'71 Mercury 110 9.8hp gear selector lever replacement

Hi y'all!! I am looking at possibly buying the above mentioned motor, but it is missing the gear selector lever itself and also the assembly does not seemed to be engaged on the gear selector shaft that goes into the lower unit. the current owner bought it as it is and never has had it running since he bought 3-4 months ago but claims the owner before him said it ran fine before the gear on the end of the selector switch broke or fell off. It seems to be stuck in gear and I would love to be able to get this motor started to see if it runs good first to even consider buying it and also would like to know how hard of a project would it be to replace the whole gear selector assembly if I can even find one. Also the bottom part of the skeg(I think that's what its called) was broken off at one point and is bolted in place by 2 flat straps of metal and bolts. How can I get it into neutral to start it as it is now? Is this year motor a good one, strong with little known problems? How much is it worth as is? Thanks in advance for any help.

Old motor but not antique.

Merc Type 2 ignition - the original "Thunderbolt" - more properly called a Phasemaker - has an early "stator" and twin sets of points - worked well in the day. Can't get the stator anymore. Points are available at about 142 bucks each (needs 2) and then the coils that go to the plugs list at about 115 bucks each (yep - need 2 again) - so if the stator is ok but the coils/points are toast you are over 500 bucks into the motor if you do the work yourself (add another couple of hundred and you can get a "great" post 1986 9.9 horse which is probably the best 9.9 on the planet).

While you can get a new gear selector handle, the "guts" of the linkage are long discontinued. Yes, there are some recycler's out there that can probably help you out, but again, you might drop 100 bucks for parts - then you don't know at this point if the gears are ok - or if the cylinders are scored for that matter.

Merc's under 25 horses are my "bread and butter" engines - I love them and would work on them exclusively forever. But honestly, I can't think of why I would even try to restore this motor on a personal level (if you brought this to me in the condition you describe here it could wind up costing more to repair than the cost of a brand new 4 stroke model, once you factor parts and potential labour).

It's not "old enough" to restore to put on say a 1950's lapstrake runabout, but it's not "new enough" to have modern/available parts.

As described I would peg the value at about 30 bucks (that's the scrap rate spot for aluminum and steel combined on a 75 lb motor).

Not trying to be mean, but this motor, as described, sounds like a "hornets nest" best left in the ditch where it can't bother anyone...

Thanks for an honest response galamb, I really appreciate it. I did do some research and noticed that the parts were expensive, if available, and others are hard to find. I am gonna pass on this motor since I am not sure if it even runs. Thanks again for your response.