66 merc 50 magneto assy upgrade

Alumarine

Alumarine

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Feb 22, 2005
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Hi there. I've got a 66 merc 50 4cyl # 2096957 with a what I believe is the Keukhaefer Mercury magneto that uses points and I'm not getting spark.

Is it possible to swap in a slightly newer era breaker-less magneto assembly?

I've got a line on a couple of slightly newer motors with bad lower units.

thanks
 
Chinewalker

Chinewalker

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Re: 66 merc 50 magneto assy upgrade

Honestly, I would fix the older magneto, as most of the other distributor style electronic versions would be MUCH more expensive to install and are far harder to work on and diagnose if there is a problem down the road. Those self-contained magnetos are pretty bulletproof when gone through carefully. They can usually be made to work with a good cleaning and gapping of the points, a cleaning of the cap and rotor and some fresh plugs. Coils, points and condensers are still available if needed. The caps and rotors are getting hard to find, but they have to be pretty far gone to not work...
- Scott
 
L

Laddies

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Re: 66 merc 50 magneto assy upgrade

As long as you have a doner motor with battery CD or driver CD and all the peices you can change it out
 
Alumarine

Alumarine

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Re: 66 merc 50 magneto assy upgrade

Laddies said:
As long as you have a doner motor with battery CD or driver CD and all the peices you can change it out
Click to expand...

Thank guys.

Laddies, what do you mean by Battery CD or Driver CD?
Sorry, I'm not up on the correct terminology.

At least I do understand that CD means Capacitor Discharge and not Compact Disc though.
 
Chinewalker

Chinewalker

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Re: 66 merc 50 magneto assy upgrade

Battery CD is a capacitor discharge ignition that requires a battery for ignition to take place. Drive CD has a driver coil that provides the initial charge in place of a batter...
- Scott
 
Alumarine

Alumarine

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Re: 66 merc 50 magneto assy upgrade

Great, thanks again. I'll post if I get it running.
 
Alumarine

Alumarine

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Feb 22, 2005
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Re: 66 merc 50 magneto assy upgrade

Update - She lights up - thanks guys.

I swapped in a Driver CD from a Canadian 1975 (I think) # 7052356 and it fired right up.

It's a bit of a frankenstein right now. Going to have to run with the cover off until I get everything mounted, but at least it runs.

Thanks again.
 
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