Anyone tinker on Evinrude/Johnsons?

You are going to end up on American Pickers some day...

Hollywood wrote: You are going to end up on American Pickers some day...

I'd love to see that episode! Maybe we should submit his name and address to them.

American Pickers contact

These old two strokes would probably worth a few bucks in running condition. Seems like the industry is mostly moved to four stroke for motors in this range, which I'm assuming are a good deal heavier.

Looks like the E-Tec is one viable option though.

TRBenj wrote: Anyone tinker on Johnsons?

Maybe you and HW can team up on this one. Double Dutch Rudder??

Im definitely going to test them, Pete... from what Ive read, this era of motor is pretty robust and not many suffer from low compression. I suspect that may be the case on the '86 9.9 that I have though... I ran the snot out of it when I was younger, and now it doesnt start well once its warm.

CQ, are you saying HW should be able to work on my Johnson because he's pretty handy?

Interesting on the difference between the two 15s. I just assumed they were all E-Tecs, but I noticed the Portable Series is not.

I was eying the Evinrude 9.8 because we have a Merc 8 that's a little tired and has a fuel delivery problem. We can't get the bulb to get firm...

Yup, simple to work on for sure- I tuned up the 9.9 a few years ago and got it running ok after sitting for 10 years. These need more part swapping than just a tuneup though. I know I could handle it, but Im no expert on them- so Im sure there are people out there who can do it faster! With 2 houses requiring some major projects this spring and 2 CC's in pieces that need to get reassembled, I just have WAY too much on my plate to get to these anytime soon. And having a reliable little runabout at the dock is pretty much a necessity... so I need some help!

Interesting theory Steve. I have a standing practice to not let my Johnson touch another Johnson on a boat, or any other place.

I,ve got 1962 Johnson Twin 3hp and one for parts. Best thing I did was install a ignition. The the coils were hard and brittle. All the ignition parts were about $110.
WE put in on a old 17 ft canoe with a 2x6 and C claps. Only me and my brother have piloted it. Amazing how unstable a canoe is at 20mph!"It will make your butt grab the seat"   

MAN - GA wrote: Bri892001 wrote: Interesting on the difference between the two 15s. I just assumed they were all E-Tecs, but I noticed the Portable Series is not. I was eying the Evinrude 9.8 because we have a Merc 8 that's a little tired and has a fuel delivery problem. We can't get the bulb to get firm... I just recently went through this with a 40hp Spirit (Suzuki before they actually imported them under the Suzuki name)on my Lund. I went through everything trying one thing at a time and what I finally found was small crack in the fuel line between fuel pump and carb. Fuel delivery on these is pretty frustrating to figure out sometimes b/c I kept wanting to go to the carb so I guess the moral is to check all the simple things first and don't make any assumptions

I was making a slight play on words but I was serious. Literally the squeeze ball on this used to firm up as you primed it and now it does not.

It looks like there is a little crack where the fuel line goes into the tank, and I thought that was the culprit. I haven't really gotten into it yet. But, that doesn't totally make sense since the tank isn't made to hold pressure anyway (we used to have an old Johnson that used a pressurized tank to feed the fuel). I'll check the fuel lines under the motor cover then too.

Bri892001 wrote:    But, that doesn't totally make sense since the tank isn't made to hold pressure anyway (we used to have an old Johnson that used a pressurized tank to feed the fuel). I'll check the fuel lines under the motor cover then too.

I'd guess that there is a check valve in the bulb that won't let the pressurized fuel back to the tank.   if your supply line on the motor side of the bulb has a leak, that would definitely keep the bulb from firming up.   also, if the check valve was weak or non functional, it would have the same effect.