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    Moving batteries to front

    Boat: 1976 18' holiday w/ 1973 Mercruiser 120. We did our resto-mod and are a little stern heavy. I'd like to move the batteries under the dash, which would be a 12' run. According to the manual, a 12' run requires 00 wire. Now i'm safety conscious like the rest of you, but 00 for 10 seconds...
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    Reading spark plugs Mercruiser 120 (pics)

    Hopefully this helps out other people! We've been maxing out 3500 rpm in our mercruiser 120 (1973). Boat is 18' holiday restored with 3/4" plywood and pink foam below the deck. Really not too much extra weight. Gas tank is 13 gallons in the stern and 2 batteries. Here's spark plug #3 And...
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    Mercruiser 120 rochester carb problem (w/ pics!)

    hey guys, Boat ran fine 3 weeks ago, and now we have problems. So current symptom on boat is she won't rev past 2000 rpm in gear. She'll do 3000 no problem, in neutral, in the water. Compression on all cylinders between 100-110. Spark plugs are looking a little sooty. In the last 3 years...
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    Smart tabs on Aluminum Hull

    On our 18' 1976 starcraft restoration, we didn't take weight distribution into account and definitely sit stern heavy. Unless we hit a wake or wave just right the boat never gets out of the hole. Smart tabs appear they might help. Drilling through the aluminum into our epoxied transom doesn't...
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    14' Klamath duck hunting machine (pics heya!)

    AAAAND we're onto the next boat! (Shameless plug for the first boat:) https://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat...uild-pic-heavy This boat is a 14' welded Klamath that my buddy bought many years ago for a goat and some cheese. A deal. He got a deal on it. Since we caught many many fish out of her on...
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    Seal between doghouse and transom cap

    Hi friends, My buddy and I are in the process of rebuilding a '76 starcraft located here: https://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat-repair-and-restoration/boat-restoration-building-and-hull-repair/10343417-76-holiday-i-o-18-fishing-rebuild-pic-heavy We're stuck on how to seal the gap between the...
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    Rebuilding Alpha 1 Gen 1 Cost?

    Well our MC-1 gimbal housing is finally showing enormous signs of corrosion. The bellows is barely covering the pitting. I believe we have two choices: 1) rebuild another MC-1 and hope our 42 year old sterndrive lasts. 2) Acquire a used alpha 1 with metal that's in good shape, strip it down...
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    Tach Calibrate

    Hi friends, So experienced a weird anomaly today... We finally got the engine running (huge thanks to everyone here!), and it's in the boat. Set our Faria tach to the #1 position correlating to a 4 cylinder engine, and it's reading ~2300RPM. thought that's weird. Borrowed my friend's photo...
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    '76 Mercruiser shift cables

    Hi all, S/N: 4445247 (Mercrusier R Drive) Apparently '76 was the year they shifted from a 5 7/8" lower shift cable adjustment to 6". The previous owner appears to have mixed and matched hardware. The current lower shift cable uses a brass cylinder nut to anchor in place. Which length would...
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    Engine allignment Merc 120

    Hi friends, Continuing the epic saga. We got the engine in, phenomenal. Went smooth. Getting the allignment tool in there has been problematic. It continues to hit the top of the splines. We moved the front nut all the way up and down trying to adjust pitch; still hitting top of splines. From...
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    Primer dry time

    Hello comrades, We're painting the dash of our boat tomorrow, newly epoxied wood. Removing blush + scuff with 220. The usual. Question is can you shoot a base primer coat, and then 2 coats of alkyd enamel + hardener the same day? 8 am primer, 3 pm first coat, 7pm second coat? 100F. 35%...
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    Why I didn't buy a 140HP merc today

    Well! We went and looked at the engine. The wiring harness was wrong, so that sucked. We need a 9 connector and they had modified an 8 conductor. So we passed on that. Upon inspection, there was rust in cylinder 4 and rust on the interior of spark plug 1. There was a chip on the piston of...
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    Mercruiser 120 running rough (video)

    Hi all, 1973 mercruiser. Currently: 8 degrees BTDC, 1 1/2 turns idle mixture screws, oil sender is having grounding problems, but oil pressure (before it failed) was 30psi. Engine will not start unless the choke is open (allowing air in), unless it's stone cold. Having issues finding just...
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    Identify 120 vs 140 mercruiser

    Morning! So during our rebuild, we realized the exhaust manifold on our engine is actually from a 120hp. Unfortunately, I've already thrown a 140hp head gasket replacement on it >.< SN of engine is 2769040. on boatinfo.no it doesn't differentiate between the 120 and the 140... Does anyone...
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    Mercruiser 140 Rochester 2 Barrel Carb pics

    Hi all! my buddy and I are in the process of restoring our Holiday i/o 18'. our carb "looks" like it's in pretty bad shape, but was hoping pics are enough for you guys to estimate if it's corroded beyond repair, or if replacing the gaskets might help it out! Link to our rebuild page below...
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    Mercruiser 140 Trim Linear pneumatic sensor

    Hi all! Have a 140 hp 1976 mercrusier i/o with a new upgraded Trim hydraulic motor. However, the trim sensor is the old style and appears to have not been used in a long long time. On our engine, the hydraulics on the trim sender have been disconnected for a while, and it appears to be...
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    '76 Holiday i/o 18' Fishing Rebuild (pic heavy!)

    Hi all! My buddy had a 14' aluminum 2 person with gear max boat with a 9.9 hp Johnson on the backside we'd been using the last couple years for fishing on the Willamette here in Oregon. The boat was fine, but after seeing everyone scream by us getting to the decent fishing spots on the...
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