Re: any harm in back flushing ’67 Johnson 100 hp?

[Don]

quote FrankR:

Yeah, the plunger is supposed to be free in the vernatherm. And yeah, they do drink fuel. I sold mine because I couldn’t carry enough gas to go where I wanted to go. 6-8 GPH is the norm. And yeah, I did exactly what you did—removed a Merc with rear steering bar and replaced it with an OMC with front steering. The customer drove it all the way home, then called me to say it was backwards. Holy crap! I told him not to run it and I would come down and fix it. He said, naw he likes it that way. Needless to say I went down and fixed it anyway. Have you discovered that if it is a rack & pinion steering helm you flip the rack from top to bottom (or is it bottom to top?)

I highly respect fleetwin’s opinion, but I think 50:1 is just fine. Think about it, with all the fuel you are dumping through that engine, how could it possibly not get enough oil?

Yeah, Frank is right, was just thinking the extra oil might be a little added insurance to keep this thing humming along.
But, now that we have Frank’s attention, I want to make sure I did not mislead you about getting that gearcase off.
Boatman was going to do a water pump job, but very wisely just pushed the gearcase back up into place when it wouldn’t come down much more than an inch or so.
I explained that the shift harness had to be disconnected, and consulted a service manual that confirmed that the gearcase and extension housing must come down as an assembly. Boatman still couldn’t get the gearcase down even with the extension housing released along with the shift harness, he wisely just reinstalled the gearcase, we both are assuming that the shift harness has swelled/corroded into the exhaust housing where it enters into the lower pan of the engine.
I have always wondered about the access cover on the extension housing: #96:
http://www.marineengine.com/parts/johns … case+Group
What purpose does this access cover serve, did I miss something in the manual, it was kind of vague.
Again, we are both assuming the shift harness has swelled/corroded into the exhaust housing. Boatman decided he would pull the powerhead in the winter to get better access to the shift harness so it could be gently coerced out of the exhaust housing without damaging it.
Frank: please let me/us know if I have missed something when it comes to removing this gearcase.
Thanks
Don