Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

[heroforlife911]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

Correct, 3" flex or ball hone. What choices does your vendor offer, take the finest grit, ie largest number. Use lots of oil.

http://www.enginehones.com/300400sc.html
I'm going to shop around a little, but this is what I found off hand. I might go with the 600G vs. the 400G.

 

[daveswaves]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

Actually the 400 is what I use.

 

[heroforlife911]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

Actually the 400 is what I use.

400 Grit it is. I think I'll just get it at that web site ... They seem reasonable in price.

 

[heroforlife911]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

 

[heroforlife911]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

 

[heroforlife911]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

 

[heroforlife911]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

Purchased the Flex-Hone, Flex-Hone Oil, cleaning brush, etc. this afternoon ...
Excited to get working on the block, pistons and crank.

Had a local marine guy take off the flywheel for $60. Took him but three minutes and I got shafted for a min. of an hours worth of labor. I only say "shafted" cause on the phone he said if it wasn't more than a 15 minute job he wouldn't even charge ... last time dealing with the honest ma' and pa' marine guys. For that price, I should have just bought a puller from Mercury. I understand he has a business with bills and such, just thought the man?s word was good. Enough said.

Bore gages (decent brand and what I would consider reliable) are expensive. Looks like I'm going to get stuck measuring and checking out of round myself. The family connections are falling apart.

Anyone have any luck finding cheaper alternatives?
How much you think a machine shop would charge to check them out?

 

[daveswaves]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

You have done an admirable job of diss assembly. Everything looks good and well organized. You do have the new style connecting rods so that does give you the option of installing without the special tools. I would leave the crank assembly together for the moment until you see if you can find the ring compressors. I don,t know what part of Michigan you are in, perhaps if you post a general location someone reading the thread my offer up their services when the time comes to re assemble. Check Harbour freight for cheap bore gages and a micrometer. You can get an idea of the cyl taper by measuring the ring gap of a ring inserted at the top, middle and bottom of the cyl. A simple feeler gauge is all that is needed. Worry about out of round after you have an idea of taper. If the taper is excessive you may have to bore, which will take care of out of round. Machine shops vary, best to call and ask how much they would charge for checking taper and out of round on a 2.875 bore cyl...times 6. Another option may be to check with a local motorcycle shop, they are faced with the same problem for 2 stroke bikes.

I would start on your block and clean it up ready for measuring. The bores must be clean. You may have done that, can,t tell from your pics.

 

[heroforlife911]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

Went to a few shops today. The first guy seemed like he knew what he was talking about but didn't know what he was doing. He told me that the cylinders looked like they were in good condition and that there wasn't much of a taper. Also stated that he didn't find any major out-of-round issues. The second shop I took it to told me that there was a slight taper and that he found an average of 0.007 out-of-round. Starting to get both worried and frustrated.

Called up my cousin who is pretty smart when it comes to motors. He also works at a machine shop but they don't do much in the way of motor work. I figured it would still be a good idea to have him bust out the bore gage and check it out.

If the one shop guy was right with the 0.007 out of round, I think I'm going to look for a new block vs. having it honed/ bored to 0.015 oversize. Stock is 2.875 so it seems to be decent problem as it stands. The Seloc book says something along the lines of an out of round tolerance of 0.003 -0.004 ... with a 0.015. oversize at 2.890. My math says I'm pretty screwed. We shall see.

There is an outboard junk yard a few hours away from my place (Macomb Township, MI) so I'm going to give him a call tomorrow. I really don?t want to get stuck buying all new pistons too.

In-put please ...!

 

[daveswaves]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

Went to a few shops today. The first guy seemed like he knew what he was talking about but didn't know what he was doing. He told me that the cylinders looked like they were in good condition and that there wasn't much of a taper. Also stated that he didn't find any major out-of-round issues. The second shop I took it to told me that there was a slight taper and that he found an average of 0.007 out-of-round. Starting to get both worried and frustrated.

Called up my cousin who is pretty smart when it comes to motors. He also works at a machine shop but they don't do much in the way of motor work. I figured it would still be a good idea to have him bust out the bore gage and check it out.

If the one shop guy was right with the 0.007 out of round, I think I'm going to look for a new block vs. having it honed/ bored to 0.015 oversize. Stock is 2.875 so it seems to be decent problem as it stands. The Seloc book says something along the lines of an out of round tolerance of 0.003 -0.004 ... with a 0.015. oversize at 2.890. My math says I'm pretty screwed. We shall see.

There is an outboard junk yard a few hours away from my place (Macomb Township, MI) so I'm going to give him a call tomorrow. I really don?t want to get stuck buying all new pistons too.

