1972 15' Nova rebuild

[MNhunter1]

Technical/electrical question: Is there any issues with the stereo antenna contacting the aluminum hull, or do I need to put some sort of buffer/barrier between the hull and the metal components of the antenna? Not exactly sure how the whole electrical current/grounding aspects of a stereo antenna work.

 

[MNhunter1]

No Title

Just testing the photo upload feature...older pic, will get some more recent ones posted...

 

[Watermann]

It should have a non conductive insulator for the antenna base to sit in to keep it off the body. You may want to get an antenna isolator too since OB motors can throw off a good amount of noise with the rpms they run.

 

[MNhunter1]

Trying to post a video, but not having much luck. The '87 Mercury fired right off after an impeller and gear oil change and a couple new spark plugs. I never touched the carb and figure I'll rebuild it if needed, but she's running smooth on the muffs. My idle is a bit slow and will eventually stall out due to the slow speed. I had the kids with me playing in the water running down the driveway, so didn't look at any adjustments. Should I start with the throttle linkage and idle stop, or look at the carb idle adjustment? My rookie outboard mechanical mind is pointing towards the linkage.

 

[Watermann]

Try adjusting the idle stop screw and get the rpms raised but the idle adjustment is done correctly in the water with the boat on the trailer tied down and in gear. Do your carbs have idle air screws for adjustment? It could be they need adjusted it's tough to tell sometimes in the driveway.

 

[MNhunter1]

Try adjusting the idle stop screw and get the rpms raised but the idle adjustment is done correctly in the water with the boat on the trailer tied down and in gear. Do your carbs have idle air screws for adjustment? It could be they need adjusted it's tough to tell sometimes in the driveway.

It's a single carb and I honestly haven't even looked at it much yet. The motor was running like a top when I picked it up and it's been sitting on a stand in my garage for the past 3 years, so from a carb adjustment perspective, it should still be good to go. She runs really smooth with a little throttle added, just drops the rpms so low when in neutral that I'm amazed it even stays running. The telltale really shoots out a nice strong stream under a little throttle as well, but really loses it's strength when the rpms are so low at idle. I can still shift into forward and reverse idle without it stalling out...but it will eventually stall out if I just let it idle like that for too long. I have a manual here and have been reading through the timing, synch, and adjustment, but no timing light handy and still wrapping my head around throttle pick-up lever, spark advance lever, spark adjustment screw, full throttle stop screw, idle adjustment screw, etc. I think it's just going to boil down to my barrel retainer on my throttle cable and the preload with the idle stop?? My theory is if the motor has been untouched in regard to timing and carb adjustments, the only variable is in the throttle/shift cables that were removed and reinstalled.

Not sure when I'll be able to get her in the water, but would like to get the idle rpms up a bit before doing so and don't want to mess anything else up in doing so. Might be a good excuse to buy myself a timing light too

 

[MNhunter1]

Just got the cable adjusted. There was a slight gap and no preload on the idle adjustment in neutral, so I gave it a little preload and can fine tune with the screw once I get the muffs on and fire her up again. I'll post back once I get a chance to run her again. Busy day with the wife at work and a 4 and 6 year old to entertain all weekend.

 

[MNhunter1]

The Nova is 99.9% complete. Just need to secure a few wires and get her on the water. Brought the 16SS home today for a winter project. The admiral is not so convinced we need two boats at the house

 

[MNhunter1]

The Nova is complete pending sea (lake) trials. I was going to push to splash her this fall, but figured I'd just wait until spring and splash her with the 16SS. I still have yet to sort out a new picture sharing process, but will get something posted here in the spring. She's all tucked away for the winter and I have just started tearing into boat #2 I'll start a new thread for the '78 16SS.

 

[Watermann]

Hey that's good news, we'll be here when you pull her out and hit the waves.

 

[MNhunter1]

https://i.imgur.com/PWJ574I_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

 

[MNhunter1]

Looking for a new photo sharing site after the PB fiasco. I'm aware of the fix, but in my attempt to retrieve all my images, I somehow managed to rearrange albums and break all the links. It also appears we have an organizational OneDrive account, for work, so unless I create a new email account, I'm unable to leverage that one as well. Looking for something to easily embed pictures taken with an iPhone. Using the forum upload options appears to create some allowable image sizing challenges. Any recommendations?

 

[MNhunter1]

Testing...

 

[BWR1953]

That worked.

 

[Watermann]

You may have the same issue with postimg some day.

MS live mail, gmail and many other emails are free so...

 

[MNhunter1]

Man, it’s been a busy summer...winter and spring too, but I’m still here. Been reading the posts on a regular basis and still pushing through with the 16SS, which I’ll save for that thread, but I finally got the Nova out of storage.

The good news: she looks as good as she did when she went into storage, fits in the garage with the SS, both vehicles, and all the kids crap, and aside from some Murphy mechanical issues, she’s complete and was splashed today.

The bad news: I maxed out a bit over 7mph and discovered I have no spark to the bottom cylinder. I also will not be holding onto her after getting the motor straightened out as the SS has turned out so nice and will be a much more functional boat for the needs of our family.

I didn’t get any pics of the splash as I was too focused on the motor issues, but I’ll be sure to capture some when she’s finally running like she should. A bit disappointing with the motor issue, but everything else worked like a charm, got a nice compliment from a couple guys in a 60k glasser, and the bilge was bone dry...granted, she only sat in the water for a little less than an hour and never hit much over 7mph

 

[MNhunter1]

Regarding my missing spark. New plugs, plug wire checks out okay, and the coil appears to check out based on ohm readings, but I’m tempted to swap it out anyway with the top cylinder just to rule it out. Ohm readings were good for the trigger but a little lower than the ideal range for the stator on the low side. Really don’t want to have to tear into the flywheel, but it looks like I may be headed that way. Tempted to have it diagnosed by a Mercury mechanic, just don’t want to throw away a bunch of cash at something I could potentially tackle myself. Could the stator potentially be the issue if she’ll still fire up and run on one cylinder?

 

[Watermann]

Doesn't this motor have a switch box?

 

[MNhunter1]

Doesn't this motor have a switch box?

Yes, but it sounds like there is no way to diagnose it as the problem unless all other options are ruled out, plug, wire, coil, trigger, stator. My other motor has the same coils, so I’m going to swap one out and see if that’s the issue. Otherwise, I’m going to pick up a DVA adapter or have a shop isolate the problem. The switch box is somewhere north of a 100 bills and I’m hesitant to just replace if not needed.

 

[Watermann]

Oh yeah testing components is the best way of finding the problem, I was just wondering if you were over looking the SB. Also the wiring on the old Merc motors should be closely inspected for bad sheathing.