Cruising Craigs List I ran across an ad for a 1958 8 HP Johnson outboard for $60. Since I'm a marine mechanic (and love old, small outboards) I
went and bought it.
I noticed when I loaded it up that it was much heavier than any vintage 8 HP outboard I can remember lifting.
The next day I carried it into my shed and took a close look at it (it was dark when I picked it up from the seller).
Hmm, no wonder it was so heavy, it's an 18 HP, not an 8.
Someone removed the "1" from the cowling probably to use it on the lakes in the northern part of the state with a 10 HP limit.





Next to my 1958 JW-14 3 HP


It feels like it has good compression and doesn't look like it's ever been overheated. Looking inside the cylinders through the spark plug hole
the cylinder walls look good so I'll go through it and start hunting for a small aluminum boat to put it on.

Initally this was to be a fix-and-sell thing, but finding out it's an 18 HP is a game changer. When I was a teen I had a 12ft aluminum semi-vee
with a Johnson 30 HP on it. It was pretty fast (and scary sometimes) but was a ton of fun. Time to be a teen again!

Nice find

Very cool...I bet they took the 1 off of the 18 to put it on a smaller boat, lol.

i love older outboards and I dont even own a boat. lol

lil mitey mite i restored



1950s 5hp sea king, all org. i never tried to fire it up, but suppose to have ran when put away.

Nice Mitey Mite! My JW-14 3HP was bought new in '58 by my Grandfather and I inherited it back in 1984. It wouldn't run when I got it and found it had bad ignition coils. So being the stupid teen I was it sat torn apart for years. When I moved I left the box that had the flywheel and rope starter in it.
Fast forward to a couple years ago when I dug it out and ordered ignition parts for it and then realized I didn't have the flywheel or rope starter.
I ended up finding the flywheel and starter from "Engine Blade and Prop" but they are slightly different than the originals. The OE rope start was the copper/maroon color and not the white it is now.
The flywheel was a bit different too in regards to how the starter pawls engage it.

Some of the lakes here have a 10HP limit so that's probably why the "1" was removed. That (silly) ratings tag never stopped me from dropping a disgustingly large motor on a small boat.