I say Stink got lucky!! I had to do one and had to destroy it to get it out!! But it is do able!!

A good cleaning and you be good to go, don't go looking for work!!

Agreed, STINKY got lucky. They can be a real SOB to do, espescially on salt water used engines.

thanks
 

thanks theferminator you are right i went to the site and there it is
i used to go to mercs web site and could see the whole engine in sections with the prices for what they cost but they chaged the sute now i dont know if there are any sites that do that you could put in your serial number and it would show a blow up of your engine if you or anyone knows of a site like that please post it it was real good to have thanks again

Here ya go. MERC parts diagrams online with prices. They don't narrow it down like the merc site did, but you can still do it br serial number range.

http://www.mercruiserparts.com/