1979 Mercruiser 250 I/O info

[tango13]

Hi everyone, just bought a 1979 ABC American ski boat with a Merc. 250 I/O. Guy who sold it says its a 350cu Chev.. no spec stickers on the valve covers so I'm not entirley sure about the motor.. I hope its a 350. Leg is a 250 model. Iv looked around on the internet for info but couldnt find much about the 250 drives. Motor looks factory stock.. Q-jet 4bbl and mallory distributor. My uncle has the same boat with a 305cu/228 drive that I ahve helped out with doing little things so I kinda know what im dealing with... Wondering what the specs are for this thing (HP) and if there will be any noticble differences between my uncles 228 and my 250, other then about 45cu .

I havent had it on the water yet but i ran it on muffs.. Sounds good and fires right up. The leg is in great shape, paint and decals are still intact. Sounds like its been properly maintained. Seller says he had it all gone through and checked for alignment. I also see it has been upgraded with an exhaust tube, versus an exhaust bellow. Will that be noticably noisier?

And if this is indeed a 350cu/250 drive, are there any common issues or upgrades that I should look into?

I should also mention that while I'm no pro with Merc I/O stuff, I am fimilair with the parts and functions.. So any insight would be great!

Cheers!

 

[alldodge]

Hi everyone, just bought a 1979 ABC American ski boat with a Merc. 250 I/O. Guy who sold it says its a 350cu Chev.. no spec stickers on the valve covers so I'm not entirley sure about the motor.. I hope its a 350. Leg is a 250 model. Iv looked around on the internet for info but couldnt find much about the 250 drives. Motor looks factory stock.. Q-jet 4bbl and mallory distributor. My uncle has the same boat with a 305cu/228 drive that I ahve helped out with doing little things so I kinda know what im dealing with... Wondering what the specs are for this thing (HP) and if there will be any noticble differences between my uncles 228 and my 250, other then about 45cu .

Cannot say with absolute certainty but the 250 should be a 350 with a 2 barrel carb, the 260 was the same engine with a 4 barrel. Could be the PO put the 4 barrel on it
Here is the link to the 250 http://www.mercruiserparts.com/selectDocs.asp?doc_nbr=76031
Here is the link to the 260 http://www.mercruiserparts.com/selectDocs.asp?doc_nbr=79202

I havent had it on the water yet but i ran it on muffs.. Sounds good and fires right up. The leg is in great shape, paint and decals are still intact. Sounds like its been properly maintained. Seller says he had it all gone through and checked for alignment. I also see it has been upgraded with an exhaust tube, versus an exhaust bellow. Will that be noticably noisier?

The exhaust tube will be noisier while on plane, but not that much. It can be changed back

And if this is indeed a 350cu/250 drive, are there any common issues or upgrades that I should look into?

I should also mention that while I'm no pro with Merc I/O stuff, I am fimilair with the parts and functions.. So any insight would be great!

Cheers!

The motor should do you fine if it checks out. The point type distributer and fuel filter is about the only things I would thing about changing if you start running into issues.

As for the drive it is probably an MC-1 but in my signature there is a link to the adults only section. It has all kinds of info up there in identifying your drive and other engine issues.