mercry 85 hp inline with thunderbolt ignition

[lwebb]

I have recently procured a 4 cylinder mercury with a thunderbolt ignition. looking under the cowling the wireing is corroded all to hell. otherwise however it is in pretty good shape and turns over well. What i am looking for if anyone can help me out with this is i want to know <br />1)what year this motor is or what years it could be?<br /><br />2)i would like to know where i can find a description or a schematic about how this thunderbolt ignition works?<br /><br />3) whare can i find a manual for this motor and a good source for parts as well?<br /><br />I would like to thank anyone who takes the time to read this and any advise about this would be very greatly appreciated. I am hopint to be able to fire this puppy up in 2 weeks.

 

[Ben Konopacky]

Re: mercry 85 hp inline with thunderbolt ignition

for a start we need a SN# to get a year,a merc. or seloc manual for that year will give you most of the answers.

 

[lwebb]

Re: mercry 85 hp inline with thunderbolt ignition

Iknow that so i wrote the serial number down and left it 100 miles away with no way to see it untill the weekend after next. What i would like to know if there is another way to narrow it down so that i can at least begin to get a handle on how this ignition works. Is there anywhere that i can get a general schmetic of this type of ignition i hear they have a distributor or something of that nature?

 

[ricksrster]

Re: mercry 85 hp inline with thunderbolt ignition

Some 85 hp thunderbolts have a distributor and some don't. A serial number and year will let you know exactly what you are working with.

 

[Clams Canino]

Re: mercry 85 hp inline with thunderbolt ignition

Assuming yours is a 1970's model there are usually brand new discount internal wire harnesses available on Ebay. Just search on "Mercury internal harness". If it has a distributor, it's a batter driven, trigger fired, CDI type ignition. Pretty simple really.<br /><br />-W

 

[lwebb]

Re: mercry 85 hp inline with thunderbolt ignition

I got my father to tell me the serial number it is 4721500 That is it no letters. I tried to check it and i could not find anything on it. I found one website that says it is somewhere between a 77-79 model. However i could not find anything on the ignition. Can someone please tell me what thunderbolt ignition means. On close inspection i could not see a distributor on it so icant say for sure wether it has one or not.

 

[ricksrster]

Re: mercry 85 hp inline with thunderbolt ignition

you have a 1977. go to this site. At the bottom right you can download a manual. It has 'bout everything you need to get started incluing diagrams. When you go to pick a manual select older.

 

[timmathis]

Re: mercry 85 hp inline with thunderbolt ignition

What site Rick?

 

[timmathis]

Re: mercry 85 hp inline with thunderbolt ignition

You may find some help here<br />Go To http://www.outboardparts.com/pindex.html <br />Good Luck, Tim

 

[ricksrster]

Re: mercry 85 hp inline with thunderbolt ignition

http://www.marinepower.com/download/dosearch

 

[lwebb]

Re: mercry 85 hp inline with thunderbolt ignition

Thank you for the replies i looked through the links however, i was unable to fine the manual for my motor. Could somebody please tell me wether this motor (1977 850) should have a distributor or not, and if it would where would it be located? would it be visible with the cowling off or would i have to dig further?

 

[ricksrster]

Re: mercry 85 hp inline with thunderbolt ignition

No distributor. you have a trigger, switch box, 4 coils.

 

[Clams Canino]

Re: mercry 85 hp inline with thunderbolt ignition

Ya that otta have a trigger (no distributor). Same internal harness though, Just a couple wires used differently.<br /><br />-W