TOPIC: 1958 Bell Boy

Greetings all. I just signed up because this old gal followed me home Sunday. She's a 1958 Bell Boy, I believe Banshee(?). It was one of those deals where I got her home and can't really say it was a good idea. I already have too many projects!
But, I figure if I do decide to dig in then this might be a forum where I can get good information.
There is a Mercury 6cyl Tower of Power on her right now, but I'm pretty sure she originally had a Scott Atwater because I found a full set of controls for one buried under the seats.
This isn't my first rodeo, my first boat was a '57 Leecraft with fins like a '57 Chevy. That asthetic is really the only reason I brought this one home.

welcome to the site ! The responses have been slow for a while now. But if you have questions, feel free to ask. If you use the search tab above, and type in Bell Boy in the subject and change it to one year and older, the search hits go all the way back to the beginning of the site. Enjoy your new project !

Is that an "800" Dockbuster, or a "700"? Can't see the face plate, but it looks like the 800 with larger cowlings etc.

IIRC there's somewhere where you can still get the special impeller for a 700E (Marineengine.com has 2 of 'em, only $83 each!).
Also available here: www.oldmercs.com/product_p/47-30041t.htm

The 800 uses a larger impeller, that's also used in the "modern" inlines. So you'll have no trouble finding one of those.

Pull the distributor, clean the points to bare metal and polish with crocus cloth. Then find a manual that shows you how to set up the dual-point distributor. If you get the dwell perfect, and get the carbs tweaked in, she'll fire right up and purr. Copy of dwell plate attached. Print it out, cut it to size, make a pointer to fasten to the rotor shaft, and away you go.

You'll probably want to replace the fuel pump diaphragms and also pull at least the top filter/needle housing on each carb and check for debris, and proper needle/float height.

Remove the 7/16" brass main jet plug at the bottom of each carb, and you can flush carb cleaner thru. Also pull the idle mixture screws and spray out the idle passages. Then blow the whole carb down with compressed air. That's if the carbs are relatively clean. If they are full of Green Stuff, they'll need to come off the powerhead for intensive care.

Packing kits are available for the carbs, and they'll have the gaskets you need for what you're taking apart.

Here's a link to the 700E parts list: www.marineengine.com/parts/mercury-outboard-parts/700-6-cyl/1296411-thru-1413610

And for the 800E: www.marineengine.com/parts/mercury-outboard-parts/800-6-cyl/1335465-thru-1398629

Sierra gasket kit, almost half price of the Merc part. You'll need 3 of 'em:

www.marineengine.com/newparts/part_details.php?pnum=SIE18-7006-1

Enjoy!......................ed

Thanks Ed. It's the 800. Since I can't seem to find neutral I'm guessing that's why it's called 'dockbuster'? That is a 'feature' I haven't run into (pun INTENDED) before.
I have some old manuals I'll have to dig through to see if I already have one for this motor/series or not. I do appreciate the information!
GH

Nice. The 76-cubic-inch Six has a lot more punch than the 66 Cube 70hp.

And yes, it is indeed a "Feature" not a "Bug"! Karl Kiekhaefer's idea to keep from blowing up shift clutches on higher-horsepower engines. Ultimately, eliminating Neutral was NOT the best course of action!

Many years ago I picked up a 700E dockbuster out of the Little Nickel want ads, something like $25. Well, it needed the water pump fixed and cleaned out, also I tuned the distributor and set that dwell up perfectly. Tuned the carbs on the water with the engine warmed up.

My Brother had a Wards Sea-King 13.5' runabout, and its 45hp Chrysler was a dog. Slapped that 70hp on there and we were deep-water starting on one slalom ski. My good buddy did a beach start and he said the acceleration made his head swim! There were some guys on the beach laughing at our old ski boat, well they didn't laugh much after we took off!! That was a 35mph boat and man did it go!! Sure was economical to run.

Anyway, if compression checks out, it's certainly worth messing with. You'd have to do the same basic maintenance on an old 80hp Full Gear shift. But I'd definitely check compression before putting a lot of effort into it.

BTW the way the "Dockbuster" works is, you start it in gear, and take off. There are limit switches that prevent the engine from starting if the throttle is too far advanced. To stop the engine, you back off on the throttle until the engine quits. Or just turn the ign off. To start in reverse, move the control handle farther aft until it's in the range where it'll start and run in Reverse.

The special distributor actually has so much timing change, that it can rotate far enough to run the engine backwards. In fact the 2-stroke engine don't care which way it's running, as long as the timing is proper.

There are some special flappers in the water pump that direct flow to the engine, no matter which way it's rotating.

Very Cool Concept, but most people found it hard to wrap their head around it. Hence the "Dockbuster" or "Dock Wrecker" monikers.

To dispell the backlash, Merc actually put a "Full Gear Shift" decal on the wrap-around under the lower cowling, when they came out with the first big engines with Fwd-Neutral-Reverse.

BTW that's the best way to tell by sight a Dockbuster from a "FGS" model; if you can see all the powerhead nuts, it's a Dockbuster; if the nuts/bolts are hidden behind some sort of wrap-around, it's a FGS.

Sharp boat. I love it!!

Hello Ed

Thanks for the great information on the old Merc "Tower of Power"


John McIntintosh makes the dwell indicators.

johnsmcintoshvintagemercuryoutboard.com/6CylDegreePlate.html

That's a Sweet setup. Good as the factory tool.

Years ago I just happened to pick up a mess of parts and some very nice home-made dwell plates came with. So I used the best one of those, and made my own pointer out of an old rotor, a screw, and hunk of stiff wire. Of course those rotors cost an arm-and-a-leg nowadays, if you can find one!!

Far as special tools go, it's definitely worth the investment. You really need to get that dwell set properly, since we're dealing with 2 separate ignition systems. If one is off from the other, it sets up bad power pulses which can harm the engine's internals. Or just make it run poorly.

These old dual-ign Sixes really do run nice when you get the ign and carburation well-adjusted.

Interesting ad for the 61 Merc Inline Six.


Mentions the option of exclusive direct reversing engine preferred by many experienced out-boarders.
Also looks like the short shaft model may have been the wrong choice for that big Thompson?

"experienced out-boarders" ! Well, maybe according to Karl Kiekhaefer that is!!

I would bet that most folks with Dockbuster "experience" would prefer the Full Gear Shift model! Not that I ever minded my 700E Dockbuster, but it was Cheep and that's about all we did with it, go out to the lake and ski, and run around. Not much maneuvering around docks and such. So it was pretty easy to operate. But you do have to keep 'em well-tuned, you don't want them being cranky to start when you really need Reverse!

And that Thompson probably had a pretty flat hull design, so maybe it was just a 15" transom. Hard to tell from the pic.

I couldn't find any pics of that model of hull, either. The 3-window windshield is quite unique, most of 'em I found just had 2 windows.