1967 Mercury 500 restoration and short shaft conversion

[Suprathepeg]

I picked up a motor for my hydro project yesterday. An old 1967 merc 500. Motor has spark, compression and came with a bunch of extra parts including an extra minty looking short shaft drive shaft. For the project boat this is going to be mounted on I would actually prefer it to be a short shaft.

Parts wise what all do I need to conver from long shaft to short? Can I just get a short shaft exhaust housing/mid section, cut down the shift shaft and swap over all the parts?

 

[Suprathepeg]

Also do the mid sections change from year to year or are they all the same?

 

[Chinewalker]

You would be FAR better off finding a short shaft parts motor to swap stuff around with. Mercury built the 50 for many years and there is a lot of compatibility between years. Stick with about '64-'69 for best compatibility with your existing motor.

What kind of hydro do you have? A service motor 50hp Merc is going to need a big boat. You'll also need a tall prop to keep the RPM down, as most standard aluminum props are going to spin up on that light of a boat.

 

[Suprathepeg]

Here is the build thread for the hydro. Its bigger than a typical hydro but the hull is probably going to be 350-450lbs dry at this stage.

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat...-hull-repair/10056000-old-3-point-hydro-build

 

[mr 88]

Having glanced at your resto post these are my thoughts. Skip the temp gauge and get a water pressure gauge hooked up,with no thermo in these motors you should be more concerned about getting water to the block.Seats,just get some fiberglass style cafeteria ones,lightweight and easy to pull the legs off and make a base for them. Your not going to be out there for a long time as the hull is going to demand flat water and most lakes by noon have enough boats roaming around that you will have to pull it out. So big buckets are just dead weight and you are not going to be cruising around in this for the day..You say your going with a jack plate,so if you cant find a short shaft motor build your plate 5" higher and use the long shaft... 350-450 dry is not that light for a hydro so the 50 is in no way overpowering it IMHO.

 

[Suprathepeg]

I replied to this in the build thread FYI.