Re: Help, mercury motor
The gas / oil mix is 50/1 That's 1/2 a quart for a six gallon tank. You add the oil in the tank then pump the gas.<br /><br />It's out of the 70's - I don't look up years, because they're all the same.<br /><br />You cannot run it out of water AT ALL, or the rubber waterpump impeller will get porked. There is a hose attachment you can buy for cheap to let you put water to it when it's out of water.<br /><br />If it's new to you with an unknown or spotty history you should:<br /><br />Get a service manual ($25)<br />Do a compression test<br />Put in a new waterpump impeller ($24)<br />Change the lower unit lube ($6-$8)<br />Make sure the max advance is 21 degrees not more<br />Put a kit in the fuel pump (under $20)<br />Clean the carbs<br />Then once it's running do the timing and sync procedure in full.<br /><br />Even if it came to you for free - there's no such thing as a free outboard. Spending a weekend and doing *all* of the above will save you many hundreds in repairs later. If you can't do all this yourself, take it to a Mercury shop where you get a "vibe" that they are both competant and enthusiastic to work on the old inlines.<br /><br />-W
