TOPIC: Heli Coil

I picked up 2 1963 Mercury 1000 from 2 different guys today .Both had sat forever one was in a barn for over 20 years .And of course they both ran when last used ...L.O.L..The one in the barn Turned over and shifted Seemed to have compresion .Besides some Chicken poop on it seemed ok .The controls were there but had Male ends on them and looked like a trailer harness wired in also ..WOW ...The second motor had real nice controls but of course no key .That motor shifts but is stuck .Gave one guy $100 and the stuck one $50 .I hung the Barn one on my test boat Gave each carb a good dose of marvel to lube the bottom end Pulled the plugs .They came out pretty hard and when I got the first one out it was like a lawn mower plug and some threads came with it .. CRAP ..I gave each clyinder a good dose of oil and turned her over by hand .I tryed the key from the messed up controls in the good set and it worked .. COOL ..Hooked them up and put the muffs on her .Cleared the oil out and compresion seemed great .I put a surface gap plugs on the wires and wow spark .I put the plugs in but you could tell the threads were a little buggered up .I primed the carbs choked and cranked her .Fired then died . Hit her again and it sounded like it was running for the last 20 pluss years ..I let her fast idle and gave each carb a little squirt of oil now and then to get her well lubed .It shifted good and sounded great .Then it happened ..She blew a spark plug out of her and took the threads with it .2 others are hanging on for dear life .The heads on these are part of the block like the new ones arent they ?? Has any body got away with heli coiling a plug hole with out tearing the engine down ?? Can a guy blow out any shaveings with air and pray you get them all ?? To get the bottom plug do you have to pull the power head ?? I was thinking if you hung it so the plug holes were down it might help ..Also will the Lower units on these fit like the red , blue or Brown stripe motors ??

Just put a thick grease on the helicoil tap to hold the swarf / chips / cuttings.

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If a few get in the cylinder they will blow out the exhaust.

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You really should tear these engines down to inspect / replace seals.----This is usually time well spent.

I've got a heli coil in an aluminum head, never shown any sign of a problem. One of the greatest inventions of all time.

If you're doing the coil yourself (which is easy enough) make sure you do it by the numbers, they don't work nearly as well on the second try.

lube the cylinder well with WD40.....rotate the crank so that your at TDC on that hole, now back up the crank a 1/8 turn...inject cylinder FULL with "shaving cream".... Grease the tap as explained already, tap, install heli, and then rotate crank to push out foam and any shavings that didnt stick to the grease, now flush with fuel , wd40 whatever blow air in the plug hole to blow any residue out the exhaust port, repeat as necessary on other holes

Ive done this for years with cars & bikes

MadProps wrote:

lube the cylinder well with WD40.....rotate the crank so that your at TDC on that hole, now back up the crank a 1/8 turn...inject cylinder FULL with "shaving cream".... Grease the tap as explained already, tap, install heli, and then rotate crank to push out foam and any shavings that didnt stick to the grease, now flush with fuel , wd40 whatever blow air in the plug hole to blow any residue out the exhaust port, repeat as necessary on other holes

Ive done this for years with cars & bikes

Wow! I've never heard that one!

Awesome idea though! I'll use it next time I have to tap a head!

Wow! I've never heard that one!

Awesome idea though! I'll use it next time I have to tap a head!

not new, not my idea, pretty common old school trick in the Harley world

Thanks Guys ..Never heard of shaving cream but that sounds like a great idea ..I agree seals and all wouldntbe a bad idea ..But they are only 48 years old .. What could possibly be wroung with them ...L.O.L..The ones pretty stuck .I poured ATF and diesel mix in the jugs and the crank case .Even threw in some of that blaster stuff ..Ill keep lubing and wiggling her for awhile and see what happens . Any body know if the lower unit off of a 1963 will fit around a 79 ?? I know where one is that needs a lower ..
Thanks Larry

I've got a 63 Merc 1000 with a '79 (or newer) lower on it Larry, was like that when I bought it. Here's a link where the guys who know were talking about the swap;
www.fiberglassics.com/fiberglassics-forums/home/mercury-outpost/merc-1000-on-cl-what-do-you-think#24544
Maybe one of the guys can fill you in better on doing it, but if you can swap lowers it stands to reason you could swap power heads??? I donno

You have to look at the powerhead / exhaust gasket to determine powerhead swaps.----For a few years in the 60's the exhaust housing was the same and a 100 HP and 65 HP will interchange.

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Later years the exhaust housing changed and again it was common between the 65 and 100 HP blocks.

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Lowers did interchange for many years.