Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

[sutor623]

Hey guys I found a 1970 Johnson converted to Longshaft 4R70E for sale and the guy wants $100 for it. It will not start, but the ignition and carb parts are readily available, and not very expensive. Compression is supposedly good, but I will check it anyway. Do you fellas think that this motor is a good choice? Is it a bit quieter than the 1 cylinder motors, being a 2 cylinder. Thanks for any feedback or experiences!!

 

[F_R]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

In good condition, they are very good motors. It is one of the quietest motors of the size. You do realize that it is hand start, right? BTW, there is no one cylinder 40hp motor that I know of.

 

[sutor623]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

In good condition, they are very good motors. It is one of the quietest motors of the size. You do realize that it is hand start, right? BTW, there is no one cylinder 40hp motor that I know of.

Sorry bud, did you mean 4hp? The 4R70E is a 4hp.

 

[kbait]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

Lightweight, great runners. W/the rather rare longshaft kit. Well worth the $$ if compression is good. If you need a little longshaft, GRAB IT!

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

Actually Champion built the Blue Ribbon 4.2hp in the late 40's

Yes, I happen to own a 4hp Lightwin, which is identical to your Johnson there, mechanically. Great motors and very reliable. Smothe runners too. Post back what your compression readings are. It's best to get some fresh fuel mix in the internals, in order to get an accurate reading. $100 is a good buy.

 

[JB]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

A "C" note? You betcha!! Best li'l outboard ever made.

 

[F_R]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

Sorry bud, did you mean 4hp? The 4R70E is a 4hp.

Oops, sorry I didn't catch that. I was thinking 40R70, thus my reply. But the 4 is a good motor too.

 

[nwcove]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

for $100, if it has good compression, go for it! expect to put another $100 into it, but you will have a fine little motor for a reasonable cost.

 

[sutor623]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

Thanks for all the great input guys. Went to look at the motor. It is in fact a longshaft, all linkages etc. are there, lower unit is in good shape, but sadly, the compression readings are as follows. 0PSI for the top cylinder. 60PSI for the lower. Someone had replaced one of the main motor gaskets with silicone, and it is a salt water motor, so the power head will need to be generously soaked in deep creep to make sure I dont break any bolts. I am going to take a deeper look when I get a chance. Either way, I got the motor for $25. The guy didn't really seem to attached to it, and I figured worst case scenario that one of my bud's on here would need some cheap parts, so if internals are not salvageable I will be generously parting the motor out. L/U is in pretty good shape, prop is near flawless, cover is a little faded, but no breaks or punctures, carb looks immaculate, rope start is in great shape, and flywheel looks great. If internals look okay I may do a full rebuild, we'll see!

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

sounds like a bad head gasket. That's a cheap fix. $25 is a hell of a better deal yet, so you definately didn't get hurt. Get 'er tuned up and fixed and you'll have a good motor.

 

[sutor623]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

sounds like a bad head gasket. That's a cheap fix. $25 is a hell of a better deal yet, so you definately didn't get hurt. Get 'er tuned up and fixed and you'll have a good motor.

Ima try my man. And yeah I couldnt pass it up for $25, seeing as what the madmen on ebay charge for parts for this thing. I hope it is a headgasket. I pulled the powerhead and there are no blockages in the water pathway when I blew air through it. I halfway expected it to be clogged up which led to the 'bad' cylinder. But we will see. I always ALWAYS pull the powerheads out when taking out the headgasket in a saltwater motor, so that I can get the air compressor gun to the bolts rather than snapping the heads clean off with my wrench.:facepalm: Believe me, been there.

 

[sutor623]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

I want to upload some pics so you guys can see why I have 0PSI in the top cylinder. Wait til you see it.....

Notice anything strange......

 

[sutor623]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

Sooooo, I about laughed my tail off when I saw this. Thank goodness that I only spent $25 on this joker. And the crazy thing is that by looking at the plugs I could tell that one was firing and the other wasnt. This genius blew a rod and instead of replacing it, ran the motor on one cylinder, literally. here are some more pics of my new "parts" motor.

