65 and 140 hp mercury outboards

[krrice01]

Hello everyone, I have two mercury outboards that came on boats I purchased this year. One is a 1984 Tidecraft. It has a 1400 inline 6 Serial#5093742 I beleive it is a 74 model but not real sure. It did not run when I first got it. Cleaned the carbs set them specs and drained gas from tank that had about 1 1/2 gallons of water in it. It fires right up now and revs perfect. the only thing is it is stuck in foward gear. I am a auto mechanic so I can do most of the work myself.I'm just not familiar with outboards.
The person I purchased the boat from said they replaced the water pump.Someone told me if they did not put foot back on with the shifter lever and the foot in foward gear that it woul be stuck in foward.What do you think?

The second one is a 1974 Bumble Bee,it is a Mercury 650 serial#3812407. I have'nt looked up any info on it yet. I heard it run but it did not run good. Hopefully the carb. is all that is wrong with it.

Are these engines worth putting money and time into?

Here are some pics. Any info will be greatly appreciated.

 

[thasatelliteguy]

Re: 65 and 140 hp mercury outboards

I'm a noob, but I've done my water pump a couple times. (Mainly cuz I screwed it up the first time lol) Absolutely, if the shift arm isnt in the hole, or if say the foot was in reverse, and the shifter got pushed into neutral while the foot was off or something like that, it seems that it would be stuck in forward. Since obivously, they made a mistake putting it one the first time, I would check the waterpump while you have the foot off and make sure the impeller is installed correctly, as well as the water pickup tube. Be careful when you 'spin' the shaft to get the housing on. Make sure you turn it the way the motor turns and not the other way. That's what I did. It ruined the impeller pretty quick. You should also change the lower unit oil. Do it cold, so that any water that's in there will be at the bottom and come out first. If you warm it up first, it'll milk and you wont be able to tell how much is in there. If any significant amount comes out, then you will need lower unit seals. If only oil comes out, fill it back up and see what happens.

 

[79Merc80]

Re: 65 and 140 hp mercury outboards

Well, from the cowlings, the 65hp is a 76 or 77 and the 140 is a 78.

You can go to this site and look up the serial #'s

The 65 comes up as a 1974 with 76/77 cowlings

 

[mr 88]

Re: 65 and 140 hp mercury outboards

You can look at the sticky post about FAQ and there should be a link for the model with your serial numbers or try maxrules.com The inline sixes are excellent and have a great hp to weight ratio. I have a 66 110hp and it runs like a dream.The 65 is in the same catergory.SeaFoam works good at cleaning up the carbs if you do not feel like pulling them.Your 140 looks kick *** in that picture as well as in great cosmetic shape,so maybe they took care of it+++.Ifff mine ever gave out or I want to bump my mph I would look for a engine like that or maybe a 150 [150XS not sure if I want to run 72+mph in my 15 foot boat but I am thinking about it]. One thing you have to watch is the timing,if you are running low octane it will have to be retarded a couple degrees.I run 4 gallons of 93 with one gallon of 112 @ 45-1.Put some Star Tron enzyme treatmant every once in awhile to keep it clean and the crap/ ethanol out of the gas line.That may be a bit more than required but the timing is where it is supposed to be and I love that engine so why not treat it with the good stuff.
Yes it sounds like they messed up puting the foot back on.Try the search icon and you should find many how to post on that issue,they are both worth putting some money into as long as the compression is even and good.

 

[krrice01]

Re: 65 and 140 hp mercury outboards

Well, from the cowlings, the 65hp is a 76 or 77 and the 140 is a 78.

You can go to this site and look up the serial #'s

The 65 comes up as a 1974 with 76/77 cowlings

This motor came on the 1974 Bumble Bee, could it be the original engine? I see you have a merc 80 , a buddy of mine give me one off an old boat he had.He said it ran about 10 years ago but know it won't turn over.

 

[krrice01]

Re: 65 and 140 hp mercury outboards

You can look at the sticky post about FAQ and there should be a link for the model with your serial numbers or try maxrules.com The inline sixes are excellent and have a great hp to weight ratio. I have a 66 110hp and it runs like a dream.The 65 is in the same catergory.SeaFoam works good at cleaning up the carbs if you do not feel like pulling them.Your 140 looks kick *** in that picture as well as in great cosmetic shape,so maybe they took care of it+++.Ifff mine ever gave out or I want to bump my mph I would look for a engine like that or maybe a 150 [150XS not sure if I want to run 72+mph in my 15 foot boat but I am thinking about it]. One thing you have to watch is the timing,if you are running low octane it will have to be retarded a couple degrees.I run 4 gallons of 93 with one gallon of 112 @ 45-1.Put some Star Tron enzyme treatmant every once in awhile to keep it clean and the crap/ ethanol out of the gas line.That may be a bit more than required but the timing is where it is supposed to be and I love that engine so why not treat it with the good stuff.
Yes it sounds like they messed up puting the foot back on.Try the search icon and you should find many how to post on that issue,they are both worth putting some money into as long as the compression is even and good.

The 140 looks just as good under cowling.Very clean it must have been took good care of.

 

[krrice01]

Re: 65 and 140 hp mercury outboards

I'm a noob, but I've done my water pump a couple times. (Mainly cuz I screwed it up the first time lol) Absolutely, if the shift arm isnt in the hole, or if say the foot was in reverse, and the shifter got pushed into neutral while the foot was off or something like that, it seems that it would be stuck in forward. Since obivously, they made a mistake putting it one the first time, I would check the waterpump while you have the foot off and make sure the impeller is installed correctly, as well as the water pickup tube. Be careful when you 'spin' the shaft to get the housing on. Make sure you turn it the way the motor turns and not the other way. That's what I did. It ruined the impeller pretty quick. You should also change the lower unit oil. Do it cold, so that any water that's in there will be at the bottom and come out first. If you warm it up first, it'll milk and you wont be able to tell how much is in there. If any significant amount comes out, then you will need lower unit seals. If only oil comes out, fill it back up and see what happens.

Thanks for the info

 

[mr 88]

Re: 65 and 140 hp mercury outboards

This motor came on the 1974 Bumble Bee, could it be the original engine? I see you have a merc 80 , a buddy of mine give me one off an old boat he had.He said it ran about 10 years ago but know it won't turn over.

Probably is the original motor that came with boat.Motor that wont turn over may be just crusted up in cylinders from not being fogged properly.Sometimes you can save them by soaking cylinders while engine is facing down.Marvel mystery oil or something similiar soaked in there for a couple days may free her up,worth a shot.I am sure someone else will chime in on this issue and how they go about it.

 

[sethjackson]

Re: 65 and 140 hp mercury outboards

i just got my motor in correct gear & shifting after waterpump install.... after 8-10 tries then finding the correct info online as it didnt specify in the manual..... drop foot off motor again then put a cloth around splined shifter rod & turn it to left to where u think it stops turning, take pliers & turn it till it clicks farther ..... should be neutral then & prop free spins both ways... one more click back & should lock both directions on prop.... put shifter in reverse & put back together... should shift correctly then.... mine did.... cloth over splined shifter is just to protect splines cause you gotta put a good amount pressure on turning it to make foot change gears.... i was moving shifter freely bout3/4 a turn trying to find the gears b4 i found the way to fix it on here.... good luck & hope it works as easy for u as it did for me

 

[krrice01]

Re: 65 and 140 hp mercury outboards

Thanks I'll give it a try,been working on another boat of mine hope to get back to that outboard soon.