Is this I-Line merc worth anythig?

[Spreadeagle]

what year do you think this is? Did this come as a short shaft or is it cobbled together from spare parts. If it's worth the money it might be a good match for my Checkmate V-mate I

whatta think

of course the bidding will probable go to eleventy million dollars - them crazy ebayers

later

[Spreadeagle]

try this-


http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1064530449&r=0&t=0&showTutorial=0&ed=1011832451&indexURL=0&rd=1

[crazy horse]

It did come in a short shaft, I owned one in 1971 I traded it in when I bought a 1974 150 short shaft. I don't think it is worth what the bid is at right now.

[Ron V]

To be honest, it's almost a matter of how much a buyer would charge the seller to take it off their hands. The inline 6s from those years were good motors but just aren't worth much today. However, it supposedly runs good and appears to be in better than average condition, and the short shaft is indeed rare on a 6 in those years. In fact, the short shaft midsection would be worth more to me than the rest of the motor. The power tilt in those years was not that reliable, and if the previous owner didn't know how to shift gears on a Merc there will be nothing left of the dogs. If I'm not mistaken you also can no longer buy pulse packs for those motors--you have to find used ones and they are expensive IF you can find them.

I think that $200 would have been a fair price if it started easily, ran well, and had good compression.

[Capt.Insane-o]

And they work fine.

[Mark75H]

It is a 1970 or 1971. I would certainly not buy that motor without seeing it run on a boat for more than $200. The bidders have more $$$$ than sense.

[Ron V]

Thanks Capt. Insane-O! I was not aware of that. Last I heard it was a bitch to find a pack for those motors. I'll keep that in mind for my dad's 1971 Merc 650 in case he ever has trouble.

[nelsoncat]

Hey guys,
what is a pulse pack and would my 77 1400 have them? I bought mine new in 78 and plan to keep it forever; it is a short shaft with power trim. The center section is from a 850xs.
Thanks
Nelsoncat

Hey Spread Eagle do you have any snow up in Florence County? I'm having LACK OF SLEDDING withdrawl!!!!!!!!!!

[Spreadeagle]

thanks for the feed back - I think I'll pass on it. Besides what I would really like for the Check mate is a 150XS any body know where I can find one. that darn E-bay just isn't doin it for me. I would rather deal outright with somebody-

I am also looking for 850XS parts

Nelsoncat- trails closed in Florence county - go NORTH, did a couple hundred in Munising last weekend. lots of traffic must of been every body in the free world with a snowmobile up there. However it was still better than sitting at home polishing it.

Later

[Scott]

This one was free and runs like a top!

[hrvx]

http://forums.screamandfly.com/showthread.php?threadid=8152

[Raceman]

That short 1350 is ridiculously overpriced. A 1500XS will run off and hide from it and I mean REAL BAD. As far as the electricals, that wouldn't deter me from buying it if I wanted it otherwise.

One other thing that nobody else has mentioned: Merc changed the bolt pattern on the powerhead base with the 1400 in 72 and everything else along with it in 73. There's nothing that will bolt to that tower newer than that, so any thought of using the tower/gearcase for a bigger engine project is impossible. The exhaust configuration is even totally different.

Awrite Freak, I'm sending you a private E mail blasting you for saying the old inlines arent worth much.

As far as 850XS's go, I've only run across 2 and one was too high, bought the other one. They're much rarer than 1500XS's, probably because the OMC 3 cyl's consistently out ran em at the races. Interestingly, while the 1500XS had higher port timing than the other 1500, the 850XS was a stone stock production powerhead. Even the little 650XS had the higher port timing like the 1500XS. I never did know why the 4 cyl engine wasn't raised also. I'm sure you're aware that all the parts are the same between the two motors except the powerhead (and some cowl hardware of course) and gear ratio in the lower.

[typhoon]

You tell 'em Raceman! I'm not that old, and even I know inlines rock!
Will post pics of my little beastie in the water as soon as I have it up and running, got a rebuilt powerhead...that'll show em!
I'm giving the motor a good clean up while it's apart, stripped some cowl parts, and repainting the whole thing. Should look great!
I am envious of you guys in the States..more inlines than you can shake a stick at, and so cheap!
Regards, Andrew.

[Raceman]

My friend Halfassed scored me a '74 1500 with power trim at the Salvation Army Store last week for 200 bucks. Not a shortshaft, or XS but a complete engine anyway, and the pore' thing looks pretty good.

[Ron V]

Raceman, Raceman, Raceman, apparently you didn't send it to the right e-mail address because I haven't received your blast yet. rvaughan76@aol.com.

I have nothing against the inline Mercs. They are some of my favorite motors because I grew up with one. It's just that the ones from the 60s and 70s just are not worth that much dollar-wise. I had a fellow AOMCI member show up in my driveway with a 1969 Merc 1250 last year. Had it on a pallet that they lifted into his van with a forklift and he apparently for some strange reason thought I'd grab it up and take it off his hands. I think he was a little pissed when I said I didn't want it. He would have given it to me for free. It needed work and I didn't have the room for it.

To show his ignorance, he thought it was an old "dockbuster".

If it had been a true dockbuster, it would have been worth even less than nothing.

