1974 mercruiser 140 hp NAPA parts??

fishrdan

Admiral
Joined
Jan 25, 2008
Messages
6,989
Re: 1974 mercruiser 140 hp NAPA parts??

Did you pull the distributor to see if the pin was sheared or if the gear was worn? I'm guessing no since you didn't mention whether the gear was messed up of if it was just the roll pin.

If the roll pin sheared your old gear could be OK, you just need to replace the broken roll pin. If the distributor gear is worn or missing teeth I would be seriously looking at the cam's distributor drive gear also, one can wear out the other.

When you're at the parts store picking up the dist gear, pickup a roll pin for it too. They should have roll pins in their bulk supplies, like nuts and bolts, etc.. The roll pin could be longer than what is required for the gear so you might need to grind it to length, grind slow and keep the pin cooled with water or an ice cube.

Do you have a timing light to set engine timing after the distributor is replaced?

As for chunks of metal left in oil pan, the only way to know they are gone is to pull the engine and pop the pan off and that would be the best thing to do. I've pulled a couple engines that had small metal pieces in the pan and the metal chunk was resting on the bottom of the pan and causing no harm. It's a roll of the dice as you could be removing the engine for nothing or keeping it from grenading. Fishing around in the pan with a small magnet could get the pieces out, but they could still be hung up in the engine and not accessible from the drain plug hole,,,, yet. Metal piece could be on top of the baffle or up in the front hump... I guess you won't really know until you see if there are pieces missing.

Oh yeah, if you do pull the engine read about engine alignment, very important and if not done you could cause further damage (coupler).
 

beericks

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 30, 2009
Messages
46
Re: 1974 mercruiser 140 hp NAPA parts??

Ok guys I have replaced my drive gear for my distributor because the old one was missing teeth. I held my finger over the #1 cylinder which is the first cylinder toward the front of the boat and waited until compression. At the first sign of compression I lined up the mark to 0. I put the distributor back in and lined up the position of the rotor with the number one spark plug wire. I cannot get it started. I have tried rotating the distributor back and forth but it wont even try to spit or sputter. What am i doing wrong???
 

woosterken

Lieutenant
Joined
May 18, 2005
Messages
1,431
Re: 1974 mercruiser 140 hp NAPA parts??

the book that I have that came with my '74 says the timing is 6* BTDC
POINT GAP IS .022*
DWELL 31*-34*

* = degrease


woosterken
 

beericks

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 30, 2009
Messages
46
Re: 1974 mercruiser 140 hp NAPA parts??

HELP!!! Which is the number 1 cylinder on my 1974 140 hp mercruiser???
 

Apollo75

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Sep 2, 2009
Messages
272
Re: 1974 mercruiser 140 hp NAPA parts??

Not wanting to be a party pooper :D

Are you really going to run that engine with metal teeth still in it ?

I hope your oil pick-up screen has small holes :rolleyes:


OFM

"If you get a couple torpedoes slammed into yer sides ---> You have my permission to panic." :eek:
 

myoldboat2

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 3, 2007
Messages
303
Re: 1974 mercruiser 140 hp NAPA parts??

btw, I'll never go back to NAPA for parts again. Ordered a simple Sierra sterndrive gasket kit from the local NAPA, "yeah, it'll be here tomorrow." Next day was a Tuesday--it wasn't there. "It'll be here Wednesday." It wasn't. "Hmmph, must be something wrong, we'll check into it." Friday rolls around and still no kit. So my kids missed another weekend of wakeboarding and the guys who work at NAPA all think they're doing me a favor by waiting on me, when they're not drinking coffee or chitchatting like a bunch of old women. Nope, never going back to NAPA for marine or auto parts.
 
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