share the same experience with my two little ones! I need help though as I am a bit out of my element here. I believe it is a QD-20 if I am reading the deteriorating label properly, and have replaced the coils, points, and cables but still am unable to produce any spark. The repair place I recently took it too said they were unsuccessful as well and could only assume that the flywheel may have lost enough magnetism to possibly be the cause. I have now sunk a bit under $200 into it and really need some guidance before tossing more money at the problem without knowing exactly what I am dealing with... but I do NOT want to give up and I do want to fix it myself if at all possible! I am willing to exchange email addresses, phone numbers, or whatever else with anyone willing to counsel and help me on this project. I remember exactly how this motor sounded and performed 30 yrs ago and really want my 4 and 5 yr old sons to experience it! I am not even sure what year this motor is. Thanks in advance for the help!

SSG Chris Kinkle
101st ABN DIV (AASLT)
Ft Campbell, KY

 

[southkogs]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

Sgt. Kinkle:

I stumbled on your thread because I hope to start working on my Great Grandfathers 7 1/2 seahorse next year and wanted to see what was being said, so I have little to offer on that route.

However, wanted to say "thank you" for your service. The 101st has been busy these last few years and there have been a bunch of rotations out of Ft. Campbell, so I'm sure you've had at least one tour overseas lately. We're proud and grateful to all of you, and we know how difficult the job can be on families.

As for your motor - as a suggestion. Find a cheap OB that runs to get you on the water sooner. That way your kiddos can catch the bug, and maybe even participate in the labor of love on the "oldie." You'll get her running at some point, but it'll be something you want to be relaxing. You can curb the "gotta' get out there" by getting a few hundred dollar unit that puts you on the water. In a year or two, I'll be right along side you in the restore and there's a chance I can give you a bit more than that then.

Keep yer' head down Sarge.

 

[wilde1j]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

Post a model number and we can tell you the year. Shop manual, owner's manual and parts list are available from outboardbooks.com, but you must know the year to order. If it, in fact is a QD-20, this is what you have:
QD-20 10HP 1959

BTW, flywheels don't just lose their magnetism, unless pounded upon or heated a lot.

 

[AlTn]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

google..."Bringing a 1956 Johnson 15 hp. Back To Life"...it's a series of articles by Max Wawrzyniak that'll help you. I read somewhere or other that if the f/w magnet will pull a screwdriver blade to it from a distance of 1" is was good to go.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

HI sgt. welcome to iboats. No worries. We'll get her running again. Lost of folks have these great old 10hp. I have a '61 QD-22. Here are some great links that can walk you through all the steps. Assuming the motor has good compression you can fix all rest pretty easily. You can get virtually all of the parts you may need right here at iboats. It shouldn't even cost you the $200 you've already spent. Read these links and you'll be a pro in no time. Holler when you get stuck and we'll walk you through the tough spots. Keep us posted. We love pics Good luck.

http://www.sschapterpsa.com/ramblings/johnson_QD.htm
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=158086
http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/07/columns/max/index1.htm

 

[194269]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

Fuel ratios are very important on these two engines. The 7.5 hp is an all bushing engine, there for 16:1 is the right ratio, and the 10 has bushing rods and the center main is bushing also. 24:1 is the correct ratio for this engine.

 

[Cap'n Chaos]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

When you replaced the plug wires you did use copper core wire, right?

 

[nwcove]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

when you say you replaced the cables, do you mean plug wires? if so, did you go with metalic core wires? automotive plug wires wont work.

 

[nwcove]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

(sorry for duplicating yer response cap'..you must have been posting while i was typing! lol)

 

[sgtck72]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

Thank you all!!! It put hope in my heart about this project when I seen all the responses! To answer some of you: I did go to a marina shop and got the actual Johnson/Evinrude replacement plug wires that the old fella who owned the shop said were required. He is also the guy we got ALL the parts from and all were Johnson/Evinrude parts. I will post the model and serial numbers hopefully this weekend.

