Penton StaffMercury Outboard Shop Manual: 45-225 Hp, 1972-1989 (B726)

I bought this manual because I needed to rebuild carbs on a customer's boat. It is a nice manual, but as these go sometimes they try to cover lots of models and years in one book. The result is that I didn't actually get much of the information for the carb rebuild and adjustments that I was looking for. I'm sure it will come in handy for other repairs though. I give it four stars because I wish the information was more complete.

This was exactly what I was looking for. It is a hard to find manual for my boat and they had it for a great price.

Understandably, it's hard to cover a huge number of models and years in a single manual, but if you have WMA (Walbro) carbs on your Mercury Outboard you won't find any info on them here. I understand there are a lot of variants, but a supplemental manual would have been nice to cover those variations. Trying to decipher serial number runs is also a little difficult to figure out, as there is no mention of those serials beginning with an alpha character instead of a number. A lot of assumptions have to be made. Fortunately, the web is a huge help as are the parts suppliers. I take most of the info in the manual with a grain of salt and always double check when I can against other sources. Overall this shop manual provides a good overview of the mechanics and gives reliable Timing and adjustment data, but tends to be lack luster in its presentation of pictures and diagrams. All this is not to say that you shouldn't buy the manual, because you will be hard pressed to get the kind of info it provides on older models with the exception of the SELOC guide. Just be aware that it is not as comprehensive and specific as it could be.

This guide has a lot of useful information on numerous mercury engines. The wire diagrams are very good. The only discrepancies with this book is the fact that the pictures are of various engines during the same jobs (i.e. picture of an inline and the next picture of a v6 all in the same job).

Gave it to my buddy for his bday. I don't think he ever used it, but I looked thru it. Not really a complete shop manual, but has a good amount of detail.

The Clymer shop manual has some decent info to get you by, but lacks a lot of detail. I was really pleased with the seller OldNewRiverBooks.

It is just what I will need for my project

Nice manual for the price ,shipping took a little longer than expected, but good product couldn't tell it was used at all

Yes if you have an old-timer Mercury outboard like me, this is a very informative and helpful publication. It has plenty of hints and tips and goes into things deeply enough that even a tenderfoot mechanic will be able to do very complex repairs and maintenance.

An excellent reference manual

Just what I needed!

Very good manual covering several models.

As advertised.