One mans JUNK is another mans JUNK

[Tomtall]

I love it when people think they own something that they don't have a clue what they have and think it's worth a ton of money because they think they know. You know what I mean ????

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MERCURY-500-...ht_6277wt_1006

[PROPDOC]

Tom,
I know what you mean, at $199.99 opening bid he is about $50 -$75 more than what it is really worth. Especially with a gearcase that seems to be missing everything in it.

[Mark78h]

And he has a bid!

[Yellowjacket]

I was looking at it too, and figured, like Propdoc, that it was overpriced by about $50.. But it does have the controls with it, and those go for about $50, hard to say... If it was closer it wouldn't be a bad deal, what's a good powerhead go for nowadays???

I bought a nice low time 500 with a good lower unit for $250 a couple of months ago.. Reset the float levels and it ran perfect. That was a later one with electronic ignition too..

[Tomtall]

PropDoc

Yes I agree that there are parts that are usable to someone out there but statements like

There is a racing class for these outboards and they are highly sought after for that fact.

just piss me off. You see this crap all the time on E-Bay. That was the point I was making about his posting. I guess I should take my meds and calm down.

[Yellowjacket]

Yea, he's thinking that it's an "SS" but what he's really seeing are the "lightning bolts" that means it's an electric start motor, and to him it must be related to an XS or 25ss or something like that... Obviously it's worth more if it's a racing engine...

OBTW I looked up the s/n and it's a 1968 500...

[ricochet112]

On the micro fiche card that motor is listed as a 500E-7 SS

But with the Lightening Energizer ignition, meh...junk...

[Mike45]

I love it when people think they own something that they don't have a clue what they have and think it's worth a ton of money because they think they know. You know what I mean ????

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MERCURY-500-...ht_6277wt_1006

How about the one that has been listed for some time now: 1954 Mark 20 (fishing motor) for $975, Good luck with that.

[mercguy]

Yea, he's thinking that it's an "SS" but what he's really seeing are the "lightning bolts" that means it's an electric start motor, and to him it must be related to an XS or 25ss or something like that... Obviously it's worth more if it's a racing engine...

OBTW I looked up the s/n and it's a 1968 500...

the "SS" or lightning bolts means "solid state" ignition......lightning energizer mag....

[johnsonm50]

"There is a racing class for these outboards and they are highly sought after for that fact."

That's it right there, mo-$$$, just pop that powerhead on a 'race' unit & go, part out the lower for gas $$. win /win!
I look at part value but separation time & possible resulting damage makes for limited return on most of them. Used motors needing work make good donors for other project motors needing parts at bargains.

[Yellowjacket]

As noted above, somebody bid on it, but later retracted the bid, so it was a no-sale, as it should have been at that price. Parts motors can be just that, but unfortunately this one, with no guts in the lower unit was already half parted out.

I'm curious about the ignition system though. Ricochet112 said it was a solid state ignition, but it obviously used a distributor, so it was more like auto ignitions of the time I would guess. Are those systems better or worse than the earlier ignitions? Obviously they changed to a "coil on plug" ignition in 1976 and that got rid of the distributor, but was the solid state system with the distributor better than the older point type systems???

[PROPDOC]

As noted above, somebody bid on it, but later retracted the bid, so it was a no-sale, as it should have been at that price. Parts motors can be just that, but unfortunately this one, with no guts in the lower unit was already half parted out.

I'm curious about the ignition system though. Ricochet112 said it was a solid state ignition, but it obviously used a distributor, so it was more like auto ignitions of the time I would guess. Are those systems better or worse than the earlier ignitions? Obviously they changed to a "coil on plug" ignition in 1976 and that got rid of the distributor, but was the solid state system with the distributor better than the older point type systems???

To answer your question, yes they were better than the old points magneto. This ignition system was the first generation of the "Thunderbolt" ignition and it was a battery cd type ignition. For the most part they were quite reliable and they did use a distributor. It used an external coil and switch box with the trigger mounted directly on the distributor. The trigger wheel would have windows in it for the number of cylinders. i.e. 3,4, or 6.

[kampenracing]

$$$ too high

Price seems too high to me, we find these engines on Craig's list all the time for around $100 with controls.

[Annie Gran]

I have a '69 Merc 500 SS I run on my Glen L Zip. The SS models (500-E7) do have the electric start and the Lightning Energizer ignition like described earlier. They did not come with a charging system so I retro'd mine with a flywheel and stator I found on Ebay and regulator with a tach wire for my Teleflex tach. I really like this old motor and the ignition really works nice. I picked up an extra distributor off Ebay just to have an extra. These things are hard to find.

Annie Gran

[Blackhawkguy]

Ignition parts

What you do not want to have to do is buy any parts for that ignition. The rotor is atached to a shaft that runs all the way through the dist, and the belt pully mounts to it. Last time I looked $300.00 plus part is NLA. You had to dissasemble entire dist to change it. Also dist housing holds the pick up sensor in it-that part is $400.00 and is NLA.

From my experiance what would happen with these Dist. is the bearings would wear letting the wheel with the windows in it drop and wear the wires to the sensor through junking the Dist housing. Every thing for this dist is expensive if you can find parts. I have a rotor shaft- dist housing-and I think a coil and cap for one of these.

Evryone who worked on these when they were new has told me they where a good ignition and very reliable. The problem is they have gotten old and are starting to fail and parts are NLA. I would avoid any motor with one of these ignitions on it unless you want to spend some serious money if the ignition fails.

I have had several people buy old Mercs with these ignitions and once they had a problem they would not spend the money to fix them.

Kerry