WAY O.T. An OLD Johnson Sea Horse

[Woodbender]

And still in great shape.   8) It's a 1952 5hp Johnson and came with the ORIGINAL owners manual. On the back of the manual's cover is hand written "one pint to 4 gal." The obvious assumption is that it was an oil to gas ratio.

But here's my question;  In motors of that vintage did they have formulated at that time 2-cycle oil??  If I am using 2-cycle (or even if not) it seems awfully rich on the oil side.

Came from my mom's Dad.  We took the lower end unit all apart and found a wad of fishing line that was seizing it up when put in gear. Other than that I think we're good to go.

[Fla._Deadheader]

Definitely had 2 cycle oil. I had a 1948 16 horse, that never had a water pump. Had to keep it moving at a decent clip to keep from getting hot.

  Them old engines ran swell, on Ethly. Crown gas was the only "other" white gas, besides Amoco.

[Dave Shepard]

I have seen mix ratios on older equipment of up to 1:16. One pint to four gallons is 1:32, which I think is quite common. I don't know the history of mix oils, but I have seen containers that were much older than the 50's. Todays mix oils are better, and formulated to produce less smoke, which may have something to do with a leaner mix.


Dave

[Ianab]

The mix (32:1) sounds about right for that vintage motor.

The old style 2 stoke oil was nothing very flash, just 30 weight oil I think. The old motors had pretty loose tolerences and weren't fussy about oil quality. They smoked a bit, but they kept going  ;)

Just mix new OUTBOARD oil as per the old instructions. Outboard oil is formulated to still burn at the lower temps that the water cooled engine runs at. It will smoke less, protect the engine better, and it will still just keep going  :D

Cheers

Ian

[Tim L]

Also, if you still have a cork float get a neoprene replacement to deal with modern gas .

[scgargoyle]

I've got 2 little Johnsons from 1935-36. They specified 16:1 back then. I've heard some motors even used 12:1- talk about smoking things up! My '55 Johnson is one quart to 6 gallons, or 24:1. It's a 5-1/2 hp.

[sawguy21]

Back in the days of those motors, all we had was non detergent motor oil. No 2 stroke stuff. My buddy has a 1957 Johnson that at 20:1, has white goop leaking out of the exhaust. This is unburned oil mixed with water but he is reluctant to go leaner. I would not go less than 24:1 on those old timers because of the crank bushings even with modern oil. FWIW, I have had no problems with an early 60's 25hp Gale at 50:1.

[Woodbender]

Awesome - thanks guys!