Vintage (1983 50hp) Mercury Mechanic Recommendations?

I’m looking for a mechanic in the Twin Cities area that is good with vintage Mercury outboards and would love to hear any recommendations you might have!

I’m thinking it needs to be timed and have the carbs adjusted, so finding someone who actually has carb experience would be preferred.

Thanks!

There is a guy just north of Belle Plaine on 169 that fixes stuff like that. His name is Dave Juerissen. Dont know his phone number but you wont miss it if you drive by, there is always boats and motors for sale at the end of his driveway by the highway.

Juerissen Motor Sports is what I found. 952-873-4320 or 952-686-8816

Steve Hansen
31535 Dresden Avenue
Northfield, MN

http://www.minnesotaboatmotorrepair.com

1983 is vintage?
Man I’m old

Hahaha, I know, it doesn’t seem like it should be, but anything with carburetors scares most modern mechanics. I’m trying to find a shop with guys who are the “real deal” and have plenty of experience in this area.

Thanks for recommendations! I’ll give them a call and see what they have to say.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

1983 is vintage?
Man I’m old

Anything older than 2000 is considered vintage to most shops. Or at least the hand full I called looking for parts thought it was. Any vehicle 20 years old or older can have collector plates and run in car cruses. It happens. We all get old.

Could try Supreme Marine in MPLS. It’s been about 8-9 years since I had a Merc, but they had some old school guys.

A little outside the metro, but Dingmann Marine in Annandale would be a great option depending where you are.

X2 on Rodwork’s recommendation of Steve in Northfield

Call Steve in Northfield. He has kept my ’77 Evinrude running like a top.
Mwal

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

Could try Supreme Marine in MPLS. It’s been about 8-9 years since I had a Merc, but they had some old school guys.

They robbed me blind, kept my motor for 3 weeks longer than promised, and when I got it back it ran for 2 trips before blowing up. Highly advise against taking your chances at Supreme.

Hannay’s has been good to me if you want to stay in Mpls.

dirtywater wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ralph Wiggum wrote:</div>
Could try Supreme Marine in MPLS. It’s been about 8-9 years since I had a Merc, but they had some old school guys.

They robbed me blind, kept my motor for 3 weeks longer than promised, and when I got it back it ran for 2 trips before blowing up. Highly advise against taking your chances at Supreme.

Totally agree re Supreme. Absolutely highway robbery what the charged my father for a simple carb clean. 4 hours of labor for a carb clean? Nobody that takes that long to clean a carb should have been working on outboards at all.

BTW he didn’t bring it to me because he didn’t want to bother me with it during our busy season. He should have bothered me with it, it was a 1 hour job even as slowly as I work.

I know of an old Merc genius in Minong, Wi. And an Evinrude genius in Trego, Wi.
Guys you dont want to see go but their time is fleeting.

dirtywater wrote:

Highly advise against taking your chances at Supreme.

OK, like I said, it’s been a while since I had a Merc.

Dogfish wrote:

I’m looking for a mechanic in the Twin Cities area that is good with vintage Mercury outboards and would love to hear any recommendations you might have!

I’m thinking it needs to be timed and have the carbs adjusted, so finding someone who actually has carb experience would be preferred.

Thanks!

Let me know who you go to as I have an ’86 (I believe).

My suggestion is to buy the equipment and learn to do it yourself. If you have any mechanical skill at all it is not hard work, you just have to be patient and take your time.

Don’t skimp when you buy equipment. You may or may not need new gaskets (order them before you start). If you took it to a good local shop they would take carbs off carefully, (there is a small plastic piece between each carb that links the throttle shafts together, it is easy to break and hard to replace). Disassemble and clean them one at a time. Count the mixture screw turns as they are disassembled them and write it down, so they can be returned to the original position. They will then probe all of the small openings in the crab throat to loosen any lodged goo (very fine wire). Take them completely apart including removing the jets. Put ALL the part in a heated ultrasonic cleaner with a very strong non-corrosive detergent solution and let them “cook” for at least a half an hour. Remove the “cooked” parts rinse with hot water and blow them dry with compressed air. re-assemble the first carb and repeat. You can see if you are paying the shop for, time in the tank, it could easily be an hour per carb.

I had wrenches and screw drivers and an air compressor, the thing that is the most important is the ultrasonic cleaner. I purchased one off ebay for about $150 and use a high concentration (1:3) of Simple Green “purple” as the cleaning solution (“purple” is non-corrosive, do not use “green”).

I have cleaned carbs on my John Deere garden tractor, my Lawboy mower, my 60hp 86 Merc, my portable generator, the neighbors 9hp Merc, my neighbors portable generator….the list goes on…. It is not my neglect that causes the problems, the yard tools are used by many others in my family.

Here is a shot of the Merc 60hp, they look like new

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