Re: Newbie Questions Restoring 1957 Johnson 18hp FDE-11

[Don]

quote FrankR:

Hm-m-m-m-, kind of a judgement call on the pitted crank. I would be more concerned at why is it pitted in the first place? Might be concerned enough to open it up and check the bearing for pitting. That can be fatal.

The baffle plate is supposed to keep water, exhaust, and nasty away from the end of the crankshaft & seal area. Opinions vary as to how effective it is. I’ll let others give theirs.

Frank makes a good point. Rust/pitting in this area is a peculiar situation, and you would want to investigage just why this happened. Did the engine go under water and get left out "to dry up"? Is there a problem in the lower seal area that caused water to be pumped up to this area?
Perhaps a prior owner had water in his fuel, the engine stalled out and was left to sit with water in the crankcase. In any event, the damage is probably not limited to what you can see on the crank, other bearings/surfaces were probably affected. I surely don’t want to scare you into pulling the powerhead apart, but it might be worth just pulling off the intake manifold to have a better peek at the crank/rods/bearings. It sounds like you are putting a lot of effort into a cosmetic restoration as well, just don’t want you to have to pull the thing apart after doing a nice paint job.
A judgement call indeed.