Less power than a Miata but more torque than a rotary.

So I bought this little thing the other day.

It's a 1940s Johnson Iron Horse engine. Made in Canada.

This is our answer to the little Maytag washing machine engines.

I got it to run on brake cleaner sprayed in the carburetor.

Tore it down to check it over tonight.

Everything looks great inside the engine. Just going to clean, reseal and paint.

I need to make some governor parts. The choke assembly is missing from the carb and I need to sort out a fuel tank.

Neat.  Is it the same Johnson as the outboard motor company?

In reply to stuart in mn :

Yes.

Eventually they made a 2-stroke version of this engine, then turned it on it's side to build a lawnmower with it.

They then sold that engine to Lawn Boy.

Neat. Reminds me of this: Could be overhauled with one wrench or nearly so.

My neighbour had one of those Johnson Seahorse outboards when I was a kid.

I think every sport fisherman in Canada was issued a freighter canoe and a Seahorse at some point.

In reply to ShawnG :

Maytag made these for their washers in the 1930's.  Look very similar and with a kick start too but the Maytag was a 2 stroke.   Interesting that yours is a 4 stroke.