showing my ignorance, 1966 50 hp

tashasdaddy

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500S-5 serial # 194373. good compression all over 115 and equal. no spark, but internal harness is bad. 1st question, should i replace harness before, opening the the Magneto/distributor to look at points.

i can do a johnny/rude easy, this is a totally new animal to me.

i have OEM parts manual, and a seloc, i know i need OEM.
 

Laddies

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Re: showing my ignorance, 1966 50 hp

If you disconnect the kill wire from the mag first and don't have spark and you probably won't your going to have to rebuild it, also if it don't have a tan or white cap and rotor they will have to be replaced also or once you get it to the lake they will give you fits.
 

tashasdaddy

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Re: showing my ignorance, 1966 50 hp

pull magneto assembly, everything looked clean and nice, except the rotor, and cap. any idea where to get. rotor # 3042602, cap # 3941561. internal harness A38072, breaker assembly A3931504A6.
 

tashasdaddy

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Re: showing my ignorance, 1966 50 hp

buttoned this one back up, have to ponder if i want to spend the money on it.
 

tmcalavy

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Re: showing my ignorance, 1966 50 hp

You're not gonna want to hear this, but unless you get real lucky you're probably gonna have to replace the internal wires one by one...had to do that on my 73 Merc 500. Not too bad, but tested my patience. The dist cap and rotor can be expensive...might check with the guys on the old merc forum off of the www.pfs-ware.com website. They helped me find a new cap/rotor/wires for my 73. Those wires screw into the dist cap...they have small threaded ends, so go carefully...someone had ruined a couple of spots on my dist cap by jerking on the wires and ruining those small threads. I've got a Merc 1966-1974 service manual on CD if you want a copy send me a PM.
 

Laddies

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Re: showing my ignorance, 1966 50 hp

I did a little research last night and according to the OEM repair manual all the harnesses for 4 cyl. magneto engines that with the rubber plug in are the same(some early 55s had a metal plug)through 66. some had different wire colors but it is converted in the pre 64 service manual. So that will give you a little more variety for engine to check for donors As far as magneto wires screwing in' thats incorrect they are held with a small screw on the inside of the cap.
 

tmcalavy

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Re: showing my ignorance, 1966 50 hp

Thanks for clearing that up Laddies. The plug wires on my 73 Merc 500 screwed into the dist cap, now I know the earlier models were different...will file that away in my mental bank for future use.
 

tashasdaddy

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Re: showing my ignorance, 1966 50 hp

seaway has the harness.
 
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