In-put please ...!

Lots of opportunity for miscommunication here. If he measured .007 difference in the bore readings thats only .0035 out of round.....which is in spec. Which is typical, these blocks take a beating and come out smiling as long as you have not seriously overheated. There is no way it is .007 a side out of round, thats damn near an oversize. If he gave it a slight taper comment he probably could not measure it. I would satisfy your own curiosity using a ring and a feeler gauge top and bottom of the cyl, measure the ring gap. Using c=Pi x diameter you can calculate the nominal Diameter, and taper, or give me the ring end gap numbers and I will do it for you.

Your math is off on the .015 over, you have lots of meat to bring it into spec for the .015 over if it was bored. Thats gonna cost you a bunch but frankly it does not sound like it needs it. Get your cousin to measure for you to make sure. These measurements are tricky to do as you saw from the two shops you went to.

At this point I would not run to the outboard junkyard.

 

[heroforlife911]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

Lots of opportunity for miscommunication here. If he measured .007 difference in the bore readings thats only .0035 out of round.....which is in spec. Which is typical, these blocks take a beating and come out smiling as long as you have not seriously overheated. There is no way it is .007 a side out of round, thats damn near an oversize. If he gave it a slight taper comment he probably could not measure it. I would satisfy your own curiosity using a ring and a feeler gauge top and bottom of the cyl, measure the ring gap. Using c=Pi x diameter you can calculate the nominal Diameter, and taper, or give me the ring end gap numbers and I will do it for you.

Your math is off on the .015 over, you have lots of meat to bring it into spec for the .015 over if it was bored. Thats gonna cost you a bunch but frankly it does not sound like it needs it. Get your cousin to measure for you to make sure. These measurements are tricky to do as you saw from the two shops you went to.

At this point I would not run to the outboard junkyard.

I brought the spec. sheet home from the second shop ... He must of need business cause he apparently tried to take me for a ride. My cousin checked it out and the block is damn near new. My cousin said what the guy gave me was a load of ... wrong. Happy to hear and glad to know. No running needed and officially confident in ordering new rings now. Contemplating bearings while I'm at it ...

For the heck of if I'm going to check with the feeler gauge tomorrow, kind of curious and I have the opportunity to try and learn.

 

[daveswaves]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

I brought the spec. sheet home from the second shop ... He must of need business cause he apparently tried to take me for a ride. My cousin checked it out and the block is damn near new. My cousin said what the guy gave me was a load of ... wrong. Happy to hear and glad to know. No running needed and officially confident in ordering new rings now. Contemplating bearings while I'm at it ...

For the heck of if I'm going to check with the feeler gauge tomorrow, kind of curious and I have the opportunity to try and learn.

Sounds like you are good to go.

 

[heroforlife911]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

Got to use the hone today, so all the cylinders are deglazed and cross-hatched. Flex-Hone worked great and was easy to use. After I was done with the honing, I brought the block inside and threw it in the wash tub. Didn't fit all that well and I made a huge mess! After about a half hours worth of scrubbing and destroying my in-law's laundry room I decided to take it to the car wash. I had already got most of the junk off but the high pressure water helped greatly. I used dish soap and a cylinder brush the get it nice and clean. From the time it took me to get from the car wash to the house, the cylinders had already had some flash rust after drying. Pretty crazy that crap can form so fast ...

For lack of timing, I coated the freshly cleaned surfaces with some WD40 to provide some protection. Tomorrow I will wipe as much of that and whatever flash rust off as I can and lightly coat it all up with some regular 2-cycle oil in preparation for re-assembly.

Recommendations on a solvent to clean the pistons? What can I use to get all the carbon and exhaust crap off?

Im most likely going to reinstall the pistons one by one and remove them from the crank ...
Going to go buy hardware and bolts tomorrow. Hoping to have all the covers cleaned up and ready for install by late friday afternoon. Old gasket sucks hardcore.

As it stands, I'm officially beat and run down. I have spent the past week in the garage. Time for bed so I can get to it again tomorrow...

 

[daveswaves]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

Got to use the hone today, so all the cylinders are deglazed and cross-hatched. Flex-Hone worked great and was easy to use. After I was done with the honing, I brought the block inside and threw it in the wash tub. Didn't fit all that well and I made a huge mess! After about a half hours worth of scrubbing and destroying my in-law's laundry room I decided to take it to the car wash. I had already got most of the junk off but the high pressure water helped greatly. I used dish soap and a cylinder brush the get it nice and clean. From the time it took me to get from the car wash to the house, the cylinders had already had some flash rust after drying. Pretty crazy that crap can form so fast ...

