Dark Side Confusion

[Mumbles]

quote BillW:

the lower unit will come off easier than an OMC, IF, IF, the drive shaft is not a permanent part of the crank shaft

Like it was on the $15 ’57 Evinrude Sportwin which was also in this package. A dowel puller made quick work of that issue.

Today, we will see what other surprises this motor holds, after I install a new transducer and paddle wheel on my boat.

[bob-d]

Jim, just finished a restoration on a 1971 9.8HP to match my 135HP on my Magnum Missile (avatar pic). Funny story about the motor. It was originally owned by the actor in California who did the voice for Robbie the Robot in the 60’s. I’m expecting it to start talking to me this summer when it gets on the back of the Alumacraft!! It had the same problem as yours, rusted ball bearings in the lower unit. Originally thought the power head was frozen until I dropped the lower unit. Dodged the bullit it on that one. Good news is that all of the bearings are marked with manufacturer numbers and are easy to find. I used a combination of OEM and Chinese on EBay. All other parts are readily available. Hardest part was finding the correct gauge and color wiring to replace the crumbling wires. If I found the correct gauge it was too stiff to move with the mag plate. Found this place after I finished.

http://www.bestboatwire.com

It looks like a good alternative to the big box store wiring selection. Another small problem is the need for a special tool to remove the lower unit bearing carrier, but I’ve seen your machine work in past posts, so this will not be a problem for you.
Good luck. Great motors when up and running. I also think the black / red color combination is one of Mercury’s best.
Bob D

[Mumbles]

Thanks for the words of encouragement! I’ll try and drop the leg on it after I get my own boat cleaned up and ready for summer cruising and fishing. Hopefully the driveshaft is free and I won’t need vodka and Valium to break it loose! 😀

[20mercman]

You most likely will want to service the points anyway. To get to them, the recoil assembly will need to be removed. There are three bolts that attach the recoil to the power head. The rear bolt goes into the block, the port side is the pivot bolt that hold the throttle lever. There will be a flat washer between the black plastic throttle lever. The other side will slip down as you loosen it. Very simple. As was posted, the rope is held into the handle by a "tortious path" through a metal insert in the handle. You can simply pull the rope out, tie a know in it to prevent it from recoiling back and then have slack to remove the rope from the handle. Then thread it through the top cowl. Then the flywheel will need to be removed as would be a normal procedure. The points are hard to find and expensive, so unless they are not able to be cleaned up, don’t try to replace them.

Clean points are needed for good spark, these coils are usually good, but replacements can be found.

Sorry I didn’t post earlier.

EDIT: Sorry, forgot to mention, those surface gap plugs are not for this motor. I use Autolite 303. or NGK B6S

Steve

[jpatti75]

+1 on the NGK B6S.

Knowing the effort you put into motors, Jim, I’m sure you’ll give the ignition a full check. When I got mine the coils were great,and the points cleaned up easily, but the condensers were toast. Those condensers were a little though to track down, but I got lucky with finding a cheap set on eBay.

One more check I’d recommend, but it will require you to pull the powerhead. There are two idle relief tubes that are under a cover plate below the powerhead. The tubes direct exhaust out the two square ports toward the backside side of the tower/leg. The relief tubes are some kind of plastic/plastic-like material with small holes drilled in them, and on my ‘68 the tubes were completely melted shut, preventing the proper exhaust relief. I removed the melted tubes and replaced them with copper (I believe 1/2” diameter).

JP

[Mumbles]

NGK B6S, my favorite plugs and I buy them by the case!

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