Last weekend I purchased a 1956 Johnson 15hp electric start outboard. It has not been run for 20-ish years according to the previous owner. He said that he got it from an old neighbor and hadn't ever run it. It was in his workshop and looks to have been kept inside all this time. No electric switches came along with it.
First thing is to compression test it and check for abuse to flywheel, as advised on several other threads. It does thunk-thunk when the start lanyard is pulled, so I'm hopeful that it has good compression. I do wonder about it having no oil for so long, and air bypassing the rings. And conversely I'm concerned about spraying oil into it and skewing the results by having too good of a coating of oil. Also, an auto mechanic mentioned today that the rings could be stuck to the pistons and so not expand and conform to the cylinder as the pistons travel up and down. Any thoughts out there on the best procedure for checking the compression? I was planning on doing the compression test "dry" first.
Another concern is that the prop can be wiggled a bit, maybe 1/8" or so - it feels a little loose. Should the prop be essentially tight on its drive shaft? What needs to be done if it is unacceptably loose? I didn't find a satisfying answer in old threads on the subject.
Given that the compression is good and that the prop is OK or can be fixed, the work schedule would be:
* Replace points, condensers, sparkplugs and wires, and probably coils.
* Add Fuel pump - the way described on this site
* Fill lower gears with white-grease per advice from duckworks site.
* Make a diy12v circuit for starter only (electric starter assembly is intact and mounted on engine). Schematics to do this are available. Don't need the electric choke feature.
Also, thanks to dh4winn79 for his outboard motor stand plans.
First thing is to compression test it and check for abuse to flywheel, as advised on several other threads. It does thunk-thunk when the start lanyard is pulled, so I'm hopeful that it has good compression. I do wonder about it having no oil for so long, and air bypassing the rings. And conversely I'm concerned about spraying oil into it and skewing the results by having too good of a coating of oil. Also, an auto mechanic mentioned today that the rings could be stuck to the pistons and so not expand and conform to the cylinder as the pistons travel up and down. Any thoughts out there on the best procedure for checking the compression? I was planning on doing the compression test "dry" first.
Another concern is that the prop can be wiggled a bit, maybe 1/8" or so - it feels a little loose. Should the prop be essentially tight on its drive shaft? What needs to be done if it is unacceptably loose? I didn't find a satisfying answer in old threads on the subject.
Given that the compression is good and that the prop is OK or can be fixed, the work schedule would be:
* Replace points, condensers, sparkplugs and wires, and probably coils.
* Add Fuel pump - the way described on this site
* Fill lower gears with white-grease per advice from duckworks site.
* Make a diy12v circuit for starter only (electric starter assembly is intact and mounted on engine). Schematics to do this are available. Don't need the electric choke feature.
Also, thanks to dh4winn79 for his outboard motor stand plans.