looking for help with wire colors and location 1978 merc 260

[skinny1965]

ok so I have a 1978 merc 260 in a boat . When I got it the motor was cracked . The p.o. had started to strip the motor to pull it. all the wiring was removed and the brackets off that hold the wire plug and breaker also solenoid. would like some direction on locations of wires and mounts

thanks in advance

 

[wrench 3]

Assuming that your talking about a Mercruiser 260, the wiring diagrams are at http://boatinfo.no/lib/mercruiser/manuals/mercruiser3.html#/420 on page 420, 421 & 422.
You might be able to find pictures with harness routing elsewhere in the manual but there is no specific section for that.

 

[skinny1965]

yes it is a mercruiser 260 those diagrams should help a ton thanks i don't think i have seen a ignition amplifier in my boat i will look again as my focus has been on getting motor in

 

[alldodge]

Here is the basic wiring book for the older model, you can use the first 3.0 for yours if the color wires are the same.
http://www.boatfix.com/merc/servmanl/13/13e4r2.pdf

If your motor does not use the same color wires then yours is old enough to use the previous wiring method. In this case use the ones in the pics. It's for a inline six but should work out

 

[wrench 3]

Sorry, I didn't notice the amplifier on those diagrams. Your engine should be too early to have one.
Check out the diagrams between pages 399 and 403.

 

[skinny1965]

ok so I'm down to 2 wires I think a purple and a orange. think orange is oil sending unit but not sure where purple goes

 

[alldodge]

If your 260 is like this one, the Orange goes to the ALT output to the Battery and is at least a 10 AWG wire. The purple is the ignition and could be a resistance wire going to the plus side of the coil.



Otherwise its like the one previously posted, need to ring it out

 

[skinny1965]

i think the purple is not used but seem odd that it has a eye on the end like it's to be screwed or mounted someplace also still trying to figure out where the starter solenoid bracket mounts

 

[alldodge]

With an eye on it, then it would go to the coil for the run circuit. Should have resistance built into it.