Newbie considers CDI for 1978 Merc 850 outboard

Hey all,
I'm considering buying a 1978 Sylvan alum boat with 85 hp Merc outboard from one of my loser buddies.

He says it's got a bad coil. Can I get a kit to convert the ignition to CDI? I did so on a 1989 Mercruiser I/O and it solved a lot of problems.

Re: Newbie considers CDI for 1978 Merc 850 outboard

the 850's were made up to 1977, the 77" and 76" model years had the non distributer adi spark system (dead battery wont kill engine) with the powerpacks, the 75' and previous had the distributers, cdi is just a brand name like ford or chevy.......or in todays terms kia and ria ( is that even a car?)and pretty spendy so best to read up on there website troubleshooting guide and doing some testing before taking the plunge.

Re: Newbie considers CDI for 1978 Merc 850 outboard

So does this outboard have a conventional breaker point ignition?

I don't know what adi means.

Re: Newbie considers CDI for 1978 Merc 850 outboard

need s/n located on tag just behind steering arm in front of engine, from there the year can be determined,

adi is alternator driven electronic ignition, before this system the spark was generated from stored battery power...hence you had to have a good battery,

also incorporated is a device known as the trigger which is a plastic round object that uses a magnetic field from magnets in the flywheel to trigger the action of the stored spark charge, before that there was the standard points and condenser system.

There all good systems and last a long time, just that the older systems seemed to need more care setting up correctly.....kind of a lost art taken for granted back in the day and now has to be relearned as the older experienced crowd thins out