Johnson Motors 

Iron Horse X501 engine

owned by Clare Snyder, Waterloo Ontario

X501 Iron Horse Engine made by Johnson Motors, Peterboro Ontario Canada somewhere in the early 40s.

Production began at Peterboro Ontario and Waukegan Illinois in 1935 and continued in Canada until 1952.

During the 17 years of production there were approximately 250,000 engines made in Canada .

 It is a 30 degree 2.25X1.75 engine, and with the float type downdraft carb is rated at 1.34 HP @ 2400RPM

Apparently they switched to air vane governors in 1947, so this is a pre 1947 engine.

This engine is in almost perfect condition, just a minor dent in the top of the original soldered ternplate tank.

Serial # 103147. Can anyone tell me the manufacture date?

It's a pretty little thing, and runs as good as it looks.

Tillotson Downdraft carb is responsible for the power upgrade from 1 to 1.34 HP

The engine is in "as found" condition with the exception of the freshened paint, new flywheel key

(steel, from a LawnBoy Iron Horse 2 stroke) and repaired kickstart clutch spring. I filed the points

as I could not find a replacement set, and resoldered the tank seam at the carburetor end.

The muffler unthreaded with only minor difficulty to facilitate removal of the shroud.