1977 150 hp Merc.

[Deltarat]

A friend has had this motor sitting in his garage for some time. His wife, of course, wants it out of there so she can park in the garage. What a nerve? Anyhow, they have offered me this motor to keep peace within the house hold. Can anyone tell me info about this motor? It ran when it was last parked over 7 years ago. Do I really want this motor even though it's 30+ years old, and do you think it's worth investing in? Are parts difficult to find? I don't know if they even know; if it ran 7 years ago. Was given to them by someone in his family. New to this websie so be gentle.

 

[hkeiner]

Re: 1977 150 hp Merc.

A free 150HP motor that is in good general condition, even if old, could be a good find. The FAQs has a good engine check guide that might help you determine if there are any serious problems with the motor before you take possession of it.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=188767


Before running the motor, there are many things you should do to prepare it. You would probably want to at a minimum clean the carbs, replace the water pump impeller, rebuild the fuel pump, and replace the lube in the lower unit. The FAQs has an excellent guide that describes even more things to do before safely awakening a sleeping outboard.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=158086

I don't think that this would be a motor that you would want to take to a shop for maintenance and repairs. They don't usually want to work on motors this old and even if you found a shop that would do the work, the cost would be prohibitive. You probably have to be willing and able to do it all yourself. When I bought my used 1996 boat/motor last year, I didn't know a thing about maintenance and repair, but I since learned enough to do all of my own work by reading the shop manual and using this forum.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: 1977 150 hp Merc.

Dalta, I had a '77 Merc 1500 for 26 years until it blew up. It is a fine engine, although you will need to do all the maintenance and repair yourself. No shop will want to work on it, and you will not want to pay a shop for these items anyway.

If it is a '77 it will be an inline six and have a distributor-based ignition, three carbs etc.

 

[Scaaty]

Re: 1977 150 hp Merc.

If its a XS150..you are sitting with a a classic. Standard 150's..still the same..(why don't people by me give those away..
GRAB IT NOW..parts everywhere...but needs a litttle work yer end...

 

[Deltarat]

Re: 1977 150 hp Merc.

Thanks for the input. I've had and still have many boats but mostly inboards. I've rebuilt these myself; so working on an outboard shoulodn't be that difficult. I just couldn't decide if it was practical to undertake an old motor. Inboard motors are easy to work on as parts can be picked up cheaply everywhere. Outboards seem to be a different ball park. Everyone wants tons of money for these older parts. I'll take your advise and check into it. Thank you, Bob

 

[Deltarat]

Re: 1977 150 hp Merc.

Looking on line I do find parts everywhere, as long as I want to adopt the people selling these items and give them all my dough. First, I need to do some basic testing to see if this motor "Really works." Thanks for you input. In the winter time it would be a fun project. But when summer hits, I'll be on the water.

 

[Scaaty]

Re: 1977 150 hp Merc.

The first thing ya do is pull the plugs..all should look the same.
Then do a compression check...all 120-130 or better, its a go. Any under 100, might need a little more investigation..