green-thumbs wrote:

Have you talked with Joe Poole at Fergusson Poole in Atlanta area?   If you do not already have Mercury Service Manual for 1965 and Prior Models and Mercury Parts Manual for your model and serial number. The service manuals ar around used, some dealers sell online printouts,

Serious work on the biig mercs is not for everyone

Let those who know step up,

Louis

 

 

Thanks for the tip on the Poole family. I sent a message to them and Poole Jr emailed me the same day. He was very helpful and had pictures of his Dad selling boats with the Mercury 78 on them at the Atlanta Boat show back in the day. Hopefully they will be able to help us out in the future. We live very close to one another.

Nick,

I have since  moved  OMC… J&E’s    but  my first love were Mercs  (9.8, 20, 50, 45 )  from the early 60s to late 80s   and that engine sounds like  great project…if the innards are ok.

Have you done some  basic checks before investing big $$$ (if it is a concern budget wise) . Basic checks like compression, some wiring  needs to be redone but that is not a big deal,  the antique  ” finned selenium rectifer can be replaced with a 3$   25 amp  full-wave  rectifier from Amazon.  better yet a voltage rectifier/regulator !  A small  endoscope  (cheap) can allow you to peek inside

I have never openned up an engine to clear up rings, pistons, redo rebores etc…)  I have limited my repairs to externals only  like carb jobs, GC oil, magnetos, coils etc….

Mercs can be strange beast  sometimes needing more  than  basic tool$