For lack of timing, I coated the freshly cleaned surfaces with some WD40 to provide some protection. Tomorrow I will wipe as much of that and whatever flash rust off as I can and lightly coat it all up with some regular 2-cycle oil in preparation for re-assembly.

Recommendations on a solvent to clean the pistons? What can I use to get all the carbon and exhaust crap off?

Im most likely going to reinstall the pistons one by one and remove them from the crank ...
Going to go buy hardware and bolts tomorrow. Hoping to have all the covers cleaned up and ready for install by late friday afternoon. Old gasket sucks hardcore.

As it stands, I'm officially beat and run down. I have spent the past week in the garage. Time for bed so I can get to it again tomorrow...

Wd 40 will keep the flash rust off, when you clean the cyl you should be able to wipe them with a white cloth and not pick up any dirt. Good call putting the pistons in one at a time, less chance of breaking a ring that way and you can move each piston up and down in the cyl and make sure it does not hang up anywhere or feel tighter at the top. You will also be able to twist the piston back and forth a bit and feel the ring movement against the stop (pin) in the piston.

I use solvent (varsol or paint thinner) and a soft brass brush to clean the pistons. You can use a broken ring to scrape the ring grooves. If the piston crowns are really caked you can use a regular wire brush to get started.

When you take the pistons and rods off the crank, have 6 pre labelled zip lock large bags, ready to put the piston and needle bearings, rod caps, rod bolts in. They must go back on the same throws. 6 more clean zip locks to put the cleaned pistons in ready for installation.

Don't worry about being tired.....when you get older you will gain stamina

 

[heroforlife911]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

Today's work went alright. I got the all the covers cleaned up and ready for install. Used a scotch bright type of pad to clean the remaining gasket off and it worked well. I was able to get pretty much all of the carbon off the exhaust plates as well ... that was a total pain in the transom. The block is completely clean and ready to get pistons! Pretty exciting if you ask me ...

I took apart the lower carb and started cleaning it up. From the looks of it, it is not the carb that came factory on the '84 power plant. At least it appears this way from looking at all the parts diagrams.

Tomorrow's project is taking the crank all apart. Bought a marker at the machine and tool supply shop to scribe the cylinder number on all the components. Set up some bags as well.

If I thought I was tired yesterday ... I lied. Hopefully I can find a few extra minutes tomorrow for some up to date photos.

 

[heroforlife911]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!



Got a little behind the past few days ... kind of busy with family obligations and other distractions. Here are a few new pictures of some of the progress. The cover plates are ready for install and all cleaned up. The block is cleaned and ready to go; you can see the freshly honed cylinders. Not sure that's the best cross-hatch but there's certainly one there. I got a lot of the parts in the mail the other day ... mostly the electrical components. I started to install the new wire harnesses, coils, rectifier and plug lines. The only thing on the plate that I haven't replaced are the switch boxes. I figured I would try the old ones before installing the new ones; if the old ones work the new ones are going back to the store.

 

[SparkieBoat]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

the bottom of the lake was a good idea...I will never understand you tower guys, much better motors available IMO, like a late 80s model V-6

 

[heroforlife911]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

the bottom of the lake was a good idea...I will never understand you tower guys, much better motors available IMO, like a late 80s model V-6

It's a restore on a family bass boat ... we decided to try and keep it as original as possible. If it was up to me I would have splurged on a brand new motor from a dealer but I'm more or less just the labor of the project. Its been a pretty cool experience so far and not all that bad.

 

[daveswaves]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

the bottom of the lake was a good idea...I will never understand you tower guys, much better motors available IMO, like a late 80s model V-6

Its easy SparkieBoat, we're Northerners and we spend so much time indoors in the winter we go shack wacky and need something to while away the darkness hours.
Since the parts are hard to find we get to mail order them and that gives us a reason to get dressed and shovel the driveway out to the mail box to see if we got any parts today.

 

[SparkieBoat]

Re: Mercury 1150 ... Needs to find the bottom of the lake!

Its easy SparkieBoat, we're Northerners and we spend so much time indoors in the winter we go shack wacky and need something to while away the darkness hours.
Since the parts are hard to find we get to mail order them and that gives us a reason to get dressed and shovel the driveway out to the mail box to see if we got any parts today.

dave now that's just plain funny......Hero, I know some people enjoy working on these old motors, and i am sure you are finding this to be very rewarding, nothing like rebuilding an engine and hearing that first time it fires back up after being in a hundred pieces. I was mostly just trying to stir up some trouble and poke a little fun, I hope it works out well for you.