TOPIC: That's me you hear screaming.....

Doing small stuff on my inline 1150 rebuild for the GT160. This motor was used for 5 or 6 outings then put away, in heated storage from 1975. I'm doing all the gaskets, rubber, hoses, crank seals, block seal , fuel pump, carbs etc. my gosh I've never seen anything this clean.
In taking the distributor apart to regrease and also replace the 2 ball bearings, the darn rotor shaft fell on the floor and of course the plastic broke. This is a crazy priced part to replace if unfamiliar with this particular Merc quirk...the rotor is molded onto the shaft rather than a separate piece.
I'm so mad at myself. After much cussing and pounding, I jumped on eBay, found an NOS one gritted my teeth and hit the BIN.
There.....I wasted money but I feel better already knowing I can now move forward. .........Like ripping the bandaid off just get past the pain as quickly as possible.
Randy

Well,...
Next time just give me a call Randy.
I've got LOTS of them.
I keep the rotors & window disks when I replace a dead trigger with a working used assembly.
doc

Thanks Doc,
I really appreciate that you would have done that, I thought that might be the case and was gonna give you a jingle but,
if you can imagine an inner waterjacket cover with so little run time it just had an oilly outside surface, no carbon no dicoloring bolt heads still shiny, that's how little use this motor had, in some twisted wasteful logic I thought it an injustice to put a used part on it. The mechanics literally do look unused. Despite that, complete disassembly, inspection and reassembly was still in order. It'll need to finish the break-in hours once I fire it up! I feel more a caretaker on this one than owner.
It was interesting to note that the typical 12 volt wires were junk, fuel lines were hardened, the ball bearings in the dist were very stiff and the rotating collar on the distributor was stuck due to grease becoming almost like a glue. Shows what 40 plus years of inactivity does on a motor even when kept in a perfect heated indoor storage room. It was neat to see markings and decals I've never come across as would be when new.
As always I'll conclude with how jealous I am of your shop and good work and wish we were close enough to visit!
Randy

"As always I'll conclude with how jealous I am of your shop and good work and wish we were close enough to visit!"

I agree! It would be very cool to get time together in the Mercury Magic Shoppe, or at your end of the Mercury Rainbow.
doc