Mercury 9.8 hp - What Year Model?

[scout-j-m]

Found a 9.8 hp Mercury for sale locally. Seller is going to get me the serial number but in the meantime I thought I would ask here. Anyone care to chime in on the year or likely year? Here are the pics from ad.











The ad says it needs a power pack and pull cord. As pretty much all listings say, it says it ran great but the pack went out and he broke the cord trying start it not knowing it wasn't getting spark. Asking $100 so I was hoping I could take off the flywheel guard and try to use a rope to turn it over well enough to at least check the compression. Figure if compression is good and a power pack can be found for a reasonable price for that year it may be worth the gamble. I have been looking for a used 9.9 hp for a while now and haven't had any luck.

 

[scout-j-m]

I'd imagine the CDI electronics ignition pack for this size motor which fits years 1974-1985 would be the correct one. Went online to the site I bought the ignition components for my 70hp Force which had excellent prices and it was $166 there. If true, I'm not sure a $266 risk on this motor would be worth it.

 

[racerone]

Looks to be a 73 to 75 model.-------These are a good motor if you can do the work yourself.------Known issues with lower crank seal.----Major work to replace it.--Install a new impeller if you buy this motor.

 

[scout-j-m]

I appreciate it racerone. I'm confident I can do any work on it myself. I did a complete rebuild of my 70hp Force this past summer/fall and it is on the tail end of the break-in and running well. It really boils down to risk versus reward. For my 70hp the rebuild parts and machine shop work wasn't that bad but I had a bad stator, switchbox, and rectifier which cost about $500 and pushed the $700 rebuild to closer to $1200.

I'll just check it out. $100 plus a new power pack wouldn't be that bad if that's all it really needed. Of course it would need a new impeller, lower unit oil, and maybe some new fuel delivery related parts.

 

[scout-j-m]

How do you replace the pull rope on these motors? When I take a look at it I'd like to be able to turn it over to test the compression at least. Good compression plus a water free lower unit would probably make it worth the risk I would think.

 

[scout-j-m]

SN# is 4127535. Looks like that makes it a 1975 model.

 

[scout-j-m]

I am going to go take a look at it today at lunch. I brought some rope as well as some 550 paracord. In order to turn the motor over to test compression is it fairly easy to remove the recoil starter assembly to access the flywheel? And then will the flywheel have the notches it it for notching a knot of the rope/paracord in the flywheel and then being able to wrap it around and then give it a pull?

 

[scout-j-m]

The motor ended up being locked up so I did not purchase it. Too bad because they seem to be simple little engines. Pretty easy access to everything and what-not.