Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

[kblackav8or]

A little background. I bought a Merc tower of power off Craigslist here in Washington state. I have never worked on an outboard before but have dealt with 2 stroke engines quite a bit. I brought it home, acquired the appropriate fuel line and water supply system. I located a wiring diagram and did a bit of research. I rigged it up to crank and figured out pretty quickly it wasn't making spark. I replaced all the wires and plugs with new stuff. Nobody had the screw in type distributor ends so I cleaned up the sockets so they were bright and clean and built up wires with the supplied sockets. Little more cranking and it fired up and runs fairly smooth. There is work left to do and I know I have some missing transom parts and possibly some mismatched stuff. The problem is what is it. The metal tag is missing off the swivel bracket. There is a serial number on the engine but that seems to indicate it is a older 115. All the markings (FWIW) show it as a later 70's 1500CC 150. It is old enough to still have the distributor and 3 carb setup. I have all the pictures so far here:



The rest are here including a number that are fairly detailed.
Boats - kblackav8or

Here is the second start. Mercury Tower of Power start. - YouTube

Question, based on pictures I provided, can anyone tell what it really is so we can get the right parts for rebuilding the water pump and acquiring the rest of the correct parts to wire and clamp it on the boat. All help appreciated.
PS - Doing this for my deployed brother. He has a 70's Seaswirl with an even older Evinrude Starflite on it. He isn't very mechanical so me being the wrench in the family is doing this as a favor and treat for him before he returns from his deployment in December.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

Ayuh,.... You've No doubt got a bunch of mismatched parts,...

The trim system in yer pictures is for a much newer motor, 'n I doubt it'll work on that 1,...

The impellers didn't change in that time frame, so match the serial number ya got,...

 

[Faztbullet]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

The cowling places it in late 1978 and for some reason I cannot open your 2nd pic. The picture of pump is correct for that year model as it uses the 4 line trim. The impeller kit from Sierra are universal and fit for late 60"s til 2004 outboard and inboards.

 

[calvinator]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

Hi - I have a '75 1500 Merc. Just some knowledge, hope it helps!

Two websites for you: Stern Drive & Mercury, Johnson, Evinrude, Force, Chrysler, Tohatsu, Nissan, Yamaha Outboard Motor Parts -- Mastertech Marine: and www.oldmercs.com good info here, including wiring diagrams.

I see your powerhead SN as 342xxxx. On oldmercs, that SN lookup indicates the powerhead is a 1972 Merc 1400 (140HP). Those engine cowlings are from the mid-late 1980 Merc motors. Could have been a newer motor where the powerhead was replaced... or an older motor with newer decals...

Next thing to investigate is the coil. Most I6 motors have the coil under the distributor. You have some ignition-looking box under the starter motor. Maybe that is aftermarket, or just how the 1400 was put together. Some research to do there.

That tilt unit looks too new. Before you get to far with retro fitting it and checking if it leaks, check into a used CMC PT-130 unit. $300-$400. Newer technology and available repair parts. Part out the old tilt unit. I wasted a lot of time on an old unit.

Good motor, simple operation, and parts are avail. What are your cylinder compressions? Need to be 100PSI+.

 

[kblackav8or]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

I was afraid it might be something of a hodge podge.





I am missing the clamp assembly so I am not constrained by that in terms of the tilt assembly. I was suspicious with the condition of that tilt assembly that it was the wrong one.



New wires fabbed and installed.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

That red coil makes it an early 70's motor, likely about 1973. The 1500 on the top cowling is from that era as well.

 

[kblackav8or]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

I haven't tested compression yet. I wanted to see if I could get it running before investing too much time and parts into it. Wasn't too fussy starting once I resolved the ignition so I think the compression is good enough to continue to work on it. Turning it over by hand it feels healthy too. I think it will get tested eventually but so far so good.

 

[canoemang]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

If you intend on putting more money in it i wouldn't wait to do a comp test. With no load it will sound healthy on 5 all day.. May want to not wait on the impeller, I dont see any water pumping on the vid...

 

[kblackav8or]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

Impeller and lower end inspection is next once we have the stuff to mount it. I can't really do much with it the way it is hanging now.

 

[Faztbullet]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

The trim pump is correct for that motor...you just need clamp brackets and shock and hoses. Also according to Merc manual coil is correct as it was used on serial group 8 engines 4121434 and below where small coil is group 9 which is 4121435 and up. It being red makes it a older coil and someone may have replaced it due to failure or troubleshooting. The build date is on starter as looks like motor all original internally

 

[kblackav8or]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

The little cover thingy that is mounted on the long roll pin on the shift/cable mounting bracket is broken. How hard are those to get?

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

If you are talking about the clamp that holds the shift and throttle cables, they are NLA. A salvage yard is a good place to look. I once twisted a piece of bare copper wire (romex type) around the cable assembly. It worked pretty good.

 

[kblackav8or]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

I will get a picture of it. It is on a roll pin and folds down into a slot it appears. I think if it isn't something super special and only a clamp a rubber covered hose clamp or stainless ubolt of appropriate size with a hole in the right spot would work too.

I need to get hold of a parts list and figure out what transom clamp/bracket assembly I need. I need everything from transom to where it connects to the pivot frame We have the pivot portion. Some pictures of a complete unit would be super.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

The crowleymarine website will show the parts necessary. I would hit that salvage yard to get 'em. What happened to the original transom clamps?

 

[kblackav8or]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

I came into this motor as is. The originals weren't with the motor when I bought it and he didn't have anything else. I got all he had.

 

[Faztbullet]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

Pm me as I got a complete midsection with eveything you need.......

 

[kblackav8or]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

BTW that incorrect trim assembly does work. Hoping we can recoup some of the costs for getting the right stuff by its sale.

Mercury Outboard Trim Assembly test - YouTube

 

[kblackav8or]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

PM sent to Faztbullet

 

[tyblack]

Re: Mercury Tower of Power - mystery ID

So the motor is either a 115 HP or a 140 HP Mercury Inline 6. It is mounted on the transom of my boat now with the clamp and we were able to get the tilt clamps attached. I found that we were only missing the block with the screw mounts to attach the throttle cable to the motor and all parts are accounted for to attach the shift cable which I recently picked up the cables and the anode for the motor. The motor was installed on my 1970 Seaswirl that I fixed the deck in about a year and half ago that you all were so helpful providing valuable advice.