My 85 hp Force motor will not rev in Neutral

I have a Sportsman Blue fin with an 85 hp Force outboard. It does fine in forward and reverse, but when in neutral the tower shaft arm tab(in diagram) interferes with the tower shaft tab preventing me from revving the engine in neutral. I Knowingly bought the boat in this condition. It is in great shape. Also included is a picture of the morse controls side shifter. Thank you for any help in this matter. I'm stumped!!

Re: My 85 hp Force motor will not rev in Neutral

That is normal and safe, OBoater.

Revving a 2 stroke with no load on it is an invitation to an explosion.

Re: My 85 hp Force motor will not rev in Neutral

The tab is doing exactly what is was designed to do. It prevents you from over-revving the engine in neutral. There should be about 1/8 clearance or less so that when you put the engine in fast idle it will allow the throttle to open and the timing to advance about a couple of degrees. This will usually give a fasy idle of 1500-2000 RPM.

If you do not have the clearance and the engine will not fast idle, this means that the idle stop screw is in too far. This may be a result of improper synchronization of timing and throttles resulting in a low idle which the previous owner tried to correct by raising the idle stop screw setting.

If this is the case, then get a Clymers manual and follow the synchronizing procedure.

Also search the forum for past posts on synching.