In this photo you can see where the rod had shot down into the crankcase.

Buttttttt oddly enough, the cylinders look really good. A simple honing and it will be good to go......

 

[sutor623]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

Okay, okay, so here is the reason that I am not too heartbroken over the situation. You guys know how you kept saying that the longshaft of this motor in good condition is few and far between? Check this out, THE very NEXT day, I saw an ad on CL, in MY city, for an Evinrude motor. It was a 1969 Evinrude 4hp Yachtwin longshaft with a 3 gallon gas tank, for $100. AND, he came into town to meet me halfway. I checked the compression and it was 75PSI in both cylinders, so I gave him the $100 without trying to haggle at all.

Seriously, what are the odds? Anyways I ended up with a sweet running Evinrude, 3 gallon gas tank with newish fuel hose, and an entire parts motor (minus one piston ) for $125. Man, sometimes things just work out....

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

Well, the rod most likely went ka-chunk, because the oiling instructions call for 50:1 on those motors. Which is bogus, since there aren't any needle bearings at all, except for the top crank journal. Run this one at 24:1 and it won't meet the same fate as the first. I had to laugh when I saw these pics too. I never seen anyone try to run a two cylinder motor with one piston before. LMAO!!
I would post a pic of mine, but it seems that iboats icons and stuff are haywire right now. The motor I have met the same fate, before I got ahold of it. I ended up puting about $350 into it, to make it good again. The guy hasn't paid me for doing the work and that was about 3 years ago, so I pretty much adopted it. LOL

 

[sutor623]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

Well, the rod most likely went ka-chunk, because the oiling instructions call for 50:1 on those motors. Which is bogus, since there aren't any needle bearings at all, except for the top crank journal. Run this one at 24:1 and it won't meet the same fate as the first. I had to laugh when I saw these pics too. I never seen anyone try to run a two cylinder motor with one piston before. LMAO!!
I would post a pic of mine, but it seems that iboats icons and stuff are haywire right now. The motor I have met the same fate, before I got ahold of it. I ended up puting about $350 into it, to make it good again. The guy hasn't paid me for doing the work and that was about 3 years ago, so I pretty much adopted it. LOL

?
I know right! What a doofus. I mean, he had to pull the motor apart to get the busted piston out, he should have just put another in. These people are the reason that we have to do compression and leak-down tests before buying motors. After $350 going into one of these little guys, you should have a pretty reliable motor ay? I thought it was a little odd that there were no bearings in this little guy, but I guess that is why you should run 24:1? I only plan on running this guy at low RPMs anyway though. Just want a little troller, unless my Merc 650 fails on me again. Man those non-thermostat having motors SUCK in the cold. Just cant keep em at idling temp.....

 

[Rick.]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

What goes around comes around. So glad to hear your happy ending. You're going to love your Evinrude. I have a newer 71 Evinrude and I use it as a trolling kicker and it's just great. More reliable than my 40HP in fact. Best of luck. Rick.

 

[sutor623]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

What goes around comes around. So glad to hear your happy ending. You're going to love your Evinrude. I have a newer 71 Evinrude and I use it as a trolling kicker and it's just great. More reliable than my 40HP in fact. Best of luck. Rick.

Thanks Rick! I am silked that this little guy is a 2 cylinder. I have a 1 cylinder 7.5hp and that thing vibrates like there is a new king in town!

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

Thanks Rick! I am silked that this little guy is a 2 cylinder. I have a 1 cylinder 7.5hp and that thing vibrates like there is a new king in town!

Ahhhhh, you must have a Ted Williams (Eska)

 

[Mas]

Re: Should I buy the Johnson 4R70E opinions??

Thanks Rick! I am silked that this little guy is a 2 cylinder. I have a 1 cylinder 7.5hp and that thing vibrates like there is a new king in town!

Imagine how much the first motor vibrated with one piston missing...the crank would have been way out of balance!

I've got a new single cylinder Yamaha 4 hp four stroke for clean trolling and it's a "thumper" ...I wish I would have gotten the bigger twin to smooth out the ride!

Mas

Mas