Unknown 55hp Johnson boat restoration

[Julien 4788]

Hi,
I am new to boating just bought a old boat yesterday. Maybe someone can tell me more about it. Hull is in good condition and engine has good compression but missing a starter. We paid 650$ cad with another boat hull and a 20? foot trailer. The guy had it for a long time in his barn and told us it was running but the starter was broken. We intend to restore it and if we don't the trailer could be sold for more than what we paid for the lot. We need to rebuild the interior and already ordered carb kits and fuel pump. We'll order a starter and if it runs good we will replace all seals.


commands are working but wiring is to be redone. Will be a fun project.

Julien

 

[racerone]

That looks to be a 1969 model motor.--Picture of cowling will verify that.-----The 68 models had finer / smaller teeth on the flywheel.------And in the french speaking part of the land.---Take a good look at wires on the motor as they are often corroded , with insulation cracked.------evinrudeparts.ca------Might be able to assist with parts.----Take a good look at the wood ( possibly rotten ) in the transom.----Wood stringers under the floor.----And any foam floatation under the floor may well be water logged.

 

[Julien 4788]

i confirm its a 1969. Good eyes. All of the wood is rotten we will gut it out. Wires too like you said they are falling appart. This boat might have sat for 15-20 years the guy who sold it to us is almost 90 years old

 

[Julien 4788]

we also got a mercury 20hp for free but the foot is broken. If we can't find one we'll sell it for parts

 

[Julien 4788]

wiring is currently getting redone. Soon it will be transom time

 

[buxmj]

That looks like a great project. If you don't already know this about the rot, the more the better. It is so much easier to tear out bad wood than good wood. Good luck and keep the posts coming!
Buck.

 

[Julien 4788]

Wiring is completed. Solenoids work so far but we can't seem to get it to go into neutral or get spark. We are going to try again with a known fully charged battery. Received the starter today and will be installing it.

We are thinking about replacing the amplifier with a coil/condenser system since the wires are so rotten on the amplifier it's probably bad.
We will also order a new fuel pump.

 

[racerone]

Motor is shifted by oil pressure.-----Oil pressure develops when motor is turning.----Remove sparkplugs.----Put control in neutral.-----Turn key to --" ON "----Turn flywheel with 1-5/16" socket.------Motor should shift to neutral in about 1 turn.----( YES one turn )----Put control in reverse.-----Motor should be in reverse in about 2 turns.

 

[Julien 4788]

Thank you, i just added oil so i will be able to test that out with the battery fully charged



If anyone has a link for an msd ignition conversion it would be helpful. As i understand i would need an msd module with a coil ?

 

[Julien 4788]

Used amplifier appeared on eBay so i bought it instead of messing with car coils

 

[Julien 4788]

Found the make and model of the hull. It is a 1971 Vegacraft capri 140.

 

[Julien 4788]

 

[Julien 4788]

Hi,

We finally got spark, we had forgotten a wire from the battery to the amplifier. strong blue spark now. cOil is new
Points were gapped and cleaned.
Now we put gas in the cylinders but the engine won't fire . I think our battery is too weak and we must be losing spark when turning the engine over with compression. i suspect this because we lost spark when the battery got low after trying to fire up the engine. Now at least, we can order seals for the lower.

I also installed guides on the trailer.

 

[Scott Danforth]

you have a full hull restoration ahead of you.

suggest reading the stickies at the top of the forum. specifically this one https://forums.iboats.com/threads/how-tos-and-other-great-information.283508/

and read links 14, 15, 18, 2, 3, 4a, and 4b in that order.

if your floor is shot, your stringers and transom are shot.

 

[Julien 4788]

yes they are indeed shot.
we are removing the engine soon, thanks for the tip i didn't know about those!

 

[racerone]

Don't spend any beer tokens on the lower unit / engine until you have a boat that you can safely use.

 

[Julien 4788]

New video by Julien Morrissette

photos.app.goo.gl

engine first puff after sitting 15 years

compression tested over 125 psi on all cylinder

 

[racerone]

Water pump impeller needs cooling water.-----But you will be installing a new one before launching of this boat I think.

 

[Julien 4788]

Water pump impeller needs cooling water.-----But you will be installing a new one before launching of this boat I think.

yes

 

[Julien 4788]

Update:
We are almost done with our spring rush on the farm. We will start to work on the boat project soon. But... a friend of mine offered me a complete hull to me. Transom is solid, (no flex, no cracks, solid noise When tapping on it with a mallet) floor is great. Paint is fair. Fiberglass underside is good. So it's pretty easy to say we will forget about redoing the transom and go with this new hull. My friend keeps the 60hp engine for his Rosborough Rf-18 wreck hunting boat
It's a 1969 tri-hull supercraft runabout (bowrider).