Reply To: 1956 Johnson RDE-18E

[Don]

Harmattan: I hate to judge a book by its cover, but I agree with Frank. How much did you pay for this engine? The price needs to be low enough so you won’t mind writing this project off if it needs too much work. And, like Frank says, you will need to find the proper starter bracket, because the engine cover will rattle without the cover mount that is supposed to be on the correct starter bracket. Like Lindy and Buccaneer said, check compression and crack open the lower gearcase fluid fill plug, do not remove the phillips head screw in that are or the internal shift linkage components will fall out of place. Milky or raw water in the gear lube spells trouble.
I am trying not to judge this ugly duckling unfairly, it could be in good mechanical condition. Generally speaking, an old engine like this will require the following to be a “reliable daily runner”:
Ignition overhaul (you will need the special OMC puller and a ring gear holder to remove and reinstall the flywheel)
Fuel system overhaul including carb cleaning/rebuild/new fuel lines….Do you have the two line fuel/pressure tank for this engine? If so, is it clean inside? The tank is worthless if rusted or fouled from old fuel inside
New waterpump The seller already admitted the engine doesn’t pump water, there could be many causes for this. Some simple, perhaps he just didn’t have the water level high enough over the gearcase. Perhaps the impeller is work/broken. Or, perhaps there is some other cooling system issue. Again, the gearcase will have to be torn down if watery or milky gear lube is present. Resealing one of these gearcases is not as easy as many would proclaim. Yes, most could probably get it apart, attempt to reseal, and reassemble…. But, few can do it properly. You will need to pressure test the gearcase to pinpoint any leakage areas and check to see it is properly resealed after replacing seals/orings, etc.
So, only you can decide if you are up to all these tasks. It sounds as if you haven’t had much experience working on OMC outboards. Reviewing the proper OMC service manual first is always a great place to start. There are some videos out there, but most are posted by self proclaimed experts that have little OMC experience and have no business advising others. There are a few videos posted by members here that are more reliable though.
Let us know what you decide to do….D
Tried to copy and paste, says I already posted this…