C YENSEN, Sorry no more pics of her apart. I could scan some pages from my Clymer Mercruiser manual and email them to you in PDF format. Would that help?
Spare, Good call on the water pick up and the heat exchanger. I checked the water inlet and found this:
I checked the manual and looked at the boat and found the raw water flow goes from the outdrive to the voltage regulator, to the heat exchanger, then to the power steering cooler. I disconnected the incoming hose at the outdrive and the hose at the inlet of the heater exchanger and back flushed the voltage regulator, nothing but water and plenty of it. Next I removed the front cover on the heat exchanger and found this:
I checked the power steering cooler and found a straight shot through. I think anything that made it beyond the heat exchanger would have been small enough to keep on going. Thanks to all for the help :)