Some education about the 700 series 70 mercury being different to the later 60 hp version.
The 3 cylinder twin carb models had different pistons depending on the model year. You will see non power port, power port which have the hole in the side of the pistons, there is high dome and low dome pistons.
Most of the time these motors will stall going into gear if the compression gets down to the 110 psi or less.
It’s a sure sign the motor needs to be refreshed.
The 700 series 70 hp mercury had high dome non power port pistons. The only oversized original piston
was only 15 over. If the cylinder walls were badly scored or the cylinder walls gone barrel shaped you likely needed an aftermarket piston. The 650XS used the same piston and that was a serious problem for racers. The power port pistons didn’t work well in a 650XS. The low dome pistons which non racers used to avoid running race fuel or av gas didn’t work.
As I mentioned before the 700 series 70 hp bone stock was 140 plus compression most were 145 to 150. The 650XS had the same 145-150 compression.
The 70 hp ran best on premium gas. Dealers would sometimes change the timing so the motor would last longer and run on regular gas.
That’s why it’s difficult to find a good 70 hp that you can refresh before too much harm is done to the cylinders.
This father and son basically only work on the in-line mercury...6-4-3 cylinder motors. Some of the videos are painful to watch.
This video is the compression test of the 700 series 70hp that had just had new rings installed on the original standard bore pistons. They compare the pre-refresh compression to the new compression. The motor is close to being back to its original spec .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOgkyOTBoJQ