TOPIC: ok a new problem for an old motor

ok a few days ago i spoke of the friend with the 70 johnson who did have a spun shaft bearing and it ate up the housing. he found another lower unit and it matched up ,well kinda, we put the new foot Assembly on and he took it out, tried to unload it off the trailer and come to find out the cables were switched from the dealer who adjusted the shift linkage, but now they are saying he has to get new controls because the lower unit was from a different series of motor and just switching the cables wont work. QUESTION . does that sound right that a i think earlier year foot would fit but the cables are set up different to allow the controls to work backwards. something to do with the shift and throttle on one and different on another set of controls,. two steps and so on. Help
if need be i probably can get the year of the new foot and other specs.

billy

Billy, is it possible to just swap the control with a two lever thing? Like the old simplex system? Lots of those on ebay but ya gotta look for the bargain.