Success! 1958 18hp Johnson running!

[bhughes]

Just wanted to share my success with everyone. Got this 1958 18 hp johson about a month ago for $150. All I knew was that it ran 2 years ago for this guy. When I put it in the water 2 weeks ago it wouldn't go in forward gear and when I held it in gear for a little bit it wouldn't rev up. I went ahead and ordered another lower unit off ebay for $100 but I was afraid there would be more issues that just the lower unit.

Fortunately the lower unit was the issue and here you can see it in action from this afternoon. This motor is awesome! Looking forward to my first summer of boating/fishing.

 

[BDbill]

Re: Success! 1958 18hp Johnson running!

Good job! I bought the same motor about a month ago. It didn't want to run at idle, only at high speed. I rebuilt the carb and tomorrow I'm going to try it out, I hope that takes care of it. Nice looking motors!

 

[floatingwoody2006]

Re: Success! 1958 18hp Johnson running!

Nice dude. Another one saved from the grave.

 

[bhughes]

Re: Success! 1958 18hp Johnson running!

Yeah, I couldn't get it to rev up past trolling speed at first, but I just had to adjust the high speed knob and it got up to full speed. I'm not sure if it idles correctly or not. I can get it to slow down and idle, but the throttle is only dow to just below the starting position. If I pull it down the "shift" or "slow" position on the throttle it will cut off, but that doesn't really matter to me.

 

[coolguy147]

Re: Success! 1958 18hp Johnson running!

mine does the same thing but it mainly cause the gears r a bit off. there just worn and so its not in there all the right way. might be ur problem. but hey it idles. and i might add maybe ur low speed may need to be tightned a bit we suggest looking into the carb adjsting help thread

 

[jbjennings]

Re: Success! 1958 18hp Johnson running!

Nice job, BHughes!
Interesting paint job, too. I always love the transom shots..
JBJ