Is this motor worth repairing?

[jerryjerry05]

Re: Is this motor worth repairing?

1964 85hp.

I was going to rewire and check for spark while I wait for the carb and water pump kits to come in.
Is there a engine wiring diagram available for the '64 Mercury 850?



Not to get off subject...........I can get this motor(50hp) for free.
The owner says the engine runs but is stuck in forward gear. Worth fixing?

OMC electric shift is NOT a good buy.One drop of water can ruin the lower.Even if it runs good.The parts are hard to find and I work on almost anything but won't touch one of these!!!
From the pic it's an electric shift. LOT"S of problems.Get it and sell the parts!!!!

 

[kax2000]

Re: Is this motor worth repairing?

How about this Barn Find?
Is it really worth it?
It was buried in the corner....pics not to good.

60?s Dorsett? with 60 Merc 300?

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Is this motor worth repairing?

That hull and motor are awesome! Parts are probably tough to find for that Merc but it's such a classic it may be worth it.

 

[kax2000]

Re: Is this motor worth repairing?

Agreed, it is awesome.

The real question is?do I assume it is rotted because of its age?
How do you test a boat that is not yours for rot?

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Is this motor worth repairing?

Someone whose inspected more then 1 prospective project can probably answer you better about giving this barn find a really good once over. But in my case it was CLEARLY obvious the boat had been left outside & uncovered for a very long time. The deck came out in 6"X6" squares by hand, right up to where it joined the hull & transom. Complete mush. Looked like dark brown mulch, smelled similar. It was easy to tell the transom was 100% gone too. Unless they are trying to hide the rot, the owner should let you poke around with an awl. A few tests in several areas will give you a good idea if there's any rot. If it's got carpet, look for discolored & loose areas, probe under them 1st. Soft deck=ruined stringers during this inspection and then expect to have enough soft spots in the transom to require replacement. That will probably mean removing the cap. I lucked out & have no wood inside my 'glass stringers, so I just need to finish grinding the deck to hull joint, & lay a new deck. The cap has to come off for me to replace the transom.

Where does the free 800 Merc stand? Get it started, torn down? On a motor stand ready & waiting for a 15" transom to push around a lake near you?

The Dorsett is good looking, I like the logo spear you took a pix of. Good luck getting the Dorsett home for a 'deal' and dropping the 800 on her!

 

[kax2000]

Re: Is this motor worth repairing?

Someone whose inspected more then 1 prospective project can probably answer you better about giving this barn find a really good once over. But in my case it was CLEARLY obvious the boat had been left outside & uncovered for a very long time. The deck came out in 6"X6" squares by hand, right up to where it joined the hull & transom. Complete mush. Looked like dark brown mulch, smelled similar. It was easy to tell the transom was 100% gone too. Unless they are trying to hide the rot, the owner should let you poke around with an awl. A few tests in several areas will give you a good idea if there's any rot. If it's got carpet, look for discolored & loose areas, probe under them 1st. Soft deck=ruined stringers during this inspection and then expect to have enough soft spots in the transom to require replacement. That will probably mean removing the cap. I lucked out & have no wood inside my 'glass stringers, so I just need to finish grinding the deck to hull joint, & lay a new deck. The cap has to come off for me to replace the transom.

Where does the free 800 Merc stand? Get it started, torn down? On a motor stand ready & waiting for a 15" transom to push around a lake near you?

The Dorsett is good looking, I like the logo spear you took a pix of. Good luck getting the Dorsett home for a 'deal' and dropping the 800 on her!

Thanks for the good info on finding rot.

As far as the 850 goes, ignition/spark, carbs, impeller, fuel pumps, rewire all done.
6 expensive fuel lines not done.

And for the Dorsett, the current owner said ?if you can get it outta there you can have it for free?. I guess that?s a deal if it?s not rotten.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Is this motor worth repairing?

Free boats are often the most expensive! I still think that if YOU like it, it's worth the expense to rehab. Ezmobee & I, and a lot of others too, would grab it & run before owner decides he could have charged you for it. I'd bet he thought he'd have to pay someone to haul it off to get space back in the barn.
Go through the Dorsetts here, once you can see the whole boat, splashwell, stern & along the whole port/starboard side views. You maybe able to come up w/ a year.

Especially w/ free boats: get as much paperwork as possible before you haul it off. WV is a pain to transfer boats that are un-titled, even if previous state had no provision to title/license/register boats under 15 or 16ft. Not impossible, La/Tx/Fl and many many others are IMPOSSIBLE!!!! w/out proper paperwork & titles that can be transferred upon purchase. Indiana could be anywhere on the spectrum, so be aware of it's requirements. It is rarely simple to license/register/title boats with just a bill of sale. Especially across state lines. Crossing into WV is where most of my problems occurred. But I am now on a path to getting it correctly registered, & titled in my name in WV.

W/ the internet, it may be fairly easy to identify year, model & manufacturer of older boats. That was not the case as boats transferred through families & on to new owners when someone passed. Mine was incorrectly identified as a 1957 boat (because it was easy to ID the motor it had, '57 Johnson SeaHorse). So run a title or registration search on the main iBoats forum page & you'll see lots of people have many different & various degrees of difficulty with the paperwork parts of a restoration/rehab project.

Actually, I was referring to the 1st post in this thread, isn't it a 800Merc in that photo? If you still have it, and ever decide to part w/ that 800 Merc for a different motor, please let me know. I like the 850 posted on Oct 8th too. Short shafts have proven hard for me to find around here for anything close to reasonable.

Have a great weekend.

 

[kax2000]

Re: Is this motor worth repairing?

I grabbed the Fabuglas(#34) and gave it to a friend and spent most of the winter helping get it road and water worthy.
We got it on the water today, but need a little help with WOT MPH(GPS).


Starting here.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=536629