k2sno070
Member
Hey guys, I had a previous post where I had concerns regarding the performance of my 61 Johnson 18. I replaced the water pump, lower unit oil, and rebuilt the carb before putting it back on the water. It started up beautifully as normal and idled exceptionally well (which gave me some hope that maybe the engine would run correctly), however, once I gave it some throttle it began to emit a vast amount of white smoke and began to shudder. I immediately shut it down and took the boat off the water. When I got home, I did another compression check, which read 72 on top and 67 on the bottom. At this point I realized that compression was likely the issue. I pulled off the cylinder head and immediately noticed that the head gasket was in pretty rough shape. It didn't have any blow outs, but the corrosion was so bad that I couldn't imagine it created a good seal. When applying pressure to the pistons, I was able to move them around in the cylinder pretty easily, not so much as to warrant a total power head rebuild, but the rings will definitely need replaced. My concern lies with two small chips or impressions at the top end of the cylinder (check pictures below). Can I continue to use these cylinders without having them machined professionally, or can I just hone them out, clean off the faces, and put it all back together. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to avoid going to a shop. I have rebuilt car engines before, but this is my first outboard. Just looking to make the right judgement call before I get too far into it. Thanks guys.