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1968 mercury 650. just bought

fire151

New member
Hi i used to have a differnt user name but cant remember it. but anyways .Today I just bought a boat for a steal of a deal. It has a almost bran new looking 1968 i think mercury 650. sn# 2448260. It has been sitting in a garage for 25 years on the back of this boat and has not seen daylight till today. I was wondering how good of a motor this is? I put in gear and turned prop manualy and has awsome compression. I need to know what i need to do to this motor before i even think of starting it. I am getting new impeller first off. what else should i do? seals? gaskets? ignition? and what is the fuel ratio? I can do the work myself. any help would be greatfull. I still cant beleave how new it looks. not a scratch or any chipping or paint fadeing at all and totaly complete.:)
 
I believe that motor has a magneto with points. They will need to be cleaned and re-gapped. The crank seals will also have to go, even though it may run with them (but not right, and they will get worse). You might get away without resealing the lower unit, but keep an eye on it for water intrusion.

IF--repeat--IF the motor was put away correctly, the carbs might work okay. Most likely, though, they will need a thorough cleaning.

Good luck! Those were good motors.

Jeff
 
thanks fastjeff. I want to do everything right the first time. ill replace the crank seals get the carbs cleaned and adj. going to reseal lower unit if it needs it or not. pull flywheel and clean and regap points. anything else i need to know? what is the fuel to oil ratio?
 
There are no points on that motor !!!! It has a belt driven distributor and on earlier versions the points were in there.-------Gas oil ratio is 50:1 -----Excellent / tough motors.
 
Good idea I would say.---------------It is very easy to make expensive mistakes if you are not familiar with these motors !!
 
..."There are no points on that motor"

Correct! Thats a good ignition system IF the wiring isn't all falling to pieces, which is common on Mercs around that period. If it is, get back to us before tearing it apart.

Jeff
 
Looked at wires and yes there are some brittle wires in there i will need to replace. but the plug wires and fuel lines seem like new yet. but there was a oil like substance in the front of the motor cover. should i be worried about this? or is this from 25 years of sitting in the up position on back of boat. cant tell anywhere that it has come from engine.mercury.jpg
 
On the typically ratty wiring (what were they smoking when they bought that garbage!) you have to be patient and very careful when you replace them. I use a box of old wires in a zillion colors in an attempt to maintain the same color code. That's what you try to do: Take one wire at a time, cut it close to its source, then replace it with a good wire.

Jeff

PS: A yellow wire with a red tracer (for example) can be created using yellow wire and a red Sharpie marker.
 
Finally got to go though this old motor thanks to the warm weather. I instantly replaced the water pump and changed the outdrive oil. fixed a few ratty wires and hoses for fuel. put on the muffs and fired right up no problem after i had to manually choke it. but then rewired the sylinoid to a push button and choke works great now. I took it to the river the other day and tested it going up stream of corse and stalled after about 5 min. oops my fault. i didnt vent my gas tank. but after that ran great for the next hour i had it on the river and pulled it out. glad i bought it and redone my wireing likr you said fast jeff. thanks for all the advice. the old 4 banger is running awsome.
 
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