Brought the 75 home last night - cleaning up nice
- Thread starter caveman
- Start date
steplift20
God
Caveman, she is go8ng to clean up very nice , the outside of the hull looks great. Get some bleach,soft scrub and toilet cleaner and go to work. If you have a power washer. Now is the time to use it.
You hav3 to show updates as you go along. Welcome to the site. Now your family
You hav3 to show updates as you go along. Welcome to the site. Now your family
Cleaned up good. Everything seems solid (transom, deck, etc). Hooked up a good batt from another project and she cranked over. Hydraulics were dry so I picked up some Quicksilver Power Steering and Trim fluid, topped her off and we were able to trim up to remove the support bracket from the top and trim down with help pushing (probably overfilled -relieved some fluid). I'm not sure if went all the way down. It was still at an angle a bit. Tried like hell to get it to budge a bit more but no go.
Got a fire extinguisher at the ready, hooked up my small external tank for my 4 stroke outboard, put her on the hose, and tried to crank. Would not fire. Removed flame arrestor from carb and primed but nothing. I did notice that starring fluid came out from under the carb mounting nuts when I sprayed it in...a lot. Might need a new gasket.
No luck starting but everything seems promising. I didn't see any gas coming from the portable tank into the carb. Maybe some blockage or too much leak/air.
Next step would be carb gasket (but I think it would fire or try if I'm priming with starting fluid) and check points/cables/plugs, yes?
Got a fire extinguisher at the ready, hooked up my small external tank for my 4 stroke outboard, put her on the hose, and tried to crank. Would not fire. Removed flame arrestor from carb and primed but nothing. I did notice that starring fluid came out from under the carb mounting nuts when I sprayed it in...a lot. Might need a new gasket.
No luck starting but everything seems promising. I didn't see any gas coming from the portable tank into the carb. Maybe some blockage or too much leak/air.
Next step would be carb gasket (but I think it would fire or try if I'm priming with starting fluid) and check points/cables/plugs, yes?
scook
God
It should kick over with carb primed, but with starting fluid leaking out, there’s a vacuum leak that won’t let it run. Sounds like you’re on the right track. I don’t recall if you got how important it is to replace the outdrive impeller and be sure there’s water running through the outdrive when you get it running. I made that mistake and suffered for it.
steplift20
God
Scook good advice. Wait for more advice from the heavy hitters.
The thing I would check is the fuel filters and fuel lines first
The thing I would check is the fuel filters and fuel lines first
scook
God
Right on Step. SpareParts recommended that to me ages ago when I was getting mine going, and said to buy the good USCG approved fuel line - itt lasts. Also, the fuel filter, which also catches water could be holding a fair amount of water.
Something else I haven’t noticed mentioned is the heat exchanger, if you have one. Pretty sure my setup is like what I see in the pictures - a Mercruiser 170. Mine has a heat exchanger that keeps the engine coolant separate from the raw water pumped in from the outdrive. If you have that and live where it gets cold in the winter, be SURE to take the plug out and drain it at the end of the season. That exchanger is expensive and a hard freeze if it’s full of water can destroy it- I think Mercury wanted around $1200 or more for it ten or fifteen years ago. Fortunately, I found out that they were, and maybe still are, manufactured by a company in the Pacific NW and got one for about half price. If you have that problem, let me know and I’ll try to find where you can buy one more directly.
Something else I haven’t noticed mentioned is the heat exchanger, if you have one. Pretty sure my setup is like what I see in the pictures - a Mercruiser 170. Mine has a heat exchanger that keeps the engine coolant separate from the raw water pumped in from the outdrive. If you have that and live where it gets cold in the winter, be SURE to take the plug out and drain it at the end of the season. That exchanger is expensive and a hard freeze if it’s full of water can destroy it- I think Mercury wanted around $1200 or more for it ten or fifteen years ago. Fortunately, I found out that they were, and maybe still are, manufactured by a company in the Pacific NW and got one for about half price. If you have that problem, let me know and I’ll try to find where you can buy one more directly.
spareparts
God
fix the vacuum leak, put a new set of points in and see if you are gettin an spark. Once you've determined the engine is good, Id invest in an electronic ignition conversion for it. Scook, his engine is the 250 cubic inch straight 6 chevy motor, your engine was the Mercruiser 224 cubic inch 4 cylinder, differnt engines
@spareparts - Thanks. I will definitely upgrade to Pertronix or similar once I determine if outdrive is good.
