This is what I love about this group. Marc, thanks so much for the thoughtful and insightful comments!!

The rod that comes out of my cable is 1/2” and fits the standard tube on my Mark 75.

I’m still assessing if it will work on my Vag routing the cable via the port side. I can’t route it via the starboard side because my cable is too short and it is virtually impossible to find these. We’ll see.

The motor side attachment on the barrel back is slightly different to what you may think. Mercury had two ways to do it: 1. The simpler way routing the cable through the tilt tube. 2. Put a 1/2” rod through the tilt tube with a rotating hinge and attaching the end of the cable to a bracket on the side of the motor. Here is a shot of my hardware:

 
 

The Ride Glide steering is really nice. When you say first edition do you mean it has the 1/2" OD cable or the 5/8?

Two things I would check before cutting a hole in the dash. Try to get a feel on where the steering wheel will end up being.  The Ride Glide sits low on the dash compared to a pulley cable and the angle might be different as well. This means the  steering wheel will end up getting tilted down and closer to the seat and you now might have to slide in to riding position to get in front and out of the wheel. I found this to be annoying when I installed the ride glide on my old Hawk.

Also make sure the cable and the barrel back work together. I for see that the cable might not work well with the closeness of the barrel back and the side of the motor.

One more note to think about, the the metal tube under the dash is very long and you will probably end up having to route the cable to the starboard side and down the boat because the metal tube and cable won't make the bend being so close to the hull.

But I never tried to install a RG on a VAG just a few things to think about if you haven't yet

So I decided to add an original, first edition Mercury Quicksilver Ride Guide steering system. It’s amazing how a good caking of grease can protect metals!

I hope  she runs good for you. That motor is definitely a brain twister.

So I noticed my motor wasn’t running as well as before and eventually figured out that one set of my points wasn’t breaking. So back to setting the breaker points and dwell. It’s an interesting process with the 2x points sets on these old Mercury’s. Thanks Mercury Marc for the advice!

cballer wrote:

Jpalin I’m certain I’d melt or bubble plexiglass I wouldn’t have guessed that’s possible. Interesting thanks for sharing thx for asking Al!

It’s just a question of taking it very slow so the entire piece warms evenly. Keep in mind that my windshield has very little curve so was a lot easier for me to do.

Jpalin I’m certain I’d melt or bubble plexiglass I wouldn’t have guessed that’s possible. Interesting thanks for sharing thx for asking Al!

Upholstery: I did some of it myself and had a local upholstery guy finish it up for me. It turned out okay. I have an issue with my steering cable rubbing on one cushion but will fix that with a teflon guide.

Windshield: I did the bending myself. I heated it with a roofing propane torch like this: 
www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200584784_200584784
until it was somewhat pliable and let it cool in the curved shape I want between two saw horses. Nothing fancy. I bought the plexiglas locally at Piedmont Plastics. I still have quite a lot of it left over if you want some.

Would you mind explaining how you bent the plexiglass?
I'd also appreciate the name of the vendor, if you don't mind. 

What was the rest of the story on your upholstery?  Last we heard the guy's word was mud and you were pricing out materials to do it yourself.  What did you end up doing?  If you did it yourself, please provide details.

thanks