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2us70
03-20-2005, 11:05 PM
Spent a couple of days at the Mt. Dora show this weekend and since a lot of my racing was done in front of 44 ci Merc 500s I looked all over for one. Mercury must have made a million of them how come you never see them anymore?

1BadAction
03-20-2005, 11:08 PM
was there a wing there this weekend?

Team Hydrostream
03-21-2005, 08:54 AM
My only guess is that most of them blew up or wore out like most other race engines.

Mark75H
03-21-2005, 09:08 AM
I see them all the time and pass them by. I have no trouble finding 500's here in MD. Like you said, Merc must have made a million or more from the 1950's (if you include Mk58's & 55A's) to 1990's. My guess as to why there were none at Mt Dora would be that they are considered so common and new that no one bothered to carry one there. How many 18 or 22 hp Johnsons & Evinrudes did you see? Not a racer, but same commoness.

Try the Antique Outboard Club's ads on their website: www.aomci.org (http://www.aomci.org)

you can even place a WANTED ad. Should draw a lot of responses :)

If you wanted to see 44's being raced you should have gone to the Winter Nationals at Ocoee this weekend .... 300+ entries. At least a few 44's in DSH & DMH, maybe FE too.

Jeff_G
03-21-2005, 10:36 AM
I was at Mt. Dora too. No wing but I understand there will be one in Cresent City for their meet. Ole Gator has details.

I think the reason no 50's nor many other motors above a 10hp, not on a boat, is just their size. Too heavy to lug around. A million 10 hp Mercs though! A great collection of small outboards. The only great big motors were Gary McNorris had a 1250 stacker on a MTZ a really weird boat from Calif. and a 150 XS on his Switzer. I didn't see any T2 T2X or anything else of matter in big outboards.

A great show though!

mk30h
03-22-2005, 01:23 AM
I'll have to send you a few pics of my Merc 500 and 400 still running and easy to lug around. Now I must admit that since I picked up a 6cly Merc 850 and a 1000, they are just too heavy to lug around, although my girl friend and I did get manage to put them in the trunk of my VW jetta. Now carrying them from the car to the dock and into the boat was a bit much. Think I will stick with the 4cly for lugging.

Jeff_G
03-22-2005, 10:02 AM
And you are how old?? :D

2us70
03-22-2005, 03:10 PM
A short shaft manual start Merc 500 weighs just about 150#. My McCall was built very light and if I left the motor on it all the time it would hook the bottom so I used to carry it in the trunk and rig it at the races just like the Stock Outboard guys did.

Jeff_G
03-23-2005, 09:33 AM
And when I was 25 I used to pull 235 OMC powerheads by hand too. Now nothing comes in my shop loose over 15 hp, and that is for 2 strokes! Guess I'm getting old.

Dave S
03-23-2005, 11:36 AM
I used to put power heads on in the boat, used to put on a L6 by my self. It was easyer if some one would help hold the lower pan so the shift shaft wouldn't move on me. I did it with the motor trimed up all the way and slide the studs rite on in. I have a 1964 Merc 500 short shaft if you want.

2us70
03-23-2005, 02:14 PM
I'm kind of partial to the later Thunderbolt ignition 2:1 lower unit short shaft manual motors. I imagine all the good props for those motors are long gone.

MagicFloat
03-23-2005, 05:06 PM
This thread brings back some memories. For model year 1969(0r was it 1970?),Merc went to the 2:1 gear ratio from the older 1:81 or 1.64 or something like that,but they didn't tell the dealers. We were using 11" pitch props on the fishing boats we were rigging,the new ratio needed 13". Result? Split reeds everywhere.I was a young Mercury dealer and had better things to do than replace reeds under warranty! And yeah,I remember pulling the powerheads off by hand. Not sure if these are fond memories or memories I want to forget. :D

Raceman
03-24-2005, 07:19 AM
I'll have to send you a few pics of my Merc 500 and 400 still running and easy to lug around. Now I must admit that since I picked up a 6cly Merc 850 and a 1000, they are just too heavy to lug around, although my girl friend and I did get manage to put them in the trunk of my VW jetta. Now carrying them from the car to the dock and into the boat was a bit much. Think I will stick with the 4cly for lugging.

Hell, I ain't even interested in luggin' a KG7H anymore, let alone a 4 cyl, and a cyl is a physical impossibility for me. On the plus side, for the same reasons the collectors have thus far shy'd away from the white and early black 6 cyls and they can still be bought for cheap.

2us70
03-24-2005, 12:04 PM
Those 44in 50s would turn 6200 all day as long as you were carefull while building them and ran enough oil in the mix. The old transfer port deflector piston design didn't need much octane so if you ran Amoco hightest you could more than double up on the oil and still not detonate or loose any power.