50 HP Merc

[stylishskier]

I have two mercury 50s, of two different years... sometime in the 70s/ late 60s, my friend examined the engines and one of them has no compression in the 3rd cylinder, but the other appears to have compression but is missing some ignition parts. Shouldn't I be able to build a complete engine from these two? Didn't mercury's 4 cylinder 50 stay the same from its beginning till the 90s I thought?
any help appreciated, I'd like to get this 68/69 13 foot checkmate project goen in the spring, motor is the only thing holding up the progress as of now...

[Eagle One]

1968 to about 1975 should have a lot of parts that will interchange. Both year models should have the distributor type ignition. The later year models with a crank trigger ignition had a few block changes and less interchange of parts.
Eagle One

[crazy horse]

You need to post the two ser.#, Merc change the four cly. engines over the years. If there not to far apart in years then maybe you can swap parts. Merc's made inline fours for a long ass time I still own 5 or 6 older ones the oldest being a 1956 mark 30 and there aren't alot of parts that will fit one thats fairly new. Inline four partS are pretty easy to come by, So I wouldn't worry to much if you need a part that you don't have:D.

[stylishskier]

cool, sorry I sort of disappeared from the thread, I've had a hell of a time lately at school ~ Clarkson University, exams and whatnot. When I get home I will get the serial numbers and then we can figure out what years I actually have because I have no clue how to determine that.
Thanks
Duane

[capnzee]

Hey Duane, good luck in school! Those engines you mentioned were so popular in the "old days" that there must be a million out there somewhere that you can get for practically nothing. Get that one with the "0" compression apart and see what the problem is, it may be as simple as "stuck" rings, or it may be more serious. You should be able to get both of those oldies running for not much money---but you have to be willing to do the work yourself! Scream and Fly members are more than happy to help in any way they can. Buy yourself a Merc tech book and go to work! or wait til you graduate and are making the "big bucks", then you can buy what you want and leave the rest to the working stiffs.
CapnZee

[mercmack]

THIS IS ONE OF THE "FUNEST" MOTORS TO WORK WITH THAT MERC EVERY MADE...I HAD A OLD MARK 58 THAT I KEEP UP DATING OVER THE YEARS, STAYED WITH THE OLD MAG, EASIER TO SERVICE ..GOOD LUCK ON YOUR PROJECT...THERES LOT TO LEARN.AND THE KNOWLEDGE WILL HELP AS YOU GO BIGGER IF YOU STAY IN THE OLD INLINE SERIOUS...:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: