Completed Restorations

Johnson 35

We bought this motor on Ebay in 2008 for $650. It had very low compression. Hans tore it down and we slowly rebuilt it, our 2nd restoration. We put about $600 into it, including props.

The 1980 Allison EP-15, which Joe has owned since 1982, is built from an XR-14 race boat (the EP Class record holder) and has a 7" setback. It has a fast bottom but with wide, flat chines, good for walking around in the boat while skiing or fishing, it turns flat. With any 10x13" prop the boat runs 36-37 mph.

We bought a 10x14 Stiletto, very thin blades and good blade shape. The prop is actually 10x13. With a lot of reworking, and it's very tricky, the boat runs a 41.6 mph 2-way GPS average.

In 1960 it took 40-45 hp to break 40 mph. The boats were as fast then as now, the props and setup are different. With a good, thin modern prop we can run the shortshaft motor at a transom height of 19-19.5". You can't do that with a thick, bronze 1950s era propeller.

The motor is box stock except for a .060" milled head, which really helps the acceleration. However, with 33 degree spark advance we run a mix of 5 gal pump 93 octane and 110 octane racing gas, with 37:1 Evinrude XD-100 oil to avoid sticking a piston. The motor is only turning 6150 RPM @ about 42 mph.