I bought a nice little motor alluded to in the subject line for not much. Looks nice on the outside but has a few issues on the inside. Taking it apart and ignition, tank, flyheel and magneto assemble all look good. Even tested the coils and they work, though I will swap out the points, etc. as they look pretty worn and give everything a good cleaning. Down below, one of the pistons is really shot with lots of black soot in there and on the outside. Was thinking about replacing the entire powerhead as I saw a good one for $35 from a site another AOMCI member shared. Is this something a new member and collector should attempt so early? I guess there’s a first time to learn everything. Any good sources of info other than the Johnson manual you would recommend?

The carb is the other issue I noted. The high speed needle was twisted in so tight, that it took a light ring of the carb wall out with it when I removed it. So there’s a pretty significant gouge in the bowl too. So I was thinking I would need to replace that to just to be safe. A replacement is about the same cost as the powerhead. All in all, I’m still under $100 probably to replace all this because I didn’t see any issues in the lower unit or gear case, which appears complete. Just need to change the gear oil.

Plus, I can use the low speed needle and the head cover for my other motor, so I gain something there too.

Anyway, my main question is on the piston/powerhead if anyone has any insight on this. Thanks!