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1971 Mercury 110 9.8 Basket Case

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ALH27

New member
I picked up a 1971 Mercury 110 9.8 for cheap with the knowledge that it didn’t run. What I didn’t know at the time was that this motor has the infamous Thunderbolt phase maker ignition. I now have more time and money into this thing than I’d originally intended and I still can’t get it to fire. Not even a cough or wheeze. No spark on either cylinder. I’ve read just about every forum post I can find to no avail. So I’ll start with the list of things I’ve done and tried, and maybe you guys can point me in the right direction:



  • Rebuilt carburetor
  • Rebuilt/repaired fuel pump
  • New point insulator blocks
  • Points set to .020 gap
  • All new wiring with proper insulation
  • Stator “kill switch” wire ran to ground
  • New green coils
  • Tested new coils with a multimeter. Coils fully connected to system - Primary circuit: .3 ohms. Secondary circuit: ~600 ohms. Coils fully disconnected from system - Primary circuit: .3 ohms. Secondary circuit: no readout (no continuity?)
  • Ran the following diagnostics per CDI and got a spark on the jumper wire to ground on both coils:


“NO SPARK ON ANY CYLINDER:
Disconnect the Brown and White points wires from the ignition coils and connect a jumper wire to the negative
side of the coils. Crank the engine and carefully tap the jumper to engine ground, if the coil sparks – check the points and points wires. If it fails to spark, inspect the ignition coil.”


I’ve inspected and re-inspected the points and points wires. The points aren’t pristine, but I’ve read they don’t have to be for this motor. The points wires are new and good.


So now I’m at a loss. Are my new coils bad? Bad points? Is my stator bad? How do I test the stator? I’m not sure what my next step should be. Thanks in advance for any guidance you guys can provide.
 
Unfortunately from what I’ve read on this motor, the condenser is contained within the stator, so I can’t really replace that without replacing the whole $300 stator. And I’m not sure the stator is my problem seeing as I can get a spark out of the coils by attaching a jumper to the negative coil post, cranking the engine a few times, then tapping the open end of the jumper wire to ground.
 
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