Stator replacement

I have a late seventies vintage 800 mercury with thunderbolt ignition. It is on a similar vintage boat that have had for years and my wife and I both love. The stator wires are toast , and as far as I can tell everything is original, ( rectifier , switch box ,etc) .I was going to attempt to re-wire the stator , but am leaning towards installing a new one , which I can do myself. When replacing the stator , is there a rule of thumb as to what needs to be replaced along with the stator? We are going to be taking the Grandkids tubing and fishing and I would really like to make this motor as dependable as possible. Some people have told me that this is just not possible with the older vintage motors . I restore vintage performance cars that are as dependable as an anvil , run and perform with very little issue. Any advice would be most appreciated and I am not afraid to throw the right parts at it , so please set me straight. I would rather not gamble on whether an older part has reach its limit and should have been replaced!
Thank You , Tim

Re: Stator replacement

get the correct merc flywheel puller or you can ruin the flywheel and the correct NEW stator, pay close attention to the positioning of the original stator , don't upset the timing trigger

Re: Stator replacement

That's not a problem , I have a nice balancer puller that has a bearing end that rides on the crank, used on my Evenrude , it worked great ! I still have heard one should replace the switch box when replacing the stator , I just wonder since I want this 800 Merc super dependable if I should look at other items , like trigger and rectifier ***'y's ? ................Tim

Re: Stator replacement

timss454 said:

That's not a problem , I have a nice balancer puller that has a bearing end that rides on the crank, used on my Evenrude , it worked great ! I still have heard one should replace the switch box when replacing the stator , I just wonder since I want this 800 Merc super dependable if I should look at other items , like trigger and rectifier ***'y's ? ................Tim

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Tim said use the correct mercury flywheel puller or you will damage the flywheel. They are a tapered spline, pull quite hard, and the correct tool pulls from the inside thread in the wheel outside the nut.

I wouldn't replace switchboxes unless they fail. If you want to invest in something, get a factory manual and a DVA so you can do your troubleshooting and repair intelligently.

hope it helps
John

Re: Stator replacement

On my old inline six, one could remove the stator after removing 8 5/16" fine thread bolts of the outer flywheel.

Re: Stator replacement

Chris1956 said:

On my old inline six, one could remove the stator after removing 8 5/16" fine thread bolts of the outer flywheel.

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Sure you can, but it's not the right way to do it. The flywheel-flexplate-hub assembly should be removed as an assembly. There are many reason's why.

Re: Stator replacement

Ok, Name 'em. I want to know so I may correct my behavior.