A comment about getting the seals in place over a sleeved camshaft. There are a couple of locator pins sticking out of the engine to locate the cover when you put it back on and I screwed up one seal fighting those pins. Spareparts advised pulling them out and replacing them after the cover was in place - it saved my sanity, what there was of it to start with. One of the pins REALLY didn’t want to come out but several days of applying penetrating oil (I don’t recall what I used- may have been Kroil but use the best stuff you can find),I finally got it. Grabbed on with vice grips (the pins were so hard that the pliers didn’t make even a scratch), harfed up and down, more penetrant, over and over and finally it budged a little and I knew I had it - definitely the hardest part of the job.

By the way, I didn’t know the seal was screwed up until I took it out for a test run and it overheated again. Had to do the whole job again. Pull the pins and be very careful to get the seals in right the first time, particularly if you need to sleeve it.

Some great news! I was able to store the boat in a neighbors pole barn for the winter. That means I will be able to make the repair before boating season begins!! If there are any other tips y'all can think of, please let me know. Any special tools or do's/don't s are always appreciated. Maybe I'll take some pics of the project to help out folks in later on. Please let me know of any other mods I should do. It is a unique opportunity for me to have a roof over my head to work on the boat. I'm looking forward to it. Thanks in advance

If the water pump impeller in the out drive is over a couple of years old, you should replace it. If you decide to do that, post it here and I can send a plan for a very useful jig that clamps in a vice and holds the lower unit so it’s easy to work on. It even provides a flat area to set a few tools and parts while you’re working on it.

Trim tabs - absolutely.

Tabs down and you can run on slow plane through chop without pounding.

Scook, would love to see that plan for the holder. Wondering if it can be adapted to an outboard lower unit? :head:

D - pm me an email address and I’ll send you some photos. If you like it, I’ll trace it out and snail mail you a plan. I think from the pictures, you’ll be able to tell if it’s adaptable. I kind did trial and error getting the shape right after seeing a YouTube of a boat mechanic use one he’d made.

It really made the impeller change easy.

Some day I’ll spend the time to get set up to post pictures here - just too busy right now.

I use an old Work mate bench by Black and Decker when servicing a lower unit.
Use the wood vise to hold the unit in place
Not sure it would work for all applications.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/BLACK-DE...M425/202516382

Barry, that's exactly what I presently use. Hoping that Scook's plans might be a little better.My biggest problem is trying to use straight clamping surfaces on a curved object. Never really secure and I don't want to clamp the skeeg because God knows they like to break.

I think I'm going to use a profiler and carve out two pieces of 4x4 wood that have the lower units profile (above the anti-cavatation plate) on the one side and a straight profile on the other. Use a router to carve a groove in the straight side to lock into the straight side of the Work Mate's clamping area. Should provide a good solid clamping surface.

:clap: That sounds like it would perfect the use of the work mate

Somebody send an email address and I’ll send pictures. You guys who have posting photos figured can post them for everybody to see. Mine doesn’t clamp the lower unit but could be easily modified to do that if needed.