Im not sure who told you that, but don’t worry about it.

Will, I normally like to keep things original but after your question I decided to go ahead and do something I’d been thinking about doing for awhile. I wanted to wait until the end of the season and experiment with it before I posted this.

I love my ’55 Johnson 10 horse, I’m just not that crazy about that style recoil. I like the "feel" of the Ease-a-matic starter better. And some would say if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. And the one on my QD-16 works fine and doesn’t give me any trouble. But that’s not to say you can’t get any better, which is why they changed it in ’56. It’s smoother, quieter, less moving parts, feels a little tighter, etc.

I certainly do respect the knowledge and opinions of FrankR, fleetwin, and Chris_P. but hey, it’s my motor, it’s just a daily runner, not a beautiful original or perfect restoration so I said what the hell, try it out and see what happens. You wont find this in any manual but this is what I did to convert it to the newer style starter.

I swapped out the starter mount brackets with ones from a ’56-’57 Johnson 10 HP. I also swapped out the silencer, flywheel, and recoil with ’56-’57 versions. I had all these parts on hand from parts motors. Once you do that you still have to account for the rear mount/leg for the newer style recoil because it doesn’t line up with the one that’s cast into the ’55 block. So I bought some 1/4 x 20 aluminum couplers from McMaster Carr, that are 1/2" long that are just about the right height for the foot of the recoil to rest on.

I removed all the paint from the top of the block where the coupler will sit and then sprayed with carb cleaner. I screwed the coupler into place on the rear leg of the Ease-a-matic recoil. Then I put the recoil in position and screwed the other 2 legs of the recoil into place. Now the aluminum coupler is in the exact spot it needs to be. You may need to file or grind some of the points down on the coupler and maybe a little off the top to get a perfect fit. I then used Marine-tex to epoxy it in while it was attached to the rear leg. Once it firmed up a little I removed the recoil. I then smoothed over the epoxy with a damp fingertip and pressed it down slightly for a tight fit before it completely hardened.

I don’t know much about aluminum welding/brazing or if that would even be an option here. But I didn’t want to have a lot of excessive heat in that area anyway.

This past season I had the motor out fishing about 15 times, pulled the recoil at least 30-40 times each time out, and so far everything works great and the epoxy is holding up beautifully. Even though that rear screw might take more of the force when pulling, the other two screws of the recoil help to anchor it.

I haven’t altered anything permanently and I have all the original parts saved. So if for some reason it doesn’t work long term I can always go back to the original. Or if I was going to sell it I’d put all the original parts back on. Again, I wouldn’t do this on a beautiful original or restored motor, but this is a daily runner for me and I have only me to worry about. I think it was a good experiment. I’m going to keep it like this for as long as I own the motor.

And the fine print—-
No warranty, including fitness for a particular purpose or usefulness of information, express or implied. Your mileage may vary. Proceed at your own risk. This product not tested on animals, as college students are cheaper and nobody cares what you do to them, Professional driver, closed course. Clean your room. Serving suggestion. Stay in skool. Be secure in the knowledge that we’re all part of a plan, but be thankful that you’re ignorant of its cruel, bloody particulars. Do not apply to broken skin; if condition persists consult a physician. Refrigerate after opening. Not for internal use. Void where prohibited. Objects in mirror may be closer than they appear. Must be 18 to play. Trespassers will be violated. Don’t put that in your mouth, you don’t know where it’s been. Do not look into laser beam with remaining eye. Beer, of course, is actually a depressant, but poor people will never stop hoping otherwise. Don’t thank me; I’m doing this for your own good.

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Yup, good thought, might have to try to work that in somehow in the future.