1970 Mercury 50hp Forward moves forward at reverse speed, reverse at forward speed.

[duckduckgoose]

I have a 1970 Mercury 50 hp that I have recently done some work on but I do not know where I have gone wrong when putting back together.
My problem being when I put into forward gear the boat does move forward but it only has what appears to be reverse speed. When moved into reverse it will go into reverse but it has forward power. The prop moves in the what I believe is correct clockwise position in forward.
I have done the following recently:
Replaced impeller, a shifter cable, and a shift lever in the control box.
I am confused, is the problem with the lower unit, the cables reversed, or did I mess something up in the control box.
I purchased this boat/motor needing repairs but the engine looks clean and the lower unit looks recently redone.
Thanks for any input, this seems to be the place.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: 1970 Mercury 50hp Forward moves forward at reverse speed, reverse at forward spee

Well you may have installed the shift and throttle cables wrong or installed the gearcase wrong. Remove the wrap cowl. Not move the throttle from neutral to forward and observe the cable ends on the port side of the motor. The bottom cable is the shift cable and should move first as you move throttle cable from neutral to forward. If it does, then the gearcase is installed wrong. Drop the gearcase, turn the lower shift rod intil the gearcase is in neutral. Now set the throttle handle to neutral and install the gearcase. Turn the flywheel by hand to synch the driveshaft and crank.

 

[duckduckgoose]

Re: 1970 Mercury 50hp Forward moves forward at reverse speed, reverse at forward spee

Thanks for the tip. It appears that I may have went wrong at the gearcase. The lower cable does move first when the shifter is moved forward. I will let you know how it works out. Thanks