Going from tiller to helm?

[Afterkids]

Hello everyone, I'm new here and happy I found this site. I have a '71 MFG 14', I believe it's a Niagara, that fell into lap, my neighbor was moving and I couldn't refuse his offer to take it, I figure it will make for a nice winter project. It had a 50 hp Merc on it that was frozen and cannibalized by the previous owner, it does have a smooth MerControl box. I picked up a nice running Merc 402 that is a tiller. I would like to know if swapping it over is that big of a deal? Looking at the controls on the 402 it appears pretty straightforward. Then I started researching the way the MerControl operates (that is how I found you guys) and became a little unsure due to the fact that the throttle on the Mercontrol is also the shift control, if I'm reading right, the other handle is only for cold starts. If I just swap out the two cables will it work? It will still be a pull start but I can live with that for now. Thanks in advance, Rich.

 

[alldodge]

Howdy

Hooking the control handle is straight forward. One cable operates the throttle and the other shifts. These two cables are controlled by the single handle. Not being able to see the control you have I'm going to guess it has a smaller lever which when moved also increases the throttle (Throttle Only). If it does then its fine and is used during cold starts. It will increase the throttle without putting the motor in gear.

 

[Afterkids]

Thank you for the quick reply. I do have the same box as your photo, I have attached photos of my linkage, the top rod is for the throttle (simple twist of the tiller control, the lower rod (the one with the threads showing) is for the FNR shift. So by looking at your picture, the cable coming from the lever you marked Throttle only goes where, in the upper position where my tiller throttle is? Thanks again, Rich

 

[GA_Boater]

The workings for the warm up lever (throttle only in the above picture) are internal to the control. Raising the lever simply moves the throttle cable to control warm up revs.

Do you have your serial number so we can look at the correct parts diagrams and compare the tiller and remote versions. You will need to swap out and add a few parts to convert from tiller shift/throttle to a remote control. With luck the parts are on the old motor - Hopefully.

 

[Afterkids]

The serial # on the 402 is 3474783, the 50 hp is 5632265. If I remember correctly the cables were still attached when I took off the 50 so maybe I'm in luck.