Reply To: Merc 1100 Tower of Power Restoration

[jeff-register]

One item I would do is on top of the cylinder block is a water passage 1/4″ plug. Put a 90 degree brass fitting & tubing down to the bottom cowl so you can always see water flow to the top cylinder. Your book should show the correct plugs to use. & yes the early 6’s had two automotive coils & the distributer was different. The cap  had 2 places for coil wires & dual contacts on the rotor. One coil ran 1,3 & 5cylinders & the other ran 2, 4 & 6 cylinders. The points  2 of them raan each coil &  must be syncked to each other other wise 1,3 ,5 were firing before or after 2,4 & 6 cylinders. The reason for dual system is there wasn’t time between cylinder firing to saturate the coils for a hot spark at 6000 rpm. Be careful if you split the cases, They have a bad habit of breaking bolts off. See Joe Poole  for parts at Ferguson Poole on the web. His Dad started the business in 1951 & has many new old stock parts. Very nice guy too!!He is on the web. Check the cooling ystem very well + the check valves for crankcase drains to be functioning. Hope you don’t have to open it up. It’s a real trick getting the exhaust system seals not to leak water.P.S. It probally had a piston burned because on of the three carbs ran dry for some reason.It’s harder to tell a dead cylinder when it’s 6 of them. Crankshaft sealsmust be replaced by splittong the crankcase & top main bearing should be replaced. Mercury used surpluss military bearings & seals but hopefully yours is new enough to not have surplus parts in it. They are hard to find now.

Good luck & be patient!!