How hard to convert a mercury Mark55 to an electric start?

[dave-bernard]

latter mark 55 E 56 57 58 and 59 and Merc 300 350 400 450 500 1960-1964 better motors and still look very much the same. easier to find and parts also.

[billy-j]

Bill,
No offense taken, you are correct in your assumption!!
New to outboards for the most part, been an inboard wooden boat guy for years.
Restoring a vintage 55 Lyman with a 55 Mark 55, I really like these engines.
Ideally I’d like to find a 55 E engine, I am not wanting to modify this engine at all.
I think I’m going to just clean this engine up, and keep it.
I’ll keep looking for a 1955 electric start Merc.
Any ideas anyone?
Thanks,
John Hello John, If I were you and your engine is in good shape I would get it going as is and try it on your Lyman. I would guess you have a 15 1/2 ft. Lyman. I am a Lyman man myself. I have two 15 1/2 Lyman outboard models a 19 ft. wood inboard and a 26 ft. fiberglass model. I have used my Mercury mark 50 on one of my 15 1/2’s. The Mercury is a totally different experience than an OMC model. The way it sounds and acts and the fact that seeing a 1950s Merc running around a lake is a lot rarer than a OMC product turns a lot of heads. They are more complicated to work on than an OMC product but there are people here that can walk you thru it. If you have mechanical ability and patience you will get it going but do not guess at what your doing as there are many little things that need to be done correctly for you to have a reliable easy starting engine. You can still buy the Mercury shop manual for it I think it was 1965 and older. You could put a want to buy add in the classified section on this site or wait till someone offers a electric start model for sale here they come up from time to time but you will also need the two lever electric start controls and correct wiring harness. I would look for an original electric start engine, controls and gas tank. Beware there are a lot of cobbled together Frankenstein motors out there. Hope I helped you out. Bill,

[green-thumbs]

T2 revived a Mark 55 at a meet some years back. It needed all the usual items you would expect of an outboard that had set for years unused.
When T2 finished motor went into test tank
ONE pull to prime and STARTED with pull two. Ran great too.
Then the real test. He shut it off and pulled starer rope out a little ,it started,
shut off, with starter rope still out from first pull he gave it a tug and again it started
He repeated the shut off and restart until there was no more starter rope left to pull.
He was applauded.
A really ready to go Mark 55 needs very little encouragement.

[ian]

If it’s a 1955 Mark 55, it came in two different versions. The early sand Cast block and the later die cast. The lower pans are different for each. At first glance that appear the same, but around the water pickup area. I’m still on the lookout for all the proper bits to convert my early sand cast motor. The "turtle top" on the 55 has a small dome and requires the fancy swing starter.

[Author]

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