TOPIC: Update on my 1972 Sea Ray Mercruiser 165

This has been a good year for this boat. I had it out on the Lake from May through September. Only problem was water in the oil. Caught that right away and got it fixed. Water was leaking past the gasket between the exhaust manifold and the riser. She ran good and no other problems. Here's the latest photos.

Gotta love those mercruiser 165,s. I converted mine to HEI ignition and a 4 BBL carb, removed the baffle in the intake manifold. Ran like a scared rabbit!

Ike,I'm really liking mine.It takes the Nineteen for a ride.

I installed electronic ignition as well. It runs very smooth. no start problems whatsoever. I still have the original rochester 2GV carb but I had it rebuilt. It has a flat spot at about 1000 rpm but you can jigger the throttle and get past that. I runs up to just under 4000 rpm without effort. I haven't clocked it on GPS but the speedo says a little over 35 which which is more than enough for me. I rarely run it at over 2500 rpm which is planing speed. Seems to get decent fuel economy too. my 26 gallon tank lasted the whole summer.

Glad to see you got her sorted out Ike, well worth the effort!

Ike,I may look in to the electronic ignition. What length boat? What pitch prop? Just curious. I feel like they are a good dependable motor once you get the kinks out.When you were getting water in the oil, exactly how? I want to keep an eye out for that. jim

Daveswaves wrote:

Gotta love those mercruiser 165,s. I converted mine to HEI ignition and a 4 BBL carb, removed the baffle in the intake manifold. Ran like a scared rabbit!

D W,how did you fit a 4v on the intake? got a pic of the adapter?jim

Jim. It's an 18 footer. The prop is 15 X 23, standard mercury original equipment prop. There is a gasket between the exhaust manifold and the riser. It had a leak in it. I took it to a shop and they did a leak down test. I haven't had a problem since they put in the new gasket.

Dave, what carb did you put on it. I have been considering buying a new carb but I would rather use one someone has had success with. However, I don't think I would go to 4 barrel. Maybe 2. This boat already scares the crap out of wife when I open it up.

(she doesn't like fast boats, anything over about 10 mph scares her. It's just a personal phobia from when she was little. Some one took her out in a fast runabout and scared the crap out of her and she's never quite gotten over it. She's happiest in our 12 foot rowboat.)

Jim L wrote:

Daveswaves wrote:

Gotta love those mercruiser 165,s. I converted mine to HEI ignition and a 4 BBL carb, removed the baffle in the intake manifold. Ran like a scared rabbit!

D W,how did you fit a 4v on the intake? got a pic of the adapter?jim

The 165 MC (1970 and up) used a different manifold than the 160 MC (1967 - 1969 and some early '70s). The early motor used a manifold with a removable top piece. It was crescent shaped. For reference, the 120 also used a similar manifold. The 140 and the 165 used a new design with a one piece casting. Look at the manifold (6 cyl, not 140) and you should see a factory adapter taking a 4 bbl manifold to a 2 bbl carb.

Why the 4 bbl manifold with a 2 bbl carb? Good question. All I can say is that there was a 200 HP 292 inline 6 with a MC 2 drive in '68 and '69. Different part number, but similar appearance. Probably the same casting maybe with different studs for the carb vs adapter plate.