Just a little info about myself
first. Sometimes I think I'd rather find motors that need a lot of work,
as opposed to buying a resto'd one. I enjoy tearing them apart, finding out
what's wrong, and making it work again. I've been known to take stuff apart
and rebuild it just to make sure everything is ok before I find out the hard
way. Don't get me wrong, finding real nice original motors is great, but
to me, bringing one back from the dead is just as good. This is the reason
why you'll usually see just as many (if not more) motors here, as in the
"My Motors" section. They'll stay here until they're done, then move to the
finished section.
That said, here's a
list of projects on the slate.
1952 KE4
Picked this one up from a friend 3/2.
It runs ok, but had a water leak. While looking for the leak, I found that
the pistons were scored and the rod bearings are a little sloppy. I'm probably
going to tear it down and rebuild the whole motor. It sits in a pile on
the bench now, while I decide if I'm going to do it right away or wait.
The lower cowls are missing in the pic, but the guy says he's pretty sure
he's got them.
1955 Scott Atwater 10hp. Bail-o-Matic (On the left )
The last of the 3/26 motors, also seized.
I love the way these motors look. I'm not sure what it is about them, just
neat looking I guess. Another clean, mostly complete motor. It looks like
some parts may be missing, but I'm not sure. I don't know much about these
yet. This one's going on the back burner too, but will get done before the
other S/A. I need to get some manuals and get to know them before I start
either project.
1957 Mk75
pic 2 pic3
5/7/01: Lots of work done on this one
over the late winter! I put new pistons, rings, ALL the bearings, reeds and
one reed cage. I've also got the tower and gear case stripped, primed and
ready for paint. The upper/ lower cowl isn't ready yet, but I may end up
getting new ones as the originals are pitted in the "bare aluminum" areas.
I put new seals in the gear case and a new impeller is ready once it's painted.
I also spent some time on a prop for the motor, a 2 blade 13p bronze prop
that I got somewhere along the line. I cleaned it up good and polished it,
it came out VERY nice. I've also got an aluminum 3 blade (not sure on the
pitch, there's no #'s on it) that I cleaned up and painted. All I need now
is the paint and a few gaskets and she's ready to go. I may run this on the
Jaws boat for a bit to break it in and tune it until I get the Berglund done.
I also stripped and painted a nice set of controls for this motor over the
winter. I'll get some more pics up soon on the progress of this motor.
I was looking for parts to build a
'57 Mk75 and found this complete, but seized motor! The '57 power head that's
been bouncing around is going on this motor now. I'm going to tear this one
right down and do a nice paint job on it. It also came with a set of controls
(Yeah!). I've thought about dropping this motor on the back of the Trojan,
when it's done, just to see what it'll do! That's probably not a real good
idea, though (hee-he-he).
**Update**
I tore the seized power head apart
and it can be saved! That's why it's not all there in the pics. I got
it taken apart before I remembered to take a few pics, so I just put
the block back in so it looks like a motor. Once I get this one rebuilt,
I'll have an extra Mk75 p/h!
I originally thought this motor
was a '58 because of the decals. I looked up the ser. # and it's definitely
a '57. They used the '58 decal set on the late year '57's, so says the parts
list.
1958 Mk28
The other Merc that I got from the old dealer. It's missing
the top cowl, but otherwise looks GREAT! I pulled the auto trans apart and
it all looks new, same with the power head. It looks
like he was rebuilding this motor when he passed on. It needs a prop and
top cowl, that's it. I was planning on running this motor on the Trojan
with the NOS remote throttle I have, but that's up in the air now.
I found this one sitting in a shed at an old marina. It had great compression, but no spark. The price was right, so I brought it home, pulled off the top cowl, and behold....broken timing belt! A new belt, carb rebuild, and cleaning-o-the points made it run just fine. This one is in the plans for one of my hydro's. It's in a large box now waiting for paint. The power head is STRONG, so I don't think I'll mess with it.
1958 Mk55 #2
I picked this
one up with another Merc 400. It's another non-electric and was missing the
magneto and the face plate. I put a mag on it and it runs great! The skeg
and the exhaust outlet under the cavitation plate have been ground down, so
I'll need a gear case for it. As with most everything else I have it'll need
a paint job. I've got a project in mind for this motor and the other '58
Mk55. I won't spill the beans yet, but if I do it, it'll be fun!
1959 Mk78A
pic2
Another from
the motor expedition to Central NY. This motor is actually the reason I
went. It's complete, but the power head is shot. My original hope was to
free up the motor, but no such luck. I pulled off all the good parts, then
put the Mk75 p/h on it. I painted it (just a "pretty it up" paint job, the
color isn't even right), and it runs good. I won't bore everyone by repeating
everything I went through with this motor (it's all in the updates section),
suffice it to say, it's a labor of love and will be around for a long time.
Even when I get the Mk75 parts to make a motor, I'll find the right power
head for this one and keep it going.
1959 Mk78A #2
This one is missing
the upper cowl/recoil, the wrap around band, and some ignition parts. I'll
either pull this power head to use on the other Mk78A, or take parts off
the other one for this one. This one has matching #'s, so I think I'll make
this one the complete motor. Either way, sooner or later, I'll have 2 complete
Mk78A's.
1959 Mk78A #3
Yep, another one! I picked this one up with a bunch of NOS
parts and 2 other motors (see the updates section). It's all there and runs
great! This one is going on the Jaws boat for now. Sooner or later (read:
when i get around to doing it), this is going to be one of the 2 Mk78A's
on the catamaran, unless I can find 2 descent Mk78's in the meantime. Still
working on pics.
1961 Merc 400
I got this with the new '58 Mk55. It
runs GREAT, but needs a gear case. I'll probably put together one good one
and put it on this motor to keep, then unload all the other stuff newer than
'59. I need the room to concentrate on the motors I really like.
1961 Merc 700 (Direct Reversing)
