Recently picked up some 1920s Johnsons going begging, including an A-25 (1925-1926) with one blown water jacket, a running Johnson 1925 J-25, a Johnson 1929 A-45 below and an Empire made brass l/u 1935 Johnson OBL-70 that is missing some parts, but am sure I can track them down as it shares a common powerhead that Outboard Nut was able to find in his archives. The cream of the crop is a running 1942 Johnson 22.5hp POLR-15 - made for WWII Allies to run on 'M' Class boats - a bit of a beast, complete with decompression lever and green paint with it's original cover. They'll make great winter projects to get running again, but not over-restore. The A-45 3hp was started on yesterday and will be finished in a few more hours...they're simple and this one has been used, but not abused. Here's a great link to the early motors: http://www.yankeeaomci.org/johnsonat85.htm

Cylinders, ports and cooling tubes all cleaned up and re-installed with new gaskets. Flywheel pulled and stator plate next job.

1929 A-45 3hp finished. Will wait till it gets warmer to test run it.

Next one's up, 1924 A-25 2hp, with incorrect bronze (saltwater) mid and lower unit. Sheave is a 1926 serial, so appears to be a bitsa. Johnson started making outboards in 1922. Corroded waterway means a used cylinder necessary.

And this one, a 1935 3.3hp Johnson Master Twin - bores, pistons and carbs now clean and waiting for missing parts to complete.

Nice job I don't know how you can wait for warmer weather to try it out, just bring it into the house and give it a quick pull no-one will notice

Warmed up here, which is just as well...I get it in the neck just for a few outside fumes that permeate. A carb cleaning day though..these are so simple to take apart. Missing parts en-route, so should be here in 8-10 days - not looking forward to the duty, tax and post office handling fee.

Interesting link to freeing up stuck pistons.
http://aomci.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f= ... 022a341c41

Boredom set in while waiting for parts, so the ChrisCraft Challenger was started. Some broken and missing parts being sought, but is a nicely made motor and I understand some 20,000 were built in the US. This one is a 1950 model 5.5hp twin; they made a 10hp Commander as well.

nice looking motor, air cooled? and are they rare motors over here?
carl.

This one was imported I believe - I've never seen another here. They're water cooled and shrouded, so I assume the vanes on the head help with additional heat dissipation. The guys over at AOMCI were good enough to send me to this site. Particularly like the pics of ChrisCraft kit boats...

http://www.chriscraftoutboards.com/index.html