[Mark75H]

Ron the next time you pass on a Dockbuster send it my way. See the cool motor as my avatar?
THE Dockbuster of Dockbusters a Mark75H


I can always use another 60 cubic inch block and I'd like to find an 85 hp 76ci powerhead.....I race those useless things

[Ron V]

Well now Sam, the Mark 75H is a little different kind of a dockbuster than the derelict pieces of crap that show up in the back of the cheesehead's pickup trucks at our swap meets! I had a guy who wanted to give me two of the regular production dockbusters at the Oconomowoc, WI meet a few years ago but I had no way to get them home and didn't want to get involved. Like I said, you can't give them away. He tried all day and couldn't. If I run across any I'll let you know. Even though I have no interest I would rather see them go to someone who appreciates them and likes them than see them go in the scrap pile. I have nothing against them because they are neat, but that reversing powerhead was not one of Carl K's better ideas.

I actually sold a 1962 Merc 850 (76 cuber) to a guy in our chapter a few years back. It had pretty low hours and ran pretty good. I doubt he's interested in selling it because he actually has been using it as his regular motor on the boat at his summer cottage, but the next time I talk to him I'll mention it.

[Flat Out]

If he ever wants to sell the Merc 850 let me know. Our first boat was an Owens 15' Dover with a Merc 850. I can still hear that rumblin' sound. I believe it was a 15" shaft and we had a 2 blade Quicksilver bronze prop.Gotta have the big white shifter too. I cried when my Dad sold it. I was about 8 at the time.Would love to get another one.

[Ron V]

Flat Out,

This one was actually a long shaft. And yep, it had that big white shifter, along with the decal on the midsection that advertised "Single Lever Full Gear Shift" with the external hookups and brass barrels to adjust the mechanisms. The only thing really wrong with it was that the bottom 1/3 of the skeg was gone, but we filed it to look pretty good and drove it 53 mph like that on my dad's 15' Pacecraft (Allison copy). Only drawback to using it on a high performance rig is that the water pickup was in the trim tab so you could only run about a 23" transom height and still be sure of enough water getting splashed up into there.

[Flat Out]

Our 85 had the side water pick ups and thru hub exhaust. I believe it was a '62 or '63. Could have been a '63 I don't know if Merc had a 85 in '62. '62 may have been an 80 hp model.

[nelsoncat]

What exactly is a dockbuster? Was that the direct reversing Merc from the 60's?
SkiDoo is using that technology for reverse on their new snowmobiles. Funny how what comes around goes around. Maybe the new SkidOMC's will use that!!
Nelsoncat

[Ron V]

Flat Out, if yours had the side water pickups then it was a '63 and it was the better block because it was 90 cubic inches. The '62s like mine were also 850s but were only 76 cubic inches. I think it was '61 and earlier that they were called 800s. Same bore as the 90 cuber but shorter stroke. There was a big difference in the amount of guts, though it was twin 76 cubers that Bob Switzer used (with racing lower units of course) to set the speed record with his Flying Wing.

nelsoncat, the reversing powerhead was a goofy idea that Mercury dreamed up where you had to shut the motor off and then hold down some type of button or some **** and then restart it. The powerhead would run backwards and that was your reverse. So any time you wanted to shift between forward and reverse you had to shut the motor off and restart it. I guess it eliminated the shifter dogs; how they managed to reverse the waterpump is beyond me. I don't know much about them. They called them "dockbusters" for obvious reasons.

[Spreadeagle]

Didnt the old dock busters have (2) starters, one forward start and one reverse start. (2) distributors or was the cap funky with (2) coils and a goofy rotor--- Seems pretty ingenious for it's time. I would think they would be rough on water pump impellers.

Ski-Doo actully slows the engine down with a push of a button and then changes the ignition timing to the point that the engine refires in the reverse direction. Aint microprossesor technology wonderful.

[Raceman]

Spread, the dockbusters have one starter with a double bendix (two sets of gears) that either go up or down depending on the direction of starter rotation. There is a linkage that drastically changes the distributor (timing) so it can crank backwards. There's a button on top of the shift lever and you just basically pull it through what would be a neutral position then hit the button and it cranks backward. With no neutral, the term "dockbuster" was coined from what happened if the motor didn't restart instantly in reverse.

[Mark75H]

That had 2 drives. One spiral engaged one up to the flywheel in the normal way the other started out above the and drove down when the starter turned the other way.

One distributer, dual coils were for each set of 3 cylinders, not one for each direction. The timing was changed half by linkage and half by slack in the distributer drive shaft.

The water pump worked by having 2 check valves offset beside eachother at the closed side of the water pump pocket. Water entered where the blades were straightest and exited while it was being pinched closest to the first check valve it met. This check valve would be in postion to allow water to go up to the motor. The second check valve would be 30 degrees away where the impellor was beginning to suck water in again, this check valve would be positioned to prevent water from coming in from the tube headed up to the motor.

[Spreadeagle]

must of made it hard to pull water skiers-

Raceman,thanks for clearing that up. I was pretty young when those engines came out about negative six years old to be exact, but I remember my Dad talking about them a few years back. It still seems like cool technology for it's time.

Later

[Raceman]

Spread, I still think it's cool technology. Imagine this: A Merc 300 drag powerhead on a champ housing with a #4 Super Speedmaster. Trick it up with the direct reversing (dockbuster style) starter and appropriate ignition linkage, and crank that sucker up running backwards and back it off the trailer. Also makes it a lot more maneuverable in tight places.

[XSRaveau]

I have a '57 Mark 75 that I use on a 15' wooden bateau, runs like a scalded dog. The direct reversing feature is really very nice once you get accustomed to it, no "clunk" or grinding of gears :)!

These were truly great engines, but the DR feature just was not for the average Joe Blow with ten thumbs.