1975 Mercury 850 Thunderbolt Shift Linkage Problems

Hi guys, this is my first post but I've be watching and researching the forums for a bit. I've got a bit of an issue with my 1975 Mercury 850 Thunderbolt serial# 4153912. The shift linkage has a nylon locking kit just inside from the boot on the cowl proper. For those that know, those plastic nylon parts fail and blow apart. The kit listed on Marine Engine is listed here : Mercury Quicksilver 87609A 1 - LEVER KIT QPD=NO NLA . Because the parts were broken and blown apart by the PO, I have no idea how they go together. I've acquired an NOS kit from ebay but it doesn't come with instructions. The Seloc manual is useless for this motor. Any and all help or guidance is much appreciated. Jeff

If you are referring to that black, figure eight shaped piece, you CAN run without it.

Jeff

fastjeff said:

If you are referring to that black, figure eight shaped piece, you CAN run without it.

Jeff

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It would be at least 2 of those parts. I just shifted the gears and the throttle, it seems to be working with those broken parts.


I have another dilemma in regards to the carbs and throttle linkage. I'll post a pic up. A little background on this outboard, the PO used it in saltwater and didn't properly flush it. He claimed he had a blown timing belt and that it fried the coil and switchbox. I replaced both of those and a lot of wires and got the motor to fire and run. It seemed to have a carb problem and I could smell gas....not good. So I removed the carbs and rebuilt them. Upon removal I found that they were full of fuel, oil, and grime. The gaskets just pulled off and you could see that there was still a lot of old gasket material left on the mounts that the PO never cleaned before putting the new gaskets on. I cleaned everything and got the carbs and hoses mounted. Now, I have what looks to be a missing part from the throttle linkage to the top carb. It looks as if there is some type of link or mount to a vertical ss shaft on the top carb, possibly coming from the top of the distributor and throttle plate. I can't see how it would even throttle up without that hooked up. Maybe on reason it was dying when I got it to fire and why the PO ran into a wall and gave up.

Attached is a pic of the top carb and the ss throttle post that has a drilled hole. I think it must mount somehow to one or two of the levers to the right of it mounted to the top of the distributor. They look like they are part of the throttle plate and upper linkage. What part or parts do I need to get this hooked up? Any and all help is much appreciated!