I have a Johnson 50 hp from 1974 that puked a rod and put a hole in the block. So I put a 55hp from 1978 on the lower unit and everything bolted up and looked fine. I took it out for a test drive and the control works backward, forward is reverse and reverse is forward. Other than that it works fine. Runs 30 mph on my 15 foot Boat.

Is there a way to fix this without replace the control?

Thanks