TOPIC: 1971 800 value

Hi All

I have a 1971 800 with tilt and trim with all the control's has the next generation ignition and new internal harness. What would be a good starting price for it going to take pic's and list it the classifieds.

Charles

Where I live, any old outboard that runs is worth about 500 bucks max. Lots of folks asking more, even for little putters, or for big tower of powers,, but not selling. I would pay 500 for a great shape merc 800 if I still needed 1. Thats a fast motor. An old hull can be bought for cheap or free, and that merc might be worth a thousand bucks if mounted to a nice clean hull. The tilt trim by itself might be worth 300 and many folks would pay shipping on something that small. Shipping is going to be the killer on the whole thing.

My 1971 merc800 is in tip top shape except for ignition,, and I cant even give that lump away. If I put another 6-700 bucks into it,, its then worth maybe 500 locally,,, so, Im stuck with it. Even the local old motor mechanic dosent want it! He has a small pile of them already.

I dont know if many folks would consider that to be a special enough motor to pay freight to get it, perhaps?

It seems most people in the know are aware of the horribly complex ignition on these, and even a runner is a head ache just waiting to happen. I love the look of the tall thin mercs and I know they are fast, but knowing what I know about them, I dont think I would get into another, not even for cheap.

Woops, looks like Im being a bummer. Those particular mercs just have a bad rep.

Im looking into replacing the thunderbolt ignition on mine with a simpler system. If I could get it running on an ignition system that I could also diagnose and service myself,, then I wouldnt sell it for less than a thousand. That motor is amazing when it runs!

When you say next generation ignition, what do you mean? Not thunderbolt? Thunderbolt II?

$500.00 could not touch my 1969 Merc 1000!! Runs perfect and has always, reaching a scary 56.2 mph on my 160 Glasspar G-3!! Guess the old motors are worth whatever the need calls for!!

$500.00 could not touch my 1969 Merc 1000!! Runs perfect and has always, reaching a scary 56.2 mph on my 160 Glasspar G-3!! Guess the old motors are worth whatever the need calls for!!

Yeah, if my merc800 was a runner, I wouldnt consider selling it. My boat was faster with it, and aside from first start of the day, it used to start fairly easy. Plus, it looked fast just sitting there.

I bought my ignition from Tim Calms this is the one that you can buy parts from cdi the people that make the new harness in Fla.I would have to find my notes from when I worked on the motor getting it running scraped the boat I was putting it on

I'm with you but if a white and black 1000 comes up for 500 bucks I'm all over it !

The thing about the 800 and 850 was they were overcooled. the bores would wear to the shape of ice cream cones and you would never get them to idle without a rebore and new oversize pistons, or another block. A shame because they were fast as all get out and great on gas too. They would live if you ran the living piss out of them to keep the heat in but who does that? A shame, it deserved better like a thermostat in the cooling system to warm them up.

This guy is right on.
Death of almost all those DC Mercury motors. I have had a few.

A case where a worn water pump would actually be beneficial to one of these engines!!! Wonder how a thermostat could be fitted to one of them as was done to the later V6 and such?

My merc800 is still tight. I had it tuned well last year, and it would idle clean no problems. Hole shot was great! Only way I ran it was full on for the most part. Ive always used a small kicker to get back to dock.

All this talk of speed and value has me wanting to start fixing mine again.

I just had a guy back out of a deal on it, at 150.00 for the whole thing, gaurenteed good solid complete motor with bad ignition. So,, I still think they aint worth much.

That is what I mean, beat on them and they will last forever. Drive them like you are the man making the payments and you ask for trouble. A shame and a sin, because they really do run well when tight.

Hey Jim, I've been meaning to ask something. Your boat is pur t sweet but I'm wondering if you removed the splashwell or if someone added one to mine ? When you did your transom did you just eliminate it ? It sure looks clean and I think if I can I'd copy it. Mines half busted up anyway and if it doesn't affect the torsional strength of the hull I'm very interested in how you did it.