1981 175 Cowl

[kaifeiji]

Hello everyone,

I just purchased a 1981 Ranger Bass boat and was attempting to check compression on the engine when I ran into a small problem....I couldn't get to first base!!!

I feel retarded for asking this, but how do you remove the big plastic piece with the Mercury sticker on it from the back of the cowling? The top of the piece has a tab that engages the upper cowl, but the bottom seems to be held in place with a forked metal clip. I've tried pulling, prying, twisting, bending, and just about everything short of snapping the thing in two, but am still unable to remove it. Incidently, the top is easy to remove and provided me enough room to remove the sides of the cowl. However, I need to access the carbs and am unable to do so with the plastic piece on back still attached.

I know that I have to be missing something. I have a service manual for this engine and nowhere in it do they mention removing the cowling. Perhaps they felt that the process was so remedial that no explanation was warranted.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.......

[T-REX]

They are 4 rubber dampers that are held on by 1/4" nuts....Remove the nuts and the piece will kum off...

[kaifeiji]

Thank you very much, sir. I'll give that a try.

[kaifeiji]

After taking another look at it, the only thing that I see is plastic and screws, no nuts. The screws hold the metal piece that attaches to the plastic cover. The two metal prongs then disappear inside a plastic enclosure. Unfortunately, there is no way for me to remove those screws without destroying the plastic, which defeats the purpose. Did Mercury engineers really make it this difficult to remove an access panel...doesn't make sense. Time to get a Johnson. :smiletest:

[Wayne Cammidge]

Please post serial number and horsepower of your engine.
Not sure which engine to look at

[tlwjkw]

sounds like ya may have tha front and back confused...........T

There's a tang on tha bottom of tha piece tha prongs plug into that will release tha FRONT plate that tha metal prongs are attached to unless tha tang has been broken off.............

[T-REX]

Yea, I thank ya iz work'in on tha wrong end....Tha plastik cover iz the FRONT, and the fork holds it on....ther iz a lever under it that U push to the side, and it releases the fork(which haz barbs on it)....I had one tha I couldn't git to release, and had one ov them ther temper tantrums, and iz no longer any good.....Spray it good with WD-40, all up in and around the fork, and keep try'in it....Az TW say'z, the lever could be broke, and it makes thangs reel difficult!!

[kaifeiji]

Thanks to everyone for the help. I didn't realize that the, "Front", of the motor is the part closest to the transom and the, "Back", is the part farthest away. Strange....:(

Anyway, I'll look for the lever and try to get this piece off. Thanks again guys!

[T-REX]

Sorry, I originally took ya post az want'in to git the piece off the back...my bad...

I quess it depends on which way U iz look'in if da cowl iz backassward or frontwardz........

If tha WD-40 don't work...a saw'z all works ever time(and don't kare if it's tha front or tha back):eek::D

[Wayne Cammidge]

Won't to get confused, have a customer tell you the front of the prop has some problem. Do not even try and get to the bottom of that one. Get in your car a drive to the customer, it will be quicker in the long run than trying to explain which end is the front.