Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!

hey all
ok bit of history first, i work at nissan and i know car engines inside out! i can strip and rebuild engines no probs but this is my first outboard engine venture!

i bought a nice ring 19ft powerboat solid and with trailer for 500 quid, Bargain! and to put icing on the cake, so to say, i got 2 mercury 1500 strait six engines, one in bits (bad cond) the other HALF built! the half built block is seated to the transom? (gearbox and prop) i think you call it, (please correct me if im wrong) with all the casings off.

i can upload photo if neccessary.

from initial inspection, as it sits, the block is complete with all three carbs fitted, what looks like throttle and or distributor? fitted. stator and flywheel (i would call it) fitted. small belt connecting the two fitted. there is also a few hoses leading either in or out of the block into i have no idea what! bolted to side of block.

i have two startor motors, not identical, and it looks like only one will fit into the brackets i have for startor motor the other is badly corroded. tried testing them both on a battery but only heard a click from the clean one.

the throttle/gear change bracket is broken but looks fixable if its steel, and im not sure it is all there cant seem to find an obvious way to fix cables in place! i will upload photos asap! i have another bracket shaped like a bananna! that i was told was the gear change bracket. but have no idea how the cable attaches to the bracket and the bracket to the gearbox.

took the plugs out and inspected them they all looked ok, used but in good condition.(they are flat with no electode, anyone know why?)

i have a wiring nightmare! lots of wires some the same colour with no idea where they go! i found what looks like a fuse box/ecu? thing attached to a long metal plate (i think it goes over the carbs but no obvious place to secure at the bottom. again photo coming soon!

also found a part that looks fuel related, from what i can gather,(it bolts next to engine wiring harness entry location) but has more inlets an outlets than i have spare hoses!

im going to identify the block tomorrow so will update when i know

thanks for your time

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!

pics will help

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!

Yes, pics will help. I do understand your description, however, I doub't you would understand my directions.

Some definitions: The powerhead on that motor is bolted to the exhaust extension and the midsection with 8 or 10 3/8" bolts. The gearcase is bolted to the midsection with 5 7/16" nylon lock nuts and a 7/16" bolt hidden under a zinc anode under the antiventilation plate.

That motor should have a lower cowling sandwiched between the midsection and the powerhead. That long black piece of aluminim with the switchbox bolted to it, bolts to the lower cowling. There is an upper cowling support that bolts to the upper part. All bolts are 5/16" stainless w/ course threads.

Most inline 3, 4 and 6 cylinder Mercs of the mid 60s - 80s are about the same design. Can you look at one for an idea how yours goes?

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!

Thanks chris that fits nicely! and wiring makes more sense now.

ok here is the engine

the code next to the spark plugs reads - 10235068

first cables and brackets, this is the throttle bracket - - i know how throttle fits and works but i cant work out the gear change cable location/fitment here is the gear change bracket - and i beleive this is where it goes - (look dead center of pic)

fuel - i have worked out that this is the fuel pump - but as you can see there is a hose missing! does anyone know what pipe i need? and where it goes? i think it connects to this pipe -

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!

but the pipe wont reach and i think it somehow connects to this - it looks like it bolts to the casing but cant find any obvious pipes to connect it to. there is a pipe coming from what looks **** a electric fuel pump on the casing does this connect to it? -

wiring - these are the wires im having trouble with - - thanks to chris, i now know where some of these wires go but some look like earth wires and i need to know where they go, there is another three wires - i assume the thick wire goes to the startor? and the others to earth is this where they go? -

this photo is with a few casings on, is the startor motor in the correct position ? -

I do have a seloc Mercury tune up and repair guide - but its as much use as a chocolate fireguard, it only explains how to fix parts not fit them to engine.

thanks to anyone who offers advice it is appreciated, and im sure there will be other problems i may need help with

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!

That motor looks just like my 1973 1500 115 mercury thunderbolt. If it is, the. Lucky for you I took pictures of all the wires and hoses as I was tearing it down to replace some bad rings. These pictures should help you identify what goes where.

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!


here is the distributor

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!


this pic is just below the distributor...you can see the plug wires hanging top right.

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!


this is a pic of the wires going right in front of the starter...i took mine off already.

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!

yeah they should help cheers!

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!


this is the wiring just below the last pic

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!

right strait away i can see im missing the box that the center plug lead goes to, it sits under the box all the wires go to.
its hard to see how the cables connect to bracket, would you have a photo of them?
those fuel lines are long are they a standard leingth pipe? are they available online?
and thats a clean engine compared to mine, the colour on my wiring has faded badly so im gonna have to do some cleaning and process of elimination wiring!
cheers

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!


heres a better pic of the hoses

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!

you mean the coil? i got pictures of every which way. ill upload all i got. maybe it'll clear things up.

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!


these wires come from the distributor

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!

if you look at the two wiring pics a couple posts ago....you can see whats called the rectifier and all the wires are color coded. if you have a book you can see which ones go to what and it shouldn't be to hard. a tip for you tho, my wires were all corroded and had to be replaced, so watch for that. my moto for this wiring project was, when in doubt switch it out. (with new wire of course) before you can start figuring out what parts are good and which ones are bad...you have to have good wiring.

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!

oh..i just got what you were saying about the part missing...that was something added to mine. i believe the PO did that being that he was a AC repairman. Also, I dont think that that is a standard length hose. They did that just for organization.

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!

if you need clarification about what goes where, take a pic and I'll show you where it goes.

Re: Mercury 1500 150hp strait 6 bought half built, help please!

the coil thats the word im looking for! (long day at work) yeah thats cleared a lot up for me, the only thing im stuck with now is the gear change cable linkage and bracket.

from what i can tell, the two cables enter the shell at the same place one on top of the other, with a plastic circular adjusting mount that fit into these holes on the left

it also looks like a securing cap? or bracket is supposed to pivot on the pin at the top of the bracket on the left, and secure some how in the gap at the bottom of the bracket. am i right? if so, thats another part ill have to hunt down.