1963 Mercury 500 50hp

[bgc]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

Runnin great...

 

[Yesterday]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

Kudo's on the rebuild. Those old engines are art on water!

 

[bgc]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

Kudo's on the rebuild. Those old engines are art on water!

Thank you, they do have a style all their own!



For anyone needing props, PROPCO out of Georgia is where I have ben getting the props for my "Old Mercs" FYI

 

[bgc]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

Rebuilt the magneto, she gained 4mph....

 

[bgc]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

This one befuddled me...... I went through my normal start up procedures at the dock. Gave her a sharp pull, she lit for a brief moment, backfired and would not restart. I pulled the cover and found this.....

The folks at Johnsoldmercury site mentioned its rare but occasionally gas vapors build up in the magneto causing an explosion. Now i blow into the breather hose before starting to dissipate any vapors. BYW the parts 160.00 from marineengines.com.

 

[tomhath]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

"Doesn't happen often, but once in a while your motor might explode."

Gee, that's reassuring...

This is a great thread, thanks for all the information. I have a Merc 350 that's been sitting for a while; I'd heard those old Mercs are so hard to repair that I was afraid to dig into it. Maybe now I'll take another look at it.

 

[bgc]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

Tom,
The factory manual is your best resource for getting them running. They are fussy engines but when(if) they run, they run like a bat out of HE!!….. There are now two 1963 500's in the flotilla, so this thread will be updated for some time.


What years your 350 and where are you located? I'm looking at a pair of 1963 350's and thinking about putting twin motors on the Starcraft.

 

[tomhath]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

I'm in South-Central PA, Bedford County.

Just checked, motor is a Merc 300, not 350.

If you need a spare/parts/project 300 I'll sell it cheap (pretty sure it's a 1960). It's borderline too big for my boat and I have a couple of other motors that I like better.

Here's my boat with a 20hp Merc 200. The lake has a 20hp restriction so this motor is good.

Prince Gallitzin family vacation - May 2013 - YouTube

 

[bgc]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

Tom,
Is that a Lone Star Arrow?……..and the motor is "too big"only if she sinks the boat before you can get it in gear…..

 

[tomhath]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

Tom,
Is that a Lone Star Arrow?……..and the motor is "too big"only if she sinks the boat before you can get it in gear…..

Lone Star Malibu. It moved along pretty well with the Merc 300, but I almost swamped it a couple of times when I cut the throttle too quickly and water came over the transom. This winter's project is a 1969 Johnson 33HP. Rope start like your 500 so I save the weight of a battery, plus I like the sound of the bigger 2 cylinder.

 

[bgc]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

Tom,
Nice lookin boat! I sent you a PM

 

[bgc]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

I spent the day doing preventive maintenance on the motors and getting ready for winter storage.

The units that are running, were run on a diet of 20:1 with Marine Sta-Bil, till warm and then fogged heavily with Sta-Bil Fogging Oil till they stalled.
The non running, I just sprayed an excessive amount of fogging oil down the carbs and into the spark plug holes.
The carbs got rags stuffed into them
All the lower units were drained and refilled.
The weep holes have been cleaned and flushed.
The wraps got removed to discourage mice from building nests in them.
All the zerks got a shot of grease......and then hung up.

My wife thinks I've gone "overboard" but I was able to kill an entire day futzing in the garage.......

 

[rivermouse]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

They only made the merc 300 one year..1960....Mine is still running even thought the electric starter broke 3 years ago.I use the rope to crank it now.

 

[tomhath]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

My wife thinks I've gone "overboard" but I was able to kill an entire day futzing in the garage.......

Appears to be plenty of room on that rack for a few more motors.

 

[bgc]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

Appears to be plenty of room on that rack for a few more motors.

Thank you again Tom for the 300! I'm working on getting a game plan together for restoration.

Three of the running engines are for fishing (HP restrictions).
One for the 4 cylinders is for parts
The 6 cylinder is for parts
and the 650 is because i have a death wish??.by adding one more motor to the collection

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

nice collection of old Mercs

 

[bgc]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

nice collection of old Mercs

Thanks,

(there is 1 OMC 1.5 hp buried in there)

 

[bgc]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

Well... The high winds, we had roll in yesterday, got the walls in the garage shaking..... The mount with the two 1963 MERC 500's, the 1961 MERC 350, and the 1962 MERC 110 broke loose. I came home to the motors laying on the floor.....

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

Any damage, B?

 

[racerone]

Re: 1963 Mercury 500 50hp

Motors are usually set with the skeg supported on a wood / concrete block.