Mariner to Yamaha crossover

[mpbond]

Can anyone tell me what the equivalent model of Yamaha would me for my Mariner motor? I'm having a little trouble finding parts.

Numbers on the motor plate are:

40EL 6E9 L 422073

Thanks in advance.

 

[galamb]

Yep, 1981 thru 1983 model 40FE Yami.

 

[mpbond]

Thanks a lot. My motor is an 86. So they just rebadged older models then and not models from the same year?

 

[galamb]

Sometimes but not always.

Merc had an extensive relationship with Yamaha for a lot of years. Yami made many power heads and gears for many "Mercury" models up until they had a falling out, in court, when Yami started really getting into the North American market.

Anyhow, the Yamaha-Mariner line was never initially intended to be sold in Europe or North America. Merc was looking for a no-frills, budget line to sell primarily in Asia. The cost of producing a (real) Merc and marketing there left them un-competative.

So the Mariner line (by Yamaha) was born. Initially, to keep the costs down the models were copies of "earlier" and sometimes discontinued Yamaha motors. In other cases, the Mariner was introduced at the point where Yami had already decided to stop production or change their own model which the Mariner was based on.

This achieved benefits for both Yami and Merc. Yami could get rid of a warehouse load of parts for a model they either no longer produced or were changing and Merc got the "discount" for essentially buying the "whole box of parts" and having Yami assemble it for them.

This worked well for both companies. Merc got inexpensive outboards to sell in less prosperous markets and Yami got rid of "old stock".

In the process the Mariner line got popular "outside" of the target countries. In particular, Australia and Great Britain latched right on to a couple of the models - the 40 horse being one of them. So Yamaha kept cranking them out long after they had moved on to another model.

Your particular motor is referred to as a model 40C, which was the third (and last) iteration of the Yamaha built 40 horse Mariners, and by far the most popular, staying in production until 1992.

So, short answer is Yes - just a rebadged older model. That was the only way to keep the cost down. If it was "current technology" it would have been reflected in the price (of the new Mariner).

So "not leading edge" when new, but not "junk" - just "new old stock".

 

[mpbond]

Nice, thanks for the history lesson. Interesting.