TOPIC: Where do I start?

I am still a neophite with Mercs. Had a hard time figuring out how to unlock the tilt until I shifted it, duh...Today I cleaned up the 58AE, soaked it with solvent and then high pressured all the grease and gum off of it. I hooked up the worn out battery cables and plugged in the side connector, not in that order. The engine turns over no problem but there is no spark. Here are some pictures of where I am right now. What would be the first thing to check and so on.
Thanks.

Cal

The PO said it ran when last used, I'm guessing '01 or '02 since that is when the boat was last registered. I know all the hoses have to be replaced and new wires and connections. I have another mag, starter motor, carb setup and choke assembly that was given to me. Compression is good, just need some spark and probably a new water pump..

well belt is on so disconnect the wire on the side of the mag if no spark take the mag out and go thru it.set points .008-.010

you need to remove clean, condition, & reset points in the mag
most likely points or condenser as all wires fail to spark
let me look I may have a video I made for another member how to rebuild your mag

Cal,
The way you have the sparkplug 'grounded' to the powerhead is not actually an engine ground and consequently you will NEVER have spark with the sparkplug grounded that way.
But,...It probably doesn't have any spark anyway - but you still don't know for sure.

Wow! That's some piece of information. Thanks for all who chimed in on this. Keeps me busy today since my football team isn't playing until tomorrow night.

Dr, Frank Merc.
Finally got around to the magnito this evening. Followed your directions right down to the flat shaft screwdriver. Had a devil of a time getting the .010 set, my feelers were a tight fit. Cleaned up everything that actually had blue corrosion. Polished points, cleaned wire connections, fixed 'er all up and did the spark test like you described...worked like a charm. The shaft seemed a little scarred up, looked like lack of lube, I put a small smidgeon of lithium grease on it like I used to do on my cars. Now for new plug wires and should be good to go.
Thanks for the info.
Cal