Controls for '75 merc' 200

[The-Machinist]

I am trying to hook up forward controls on my 20 horse merc, the controls I have now will work the throttle fine but will not hook up to the shifter. Also, if it would hook up it would shift backwards. What kind of hook up did the little 20 use for the shifter? are pictures available? does anybody know where to find the right controls? It is about as nice a merc as Ive ever seen and I would love to put it on my 16' center console aluminum catfish barge. Any help would be appreciated very much.
thanks,
Shawn

 

[WillyBWright]

Re: Controls for '75 merc' 200

I don't recall ever seeing one rigged remotely. Early ones had the shift lever horizontal. Up was Forward and Down was Reverse. Later models had the shift lever vertical. Forward is Forward and Back is Reverse. Sounds like you have the earlier version with the lever mounted vertically. The levers are on a square shaft, so they can be mounted horizontal or vertical. The difference is down in the gearcase where the shift cam is upside-down in relation to eachother. As I recall, you can flip the older cam upside-down to shift like a newer model. But you can't do vice versa with newer gearcases because of casting differences (which isn't what you'd want to do anyhow). The other alternative would be to find a counter-rotation remote control which are really really rare for back then. The shift cam inside is different and shifts opposite as the regular one. But you still have the throttle linkage problem.