And to southkogs: Thanks for the kind words. I consider what I do an honor and am only carrying on a family tradition of service to my country which started with my g-g-grandfather who was a Union soldier who fought and was wounded at Gettysburg. I greatly appreciated your comments and will keep in touch via this forum as to my progress on the motor!

 

[Cap'n Chaos]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

I'm afraid with my limited experience I'm not the best source of help... but here is some of what I have learned tinkering with my outboards....

Are you sure you put the flywheel key back in (and torqued the nut) when you re-assembled everything?

Did you set the heels of the coils flush with the coil locating bosses? (If they are too far out they will scrape, too far in and you won't get spark.)

Do you have a multimeter with an Ohm setting to check the coils? (It would be unlikely, but not impossible, to have bought two bad coils... you can't always tell if they are good or bad by the way they look.)

Seems I've come up with a question.... will you get spark if the throttle is not advanced to "start" when testing for spark?

 

[sgtck72]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10



Not sure if the attachment of the pics will work or not, but here is what I have learned that corrects what I previously stated:

Model is QD-12
Serial# 911100

Hopefully the pics will attach and open up properly.

 

[sgtck72]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

View attachment 107761View attachment 107762View attachment 107763View attachment 107764View attachment 107765

More pics...

 

[nwcove]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

this may be a dumb question, but with the oldies, when you go to the stop position on the throttle, does it ground out the plugs....killing spark.....or does it just take enough timing out to kill the engine? (maybe sgt has a metal to metal short somewhere, not allowing the coils to fire?)

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

Cool lookin' old motor there Sgt. I believe the QD-21 is a '51 model.

 

[sgtck72]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

I am hoping I am replying to these posts properly. If not, let me try to repost the vital info:

Model is QD-12
Serial# 911100

Please check out the pics too that I posted earlier! I need to know exactly which year it is so I can buy the appropriate manuals and parts. I really think that the lack of spark may be due to the connectors I had to use at the plug end of the cables. I am really not sure if the copper line in the plug wire is really making a connection with the actual clips attaching them onto the plugs. When I bought the cables they just came as raw cables. I had to actualy attach the metal clips into the cables and then feed them into the rubber boot, so it is entirely possible that those metal spikes didn't insert right up against the copper wire inside the insulator... I don't know, just trying to think outloud. Thanks for all the help thus far!

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

Hello again. you may want to try twisting the new spark plug wires on to the coil posts. I'm 99% sure it is a '51 model. Parts may be a little tricky to track down, but ebay and amazon are surprisingly good. I think these links will help confirm the ID and get you some extra info.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1951...-/110708126873?pt=Boat_Parts_Accessories_Gear
http://www.iboats.com/Johnson-10-hp-Outboard-Manuals-1950-1959/dm/view_id.439856
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7S0UZKHVus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ51qag8mqc

 

[wilde1j]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

Qd-12 10hp 1951-52

 

[sgtck72]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

Just to update: I removed the entire ignition plate and removed both coils to have them tested and found one of them had a pinched (green) wire that resulted in the insulation on the wire being penetrated and wires exposed, thereby making contact with the metal of the plate while mounted. I fixed the wire exposure and took my plug wires and coils to a local gentleman here who has had a shop since before I was born! He tested my coils and plug wires and said I had everything right and the likely cause of the "no spark" issue was the grounded coil wire. So, here I sit now, in my garage getting ready to put it all together again. Coils are remounted with NO wires pinched and mounted as per pics I found in this forum showing the proper mounting positions. Points are cleaned and set to .020 and wires properly inserted into coils and secured to bottom of plate. Now, I know this may sound like a stupid question to those of you who are uber experienced, but how do I make sure I have the proper 1:24 fuel mixture in the tank and what fuel/oil do I use? Also, I read that I need to make sure the "points are set on the high side"... I have no idea what that means. What is the "high" side and the "low" side? The point gaps are correct, I just need to make sure they are in the correct position? Is that right? Thanks guys! -Chris

 

[wilde1j]

Re: Grandad's Johnson Seahorse 10

Points are set @ the cam high point (max point opening). That's all that is. A lot of motors have marks or arrows designating the high point, but it's pretty easy to find it anyway.