1959 Johnson 35hp Super Seahorse carb/fuel problems

[MichaelHorowitz]

Re: 1959 Johnson 35hp Super Seahorse carb/fuel problems

Put carb back together, put on boat, choked, primer pumper (this time no fuel out of butterfly so needle seats), no sound of spark. Maybe ground, it was too late and getting dark to check. Will pull plugs and or tighten, electrical grease connections.

I have never cleaned my carb and owned boat for 6 years, though I use it very little, just for camping excursions to remote islands in lake champlain.

 

[ronboonville]

Re: 1959 Johnson 35hp Super Seahorse carb/fuel problems

did all that with my gale, then since I was determined to get it fixed I went ahead and did the points and condensors, checked the coils, set the points and everything worked fine, had to spend some time in barrel adjusting carb. but spark is good and it starts. also new fuel lines, sparkplugs and wires, and inline filter and primer bulb.

 

[MichaelHorowitz]

Re: 1959 Johnson 35hp Super Seahorse carb/fuel problems

Tightened bolts with electrical connections. Already checked coils. Spark seems good. Weak battery.

Got it started yesterday. Runs OK --low speed difficult to adjust. What runs good at idle doesn't start as well, and vice versa.

 

[HighTrim]

Re: 1959 Johnson 35hp Super Seahorse carb/fuel problems

Low speed usually ends up being about 1-1.25 turns out from gently seated. When starting, some of these big Twins like it a little on the rich side. Turn the needle CCW about 1/2 turn, start, then readjust to ideal idle setting. Let us know how it goes.

 

[MichaelHorowitz]

Re: 1959 Johnson 35hp Super Seahorse carb/fuel problems

It will start at 1-1/2 turns out, but doesn't want to idle. 1/2 turn adjustment CW runs strong, but doesn't want to start easily if I leave it there. the compromise, as you note is 1-1/4 turns out. It really does not want to start choked at all since I cleaned the carb. Battery strength has been everything. With weak battery, turns, but doesn't start.

I did switch the upper and lower packing nuts, as I put the longer one in the bottom initially. Will be taking it out on the lake in a few days to set the high speed. I think the plugs are J-8, is this going to make a big difference from J-6?

 

[MichaelHorowitz]

Re: 1959 Johnson 35hp Super Seahorse carb/fuel problems

Answered my own question j-8... hottest plug.

Boat out on water. Starts great! Carb clean. Fixed that. But high end has no high end. If it went 30mph on the water before, which it did I checked with GPS, it only goes about 18-20 now. Had to turn high speed adjustment in and back out to a little more than 1/2 out to get it to do that otherwise much more doggy. I am thinking spark advance needs adjustment. Just acted like the throttle was not able to go past halfway, even though all the way up. Doggy. Had 10 year old son driving during adjustment so only tried a bit.

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: 1959 Johnson 35hp Super Seahorse carb/fuel problems

It will start at 1-1/2 turns out, but doesn't want to idle. 1/2 turn adjustment CW runs strong, but doesn't want to start easily if I leave it there. the compromise, as you note is 1-1/4 turns out. It really does not want to start choked at all since I cleaned the carb. Battery strength has been everything. With weak battery, turns, but doesn't start.

I did switch the upper and lower packing nuts, as I put the longer one in the bottom initially. Will be taking it out on the lake in a few days to set the high speed. I think the plugs are J-8, is this going to make a big difference from J-6?

Battery has nothing to do with the ignition system, EXCEPT that the motor is spinning faster. This tells me there is a weak spark, maybe due to the coil spacing to the flywheel.
J8's are a little hot for that engine. Pretty sure that started out with J4's, but most run J6's round here.