I Got Me a Mercury !!!

Ted, for $500 you can buy a running early 80's 9.8

Scott Danforth said:

Ted, for $500 you can buy a running early 80's 9.8

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I know . . . exactly. I may try a capacitor, if I can find one with a high enough voltage rating; else it is back to the magneto ignition that I had on the 1969 model.

I can see why Mercury had this ignition for only 2 years. . .

Scott Danforth said:

Ted, for $500 you can buy a running early 80's 9.8

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Would you stop it with that talk?

Ted, here is a thread on converting the phase maker to the older phelon https://www.tinboats.net/threads/mercury-9-8-thunderbolt-ignition-to-phelon-mag-conversion.37992/

you could try that.

the later ignitions have a different crank

nola mike said:

Would you stop it with that talk?

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LMAO

Scott Danforth said:

Ted, for $500 you can buy a running early 80's 9.8

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But where's the fun in that?

@Scott Danforth Thank you for the link . . . I'm getting to the point of 'had enough fun' with this motor. Something is very intermittent, more 'off' than 'on'.

I was able to get a decent spark on the plugs this morning, so I put the motor in the test tank and tried to start it . . . Not much luck . . . I got a few momentary burst (< 1 second) but the engine would not stay running.

I would like to get this thing running in case the Evinrude has issues at some point.

The Admiral wants to go to the beach (avec moi) for a few cocktails this afternoon.

So, I spent a little bit of time digging into the phase-maker to Magneto ignition swap. At the speed of an Indy Pit Crew, I took off the Phasemaker stuff and put on the Magneto Ignition (from my 1969 motor)

Here is a bunch of the stuff: 1969 powerhead, 1969 flywheel, 1969 magneto stator . . . 1972 Blue Label engine cover.

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I'm thinking this will be a blue label motor with a red label ignition, making it a purple label motor
PhaseMaker out . . .

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Magneto stator on . . .

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Supposedly, you need to also swap out the top bearing carrier plate from the older motor. But . . . the part number is the same on the 1969 as the 1972. I checked Mercury's website part list and sure enough, they are the same (1132-2400A1)
1969 . . .

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1972 . .

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Anyway, I may have this motor back together by nightfall . . . we shall see.

I may also start a new thread just on the swap, as there does not seem to be a complete thread on such.

I bought the 1972 motor for $175 and it had been listed on FB Mtk Place for quite a few months. I think I now know why . . .

The 69 Graphics on the Cowl look much better than the 72...

OK - after beach beers and some dinner, I finished off the conversion of the phase maker to magneto ignition. Here are a few photos . . .

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The previous version mounting holes for the spark plug wires are still there, but unused. I was able to screw into the holes to secure the wires.
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Same for the other side. Fortunately I saved everything from my 1969 motor.
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The shut-off switch on the 1969 and earlier Merc's is on the front panel, and the 1972+ models have it on the starboard side. Fortunately, the wiring was just long enough to reach the new location. The magneto ignition uses a switch ground to shut off the engine, the phase maker uses an open circuit to shut the engine off. My DIY switch is a simple toggle switch, so not really safety compliant, but I can put a tether on the toggle to shut it off in a MOB situation.
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Ground connection
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I got the flywheel and pull-start assembly installed. I forgot to swap to the old style plugs, so the engine wanted to run, but was struggling. I replaced the 'CDI' style plugs with traditional plugs and the motor started right up!
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View attachment IMG_8306.MOV
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I'll be running it a bit to make sure it is solid.

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A couple of updates to the Mercury saga . . .

The engine would not cold start. If I did a spray of fuel into the carburetor it would fire right up. So, I took the carburetor apart and did some cleaning. It did not look bad at all and had evidence of previous maintenance.

After some fiddling, I realized that the choke plate was not covering the carb throat tightly enough (thus no actual choking). So, I made some adjustments and the engine can now start with choke.

I also changed out my toggle switch to a waterproof push button switch for the shut-off.

I need to do a few repairs/tweaks on the Evinrude 6HP, so this might be the opening for the Mercury to take over the dinghy motor duty.

Quick update and maybe a question for @racerone and a few others . . .

I have set the idle mixture fairly rich so that the engine would start (on choke). The idle starts fairly high (not sure of the RPM), but it is a little higher than I may want to shift. After a few minutes of running, the idle speed goes down all by itself (lowest throttle setting in all cases).

I'm assuming there is something heat related as the idle speed goes down all by itself. I'd also like to lean the engine out slightly as that helps with the idle speed, but then it does not like to stay running when cold if the mixture is leaned out even slightly. There is no setting for 1/2 choke on these, so it is a bit tricky situation..

I am wondering if there are any magic tricks or things to check out to get the starting/idling a bit more consistent?

FWIW - carb its the Tillotson 12A KB (IIRC)

Try running it Briefly, on a much Oil Rich Mixture. If it Idles Better, I would be looking at the Upper Crankshaft Seal. Also check for any Oil Recirculation Line from the Crankcase up to the Upper Bearing Area.
or Pull the Flywheel and look for Oil at the Seal Area

It has what I think is an oil recirculating line going from the plate over the intake ports to the lower crankcase. I do not see anything to the upper crankcase area.

For now I leaned out the engine and will try some additional cold starts.

Quick Update . . .

I checked the upper crankcase seal (after tearing the top assembly of the motor apart) and it looks visibly worn and hard to the touch. As a quick remedy, I took the top plate/bearing carrier from my defunct motor, which has newer bearings and seal, and moved it to the '72 motor.

We shall see how that goes.

Have you had this motor apart ?----Upper and lower crank seals go bad on these after 50 years.---Labarynth seal in reed valve block wears.---Reeds can break / chip.-----Rings wear.----No overheat protection on these and often have scored pistons / cylinders.

racerone said:

Have you had this motor apart ?----. . . . .

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Not yet . . .

But it may be a consideration over the winter.

My (defunct) '69 model was re-built (by me) about 8-10 years ago. So, the top bearing/seal assembly that I swapped over was in decent shape. Overall the engine could use a re-fresh.