It's on a spare plastic tank with fresh-ish fuel. I picked up a couple of carb base gaskets and I was going to swap one out, but disassembly of the linkage, etc looks a little challenging. Maybe some of the parts just slip out, but I don't want to forget how it goes back together. After some more research I'm wondering if the starting fluid was running out through some kind of overflow. I didn't spray that much. Could the extra/overflow just been leaking out of the carb through an overflow of some sort. I did loosen the carb base nuts already a bit so going to have to move forward with replacing the gasket.
The start switch has been moved to the back near the motor. Just a push button. There is a vacuum gauge back there with a line from the carb. Check pics. I don't have a key currently (waiting on mail) so I guess it wasn't getting spark.
1) Should I drop some oil in the cyls before I crank it too much? I was watching an engine restoration vid last night (another Merc 165) and a guy used Marvel Mystery Oil for this purpose.
2) In addition to the hard fuel line there is an another hard line (wrapped in heat shield) that goes straight down to manifold on the stbd side of the carb. I loosened that fitting and the whole pipe came off from the manifold - looked like something might have broken - there is a small stand off left in place - not sure how it mates/mounts up. Looks to be coming off the choke. What is this for and will it affect vacuum?
3) Before I get any further Im going to vacuum/clean off the engine (no washing yet). I don't want anything falling off down in any holes left by things like #2 above.
4) There is also the vacuum line to the gauge sitting above the engine. I suppose this could be dry-rotted. Should I replace that? I don't even know if the gauge is good anymore.
5) Can I short the key "on" switch to get power back to the coil?
The bad (potentially) - I lowered/trimmed down the drive leg and removed the oil plug. Some clear (very clear) water ran out (not white/milky but clean). Then some oil started draining very slowly and I put the plug back in. Is presence of water in there a definite sign that seals are bad? Could water have gotten in some other way of the years and settled in the bottom of the housing? Also maybe the drive is just empty and in need of refill.
It's on a spare plastic tank with fresh-ish fuel. I picked up a couple of carb base gaskets and I was going to swap one out, but disassembly of the linkage, etc looks a little challenging. Maybe some of the parts just slip out, but I don't want to forget how it goes back together. After some more research I'm wondering if the starting fluid was running out through some kind of overflow. I didn't spray that much. Could the extra/overflow just been leaking out of the carb through an overflow of some sort. I did loosen the carb base nuts already a bit so going to have to move forward with replacing the gasket.
The start switch has been moved to the back near the motor. Just a push button. There is a vacuum gauge back there with a line from the carb. Check pics. I don't have a key currently (waiting on mail) so I guess it wasn't getting spark.
1) Should I drop some oil in the cyls before I crank it too much? I was watching an engine restoration vid last night (another Merc 165) and a guy used Marvel Mystery Oil for this purpose.
2) In addition to the hard fuel line there is an another hard line (wrapped in heat shield) that goes straight down to manifold on the stbd side of the carb. I loosened that fitting and the whole pipe came off from the manifold - looked like something might have broken - there is a small stand off left in place - not sure how it mates/mounts up. Looks to be coming off the choke. What is this for and will it affect vacuum?
3) Before I get any further Im going to vacuum/clean off the engine (no washing yet). I don't want anything falling off down in any holes left by things like #2 above.
4) There is also the vacuum line to the gauge sitting above the engine. I suppose this could be dry-rotted. Should I replace that? I don't even know if the gauge is good anymore.
5) Can I short the key "on" switch to get power back to the coil?
The bad (potentially) - I lowered/trimmed down the drive leg and removed the oil plug. Some clear (very clear) water ran out (not white/milky but clean). Then some oil started draining very slowly and I put the plug back in. Is presence of water in there a definite sign that seals are bad? Could water have gotten in some other way of the years and settled in the bottom of the housing? Also maybe the drive is just empty and in need of refill.
