question on the starting a "2 cycle Merc" sticky

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Chris1956

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Gee, the high beam button on the floor was in my fathers '62 Mercury. By 1980 it was gone. Detroit used to use it for the starter, before they had key start and the solenoids necessary for that.
 
jimmbo

jimmbo

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My first 3 cars had the Floor Stomp Dimmer Switch; 66 Ford Galaxie, 71 Buick Skylark, and 76 Olds 88 Royale.
I remember the Foot activated Starter Pedal, on several Trucks on my Grandmothers' Farm.
I also remember the Turn Signal Switches, being in a Housing that was Clamped to the Steering Column, just forward of the Steering Wheel, and Wipers that were operated by Manifold Vacuum
 
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tphoyt

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Yeah and you could fix all that stuff in your driveway or even the side of road. Now days it takes hours and big bucks to get to anything that needs fixed.
 
dingbat

dingbat

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tphoyt said:
Yeah and you could fix all that stuff in your driveway or even the side of road.
Click to expand...
Which you often did….lol

Imagine a 67 Galaxy 500 getting 35 miles to the gallon, no component failures and still burning zero oil at 230,000 miles.

The good old days where not all that long ago and where not all that good
 
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Chris1956

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Gee, remember the rust on the rocker panels in the 60s and 70s?

Cars are just about throwaways today. When they finally break, they can be worth so little is is not worth it to fix 'em.
 
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racerone

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Major work on modern cars is not done by shops anymore.-----Labor costs too much and skilled mechanics are not abundant.----Overhaul it yourself or get another car.
 
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billhig

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Well, my merc now starts like a beauty. After cleaning the carb, it was a lot better. I had a supposed "marine mechanic" do the link and sync but I suspect he didn't know what he was doing. The idle throttle stop was not even touching the lever so the carb plate was acting as the stop. I adjusted it until it is just touching the lever as the throttle plate is closed. Lastly, I replaced the last of the wiring. This motor has crazy bad mercury wire rot and I've already hard wired everything to the motor except the battery cables. I replaced them with some #6 cable and now it starts instantly. No choke, no throttle, no drama. You don't even hear it crank. i goes from off to running.

I want to get new engine side and boat side harnesses, but they cost $450-500 together.
 
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FLATHEAD

FLATHEAD

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jimmbo said:
My first 3 cars had the Floor Stomp Dimmer Switch; 66 Ford Galaxie, 71 Buick Skylark, and 76 Olds 88 Royale.
I remember the Foot activated Starter Pedal, on several Trucks on my Grandmothers' Farm.
I also remember the Turn Signal Switches, being in a Housing that was Clamped to the Steering Column, just forward of the Steering Wheel, and Wipers that were operated by Manifold Vacuum
Click to expand...
Right there with you jimbo. Don’t forget the wing windows, the cig lighter, bumper jacks, push button tune on the radio and you could watch the red indicator move. Gas .65 a gallon.
 
A

airshot

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Chris1956 said:
Gee, remember the rust on the rocker panels in the 60s and 70s?

Cars are just about throwaways today. When they finally break, they can be worth so little is is not worth it to fix 'em.
Click to expand...
When you compare the cost of repairs to the cost if a new vehicle.....I can make an awful lot of repairs and still have money left over !
 
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tphoyt

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billhig said:
Well, my merc now starts like a beauty. After cleaning the carb, it was a lot better. I had a supposed "marine mechanic" do the link and sync but I suspect he didn't know what he was doing. The idle throttle stop was not even touching the lever so the carb plate was acting as the stop. I adjusted it until it is just touching the lever as the throttle plate is closed. Lastly, I replaced the last of the wiring. This motor has crazy bad mercury wire rot and I've already hard wired everything to the motor except the battery cables. I replaced them with some #6 cable and now it starts instantly. No choke, no throttle, no drama. You don't even hear it crank. i goes from off to running.

I want to get new engine side and boat side harnesses, but they cost $450-500 together.
Click to expand...
Glad you got her going again. It’s always nice to hear the good parts of the story and what the fix was. Enjoy.
 
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Chris1956

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The engine wiring harnesses were avail several places on the web. surplusunlimited was where I bought one for my '77 Merc.

You could buy a Deutch or Amphenol connector to replace the side quick d/c for short money.

The boat wiring harnesses were much more resilient than the engine wiring harnesses, maybe you can keep using yours, with new ends. They were marine tinned copper wire in '79, I would think.
 
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