Oliver Model J2 5.5 hp Year?

[Buccaneer]

I hauled home this outboard today.

Can anyone tell me exactly what year this Oliver Model J2, 5.5 hp was made?
It has serial number J100929.
I know it’s made after 1953, the last year Chris Craft made their Challenger 5.5 hp.
The block looks almost identical at a quick glance, as my 1953 Chris Craft 5.5
hp power head, with the exception that the Oliver has an impulse port on the
starboard side for the fuel pump.

Were the internals of the Oliver J2 and Chris Craft 5.5 hp outboards the
same, or was there other upgrades besides a fuel pump… i.e., seals, etc.?

No fuel tank came with. What’s the best option for converting the fuel inlet
connection to something more common? Mercury tank?

Bendix Scintilla coils are shot, but otherwise looks complete.

Thanks!

---

Attachments:

Prepare to be boarded!

[lotec]

The Oliver J-2 was made in 1956. There are quite a few differences over the Chris Crafts, however I believe most of the internals are the same. There is a lot of information over on the Oliver Website http://www.pfs-ware.com/oliver.htm and a note to Dick (Ask Ollie) will probably give you chapter-and-verse what you can swap and not.

I think Dick sold off most of his parts inventory and there’s another site offering them. Possibly they have the fuel connector too. There was a discussion on this board regarding possibly using an air-chuck connector several months back that you can check out: https://aomci.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4237&p=22022&hilit=oliver+connector#p22022

Nice motors, well worth the time to get back together right!

[Buccaneer]

Lotec, thanks for the reply. No air chuck would hook up to my fitting
with those tits on it, but if my connector is screwed to a pipe thread,
I guess I could put just about any kind of fitting I wanted on it.
Wonder if mine is original?

Prepare to be boarded!

[lotec]

Sorry Buccaneer, I missed that photo with the connector – looks like someone put a Mercury fitting on yours. I’d just go with it until you get it running well – the Merc connectors are available everywhere. After that you can decide what you want to do.

The original looks like as follows:

And the connector:

I did a couple of videos on my J-2, if it helps here are the links: (for some reason I can’t get the videos to embed using Chrome)

Oliver J-2 on the water:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVJoLAn1Xfg
Oliver J-2 additional discussion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q768-B9SGpY

[Buccaneer]

Interesting, will have to see if my old Merc tank will hook up
to the fitting on my Oliver. Thanks for the video links……
nice to actually see one in action….. sweet!

Prepare to be boarded!

[Buccaneer]

If that fuel connecting fitting on my Oliver is "Mercury" then
Mercury must have made more than one size. My Merc tank
female fitting is way too big.

Prepare to be boarded!

[chris-p]

Yes I know there were at least 2 sizes, maybe more, im not a merc guy, but I use at least 2.

Very neat motor. I don’t get to see a lot of them up here for sale

[Author]

Posts