1967 Mercury 650

[groundedchevy]

I recently purchased an old 67 Starcraft 15' fiberglass boat with a 67 Mercury 650 Outboard. I don't know much about Outboard engines but I've worked on about everything else and I'm a good weekend warrior mechanic. I heard this motors love to eat the impeller and dropping the lower unit sounds like a task I don't want to tackle unless it is easier than I think. Does anyone know of a good reasonable mechanic for this type of motor? I don't want to invest too much because honestly I only purchased the whole boat for $600.

The motor runs and starts great but the boat is a lot slower than I expected with it having a 65 HP on it especially since the boat weighs hardly anything. I've replaced the plugs and it does appear to be running a tad bit on the rich side. I was in my friends boat 18' aluminum boat with an old 9.5 hp Mercury and it seemed to go faster than my boat. Any suggestions here?

Thanks for the help in advance.

[fishinwrench]

The water pump refresh is a breeze, but the issue you're eventually gonna run into with older Mercs is the availability of ignition components when you need them...... and sooner or later you will.

So in other words, regardless of how much you're willing to spend freshening up the old Merc she's only gonna run for as long as the current ignition system allows, unless you have access to a few other ones to rob parts from.

[jdmidwest]

Cool looking old boat.

Was it trimmed out right? Did it really power up and run good or was it sluggish?

If water pump was bad, you may have a cooked cylinder. I bought an ole Johnson 9.5 that never seemed to have much power. I tried everything I could think of then took it to a professional. One cylinder was full of water and no compression. It had gotten hot and cracked the cyl wall. I sold it for parts. Check the heads around the spark plug area and see if it looks like the paint is burned off. I was told it is a good sign of overheating.

[groundedchevy]

Thanks

It starts up right away and runs smooth. Sometimes it has a little problem running at very low speeds. I think this is mainly to due to it running too rich. If I clean the spark plugs before i take it out I usually have very little trouble. I'm afraid to mess with anything because I don't want to get it too lean. I do notice that the fuel lines look like they could be replaced and I was thinking about doing a fuel pump rebuild at the same time. There is still water coming out of the pee hole but not quite as fast I would think it should (Then again I don't know). I was just thinking about having it replaced for piece of mind then I know the history of the maintenance. I don't mind working on things but at the same time if I could find a good honest mechanic to go through the motor for $150-200 and replace the fuel lines and water pump I would let them do it all day long. I will check around the heads for burned off paint....I know all 4 cylinders are firing because of the condition of the spark plugs coming out. Maybe I'll stop by O'reillys and rent a compression tester and see where I'm at there.

The motor does not have power trim on it. i have noticed that there is a bar on the bracket that you can move up and down that will adjust the trim. Maybe I'll play around with it a little bit. I'll google correct trim height. I'm a little confused on whats optimal.

[fishinwrench]

The "fitted" fuel hoses for the 1965 Merc 650 are NLA so all connections will have to be fitted with shortened threaded nipples (standard nipples are too long to fit without kinking the hoses).

To go through all of that (8 times), plus refresh the water pump is gonna be about 350.00 P&L from an "honest" mechanic, and about 40.00 from one that's crooked as a snake

[TRRANGER]

Hey Grounded, I found a place that specializes in old Merc parts Rapair CDI 1-256-772-3829 they were awesome to deal with and great prices and very helpful people.

[groundedchevy]

Thanks everyone for all the great information. Doing some research I think a lot of my trouble might be the trim. If the weather is nice I might be able to get out on Sunday morning and I'll try moving the bar on my motor mount to where my motor is out farther from the boat. Looking at the condition of my fuel lines I should have them replace sooner than later but I might try and tackle that one myself. Rebuiling the waterpump and impeller seems like a bigger task than I want to tackle. Anythoughts on a local mechanic that wouldn't charge me an arm and a leg for this?

[Jerry Rapp]

you have a B.O.A.T. Break Out Another Thousand.

[fishinwrench]

I didn't catch what area you hail from but if you're in the LO area I'd be glad to do the waterpump for ya.

[fishinwrench]

you have a B.O.A.T. Break Out Another Thousand.

Bend Over And Take it