ive done some wheeling and dealing and ended up with a 1978 Mercury 800, I have next to nothing in it, so I don't want to pay some shop a fortune to tell me if it has potential to run or not. Anybody have any pointers? If you happen to work on boats as a side job I would be willing to pay for your time, but I'm not interested in paying shop rates.

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I can tell you whats wrong with it without even seeing it.. those older motors had shoddy electrical. the insulation peels of and shorts everything out or causing all kinds of hard to track down electrical problems.
I would send it where it belongs unless it is a cherry motor, or someone has updated all of the electrical, like stator, switchboxes, wiring harness, ect.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but its just my opinion.
Yank the cover and do a very close inspection of the wires would be my first check.

those tower type engines ran like a bat out of hell, until the electrical gave the ghost. thats why you rarely see them on the lakes anymore.

Thanks for the info, the wiring appears good. I've never tried to run the motor, it looks clean and isn't locked up so that's a start. The starter won't engage, spins but doesn't spring up to engage the flywheel.

I had a 70 hp "Fridgebox" Mercury that gave me fits. Replaced the stator/plug/wires/gaskets/wiring. Adjusted/timed the carbs. Adjusted the three stage pain in the [censored] distributor...no avail. Finally, determined the ignition control box was the culprit. I tried a few that I found off the internet but never got one to work fully. Engine would run like a drag motor at full throttle but wouldn't idle for anything. Finally got sick of screwing with it and bought a Yamaha F70LA and have been happy ever since.

Shoot a little wd40 on the bendix shaft that the gear is hooked to and work it up and down with a screwdriver for a few and then try it.

I'll give that a shot. This is just a summer project to tinker with, the Yamaha 40 on the boat does fine, just a little slow!