1986 mercury 35hp fast idle lever problem

[OldNewb]

Hi and thanks for a great site. I have found a lot of useful info here but never needed help untill now. I only know old OMC and my 58 35 super sea horse lower unit has a lot of wear in the gears and finally started slipping. I can't find one but found a Merc that looks to be in good shape, compression 140 top and 130 bottom top plug was richer so i expect carb adjust wil get them closer in time. I will order a service manual for it but I wanted to start it tomorrow and the fast idle lever is up and does not want to move down I don't want to force it. It won't shift with that lever up. Why is it up and should I even start it that way? It looks to be about 3/4 the way up. I also would like to know if that merc will have as much power as my Johnson does before I mount it, Johnson has 120 in both cylinders. The Merc has the orginal prop as does the Johnson and is going on a 14ft starcraft runabout. Thanks

[OldNewb]

I guess I will answer myself as it may help someone someday. The linkage was apart inside the control box. It wont go into gear if the lever is up or it wont come out of gear if it dies and the idle is set to high.