Memory fading or becoming senile

[bailey]

Back in the early 50's I met a fellow who had a 10hp. johnson on a small (homemade) plywood runabout type boat.The motor was "silver" in colour,the throttle "lever" was at the front of the motor and you simply moved it from the left to right to increase your speed, the age of this motor had to be before the "tiller" type throttle.The strange thing about this engine was that if you didn't keep the tiller pushed down (the tiller was spring loaded as I remember) the engine seemed to drop a cylinder,but would not shut itself off, just slow down.My question is did "johnson" make such an engine,or did this boys father rig this type of throttle safety mechanism up? Various old "OMC " web sites don"t even show any "silver" coloured 10hp.,they all seem to be "green" like Sam Otts Avatar.

 

[F_R]

Re: Memory fading or becoming senile

The early QD 10hp models had such a throttle. Raising the tiller handle closes the carburetor butterfly, leaving the spark at full advance. That slows it down but it runs rough because of the spark advance. To get a smooth idle, you also have to retard the spark (the left-to-right lever on the front).

Other motors had their version of the same thing also.

 

[wbeaton]

Re: Memory fading or becoming senile

The Johnson outboards you are thinking of were made from 1949-1952. Neat motors (I have a couple), but the tiller grip throttle is so much better and safer.