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If you are looking for a pleasurable experience, you will be disappointed. They are tough to work on and usually require a LOT of work. The magneto will be the absolute least of your problems. The biggest problem with them is that water intrusion in the gear case can cause, either from freeze damage or running with bad bearings and gears, the very last, aft, eighth inch of the gear case bullet to fracture and usually break completely off. This is the last little bit of gear case that has threads that retain the guts of the case; so if this happens, the gear case is junk. The water pump is also quite the tricky thing to reassemble and getting the carb off to clean is not the easiest thing to do, because the lower cowl can’t be removed unless you take the midsection apart. (You CAN get the carb off without removing the lower cowl but it’s just not super easy.) It has a neutral cable that frays at the end and is sometimes very difficult to get back into its tube, which you need to do during an impeller change, which WILL be needed. All that being said, that is a REALLY nice looking one and, when you finally get done flogging it and everything finally works right, they have a very good run quality, almost as good as OMC stuff.
Long live American manufacturing!
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They are a challenge to work on. And; if it’s a salt water motor or just happens to have corrosion….the mid section can REALLY be difficult to get apart. Be careful with the plastic Neutral/Forward buttons….they are plastic and can break. There were aluminum replacements offered to remedy that.
I heard it said once…..”No matter what is wrong….just start by removing the prop and work your way up”
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If you are looking for a pleasurable experience, you will be disappointed. They are tough to work on and usually require a LOT of work. The magneto will be the absolute least of your problems. The biggest problem with them is that water intrusion in the gear case can cause, either from freeze damage or running with bad bearings and gears, the very last, aft, eighth inch of the gear case bullet to fracture and usually break completely off. This is the last little bit of gear case that has threads that retain the guts of the case; so if this happens, the gear case is junk. The water pump is also quite the tricky thing to reassemble and getting the carb off to clean is not the easiest thing to do, because the lower cowl can’t be removed unless you take the midsection apart. (You CAN get the carb off without removing the lower cowl but it’s just not super easy.) It has a neutral cable that frays at the end and is sometimes very difficult to get back into its tube, which you need to do during an impeller change, which WILL be needed. All that being said, that is a REALLY nice looking one and, when you finally get done flogging it and everything finally works right, they have a very good run quality, almost as good as OMC stuff.
Bill, I went thru one of those a few years ago. It took hours of
therapy working on “non – Mercury’s” to get over the trauma.
Thanks for bringing up every detail that I struggled through
on that motor, lol.I did have a pretty good lake test with it, but sometimes the
neutral shifter acted “goofy”, and later on while on the rack,
the gear lube slowly leaked out.
I never had the desire to dig back into it.Prepare to be boarded!
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It’s a shame about the face plate but the two plastic knobs are probably worth the $50 on eBay……..
Long live American manufacturing!
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The KF5, Mark5 and Mark 6 series sold well, but, they went thru a lot of changes. At swap meets I sometimes found one in my truck and not a clue as to how it got there,. Unless it can be shown start, run, and pump
a right price would i FREE to $10 range AND then only to a patient and
understanding new owner .
They are said to be nice runners and they look nice restored. Do not pay
a lot to buy, you will need to $ource parts, get both parts and service
manuals and probably buy a parts motor.
LouisOne thing for sure, if you get to know them well enough to get them
up an running you will be the only kid on the block and perhaps be the
go to guy for advice.1 user thanked author for this post.
Like anything….once you take one apart a few times it gets easy (easier??) If the motor intrigues you and you can get it cheap enough….buy it and then buy a parts motor to learn on. Take the parts motor apart and put it back together again several times until you are completely comfortable with what needs to be done. Then tackle the better one. If you are lucky you will end up with one good runner….or if you are REALLY lucky …..two good runners.
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