Mercontrol Alternative

[DustinGrieser]

What is a good alternative to the Mercontrols that came with my 1967 650 Thunderbolt? Is there such a thing or am I stuck in trying to get these things to work? The controls that I have now (white box, warm-up lever) don't seem to be functional although I've never installed them. The levers actuate the cables without too much effort but they don't seem to extend far enough. Hell, they may be working fine - I have no idea how far they're supposed to extend the cable but they just don't feel right. Ambiguous question, I know, but I'm just starting to learn with all this stuff so it's all new to me. If there aren't any alternatives to the Mercontrols, I will see about fixing what I've got. Thank you in advance!

 

[Texasmark]

Disconnect the shifter cable at the engine. Move the control from full F to full R. Measure the travel. Go to the engine and manually move the slider from full F to R being careful when going to R that someone is spinning the prop manually so that the R cogs on the shifter and R gear can line up and you can complete the full shift movement. Different than F which doesn't require that.

Then go to the throttle and do the same.

Then decide if you have a problem or not. The engine should be determining the length of movement, not the control.

This site sells the Quicksilver/Mercury Commander 2000. An excellent control. I bought one to replace my then current control and it works like a champ. However, back in '67 the electrical connector was still on the starboard side of the engine (external not internal in later designs) and you may have a problem.

Call-email and ask here and Mercury.

Mark

 

[DustinGrieser]

Mark,

Thank you for your response and I appreciate your advice. I have to get everything installed which shouldn't take too terribly long and will do what you suggested.

I will also check out the Commander 2000 if all else fails. I'm pretty handy with electrical so I can rig up a switch using the schematics that I have if I need to.

Thanks again,

Dustin

 

[Texasmark]

Color codes may not be the same on your engine as currently used by Mercury. Regardless functionality is there and there are enough knowledgeable guys on here to get you a correlation. Orrrrrr you could subscribe to the Seloc manual (upper right corner of this page) for a period of time (cheapest route) and have immediate access to color codes.

Mark