Restoring a 1971 Johnson outboard motor

A couple of Shed readers start a rebuild project for the Shed Magazine

We got this email from a Shed reader who was sent a project from another Shed reader, the rebuild of a 1971 Johnson 25hp outboard motor.


The challenge, to rebuild this outboard from a box of bits

The idea being that this pile of bits would eventually become a backup motor for his fishing boat. So nice to see our readers are thinking of us. Here at The Shed we are already looking forward to the restored engine article.
Below is the note that came with the engine, the Sheddies names have been deleted. 
“As mentioned earlier, herewith the old Johnson outboard from dad’s shed. Make of it what you will or if you are not inclined or reckon it is not worth the effort or in the too hard basket or whatever, pass it onto someone who may be keen to give it a go, or, simply send it to the tip.
In any event, I reckon it could be a good article for The Shed magazine so if you or someone else wants to give it a go and give it a Lazarus type resurrection or rebirth, maybe take some photos for a Shed article as you go along.
Kind regards and cheers to all.”
Onya fellas.


Lets hope all the parts are here


Even the newspaper wrapping the parts is from the 1970s

 


The jigsaw building begins

The jigsaw building begins

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Soldering on Part One

Everyone knows that at some stage you need to blame your tools (after the other excuses have run out), and like most things you can pay a little money or a lot, and sometimes there is little difference in the result … or so it would seem.
The purpose of this article is not to separate you from your hard-earned cash, but to share a few tricks and provide some information to make an informed choice when buying equipment.
Everyone knows that the best soldering iron is some large lump of material that you throw into the fire until it is red hot and then apply to the job and hope that some of the exploding material fuses the bits together.
That might work for joining two bits of metal together but it is not going to work for electronics.
Soldering electronics is not only mechanical bonding, but also making an electrically conductive joint. The solder used has a particular temperature range and too hot will ‘cook’ the joint and make it porous, while too cold means it sticks to one or other part but doesn’t bond.