Well, it’s almost a classic….

[billw]

Two more years and it will be a classic!! Time flies! I have a 1999 Johnson 8 hp, that our mooring guy found under 12 feet of salt water, sitting buried in the black mud. I took it apart, thinking I would part it out; but to my surprise, it is largely savable. I would like to have some torque specs for it, particularly the conn rods. Anybody have any literature that new?

I should add that it’s a 2-stroke 8 hp. I guess in 1999, they also had a 4-stroke 8.

Long live American manufacturing!

• This topic was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by billw.

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fleetwin

[fleetwin]

I might have the service manual for this engine, will look when I get home.  This is one of the better ones with the steel rods instead of the aluminum ones.

[billw]

Thanks, Don. I found a nice manual on eBay, that just came today! I’m all set now.

I am not sure what came over me, to try to resurrect this thing, except that people tell me the eights are pretty strong runners. This one is a real piece of work, but I will make it go. It’s a long shaft at the moment but by the time I get the top end done, I hope to find a short shaft lower unit. I could have sworn I HAD one. I am still looking.

Interesting that when I took the power head apart, the pistons pushed out by hand; the crank shaft was almost perfect and yet one head of one connecting rod bolt was just fried off from electrolysis, I guess. The head was completely gone, for some reason but the rod had not thrown.

Long live American manufacturing!

[fleetwin]

Yeah,  those little 8hp pack a good punch for sure.  The powerheads are more robust with the steel rods, and they run nice.  Not sure if yours still has the damn “ball shift” mechanism instead of the clutch dog, those were kind of weak.  And of course, you still have to be vigilant about lubing the crank/driveshaft splines often to avoid that issue.  But, the good news is no shift rod connector, so the gearcase pops off and on in minutes.  I might have a short shaft gearcase, will have to look.  D

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