1980 Inline 4 80hp power tilt/trim

shopey464

Recruit
Joined
May 7, 2025
Messages
1
Tl;Dr Is it possible to swap a 1980 80hp outboard to an OEM bracket that has power tilt/trim built into it?

Long version:
First time posting so hello! I have a 1980 outboard on my boat that doesn't have power tilt/trim built into it. I, instead, have a CMC power tilt which works fine but it causes my anti-cav plate to sit about 2" lower than the bottom of the boat. This causes tons of water to splash up the transom and into the transom well literally filling it in seconds once on plane. The outboard is already mounted as high as it can go so I either need a newer outboard (not really in the budget and I quite like this one) or a jack plate. The jack plate is currently how I'm going to remedy this but I don't like that idea of my outboard setback being another 3-6" on top of the 6-8" of setback from the CMC bracket. So I had a thought and couldn't find an answer to. Is it possible to swap part of my existing outboard mounting bracket to one that has power tilt/trim part of it. I think the inline 6s of the era had it and I believe they were added to 80hps of the later 80s. If I went this route I could get rid of the CMC bracket altogether.
 

Chris1956

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 25, 2004
Messages
28,108
The PTT unit from a mid 70's to mid 80's Merc inline 4 or 6 should fit your motor. The PTT unit consists of two trim brackets, two trim cylinders, a pump/reservoir unit that mounts in the boat and w/ hydraulic lines to power the PTT cylinders.

While it does work, it is pretty obsolete and parts are hard to come by.

A Jackplate would be much easier. You can get cheap ones where the setback is 3 in or so.
 
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