Gimbal and Engine Fun

Started stripping the parts of the engines over the weekend. The wiring harnesses are off. Front engine mount is off the donor and installed on the original engine. Bell housing removed from the donor exposing the coupling. Engine coupling looks fine on the donor. Not so good on the original OMC engine. That is where it was left on Saturday.

Today I took the gimbal to Glen at Burk Marine in Manford, OK. Glen looked over the gimbal and pronounced it old, in need of some paint, and basically ready to reinstall. Shift cable had been replaced at some time in the past. Gimbal bearing feels good and the tiller arm, which is the old style spline shaft, is nice and tight. Glen and I spent about 30 minutes with the micro-fiche and figured out what gaskets I need to put it all back together. They are on the way.

This evening I pulled the couplers and fly wheels off of both motors and swapped them. That included removing studs from the donor and installing them in the target motor. Got ready to reinstall the bell housing and it does not fit. Well it fits, but there are two bolt holes that are plugged on the OMC block that are used by the Mercruiser bell housing. I think I am going to just through drill them and install through bolts. I might try tapping them first, however, I have not always had a lot of luck with that. No progress planned for tomorrow due to other evening activities. Will probably try to get the tap during lunch at the hardware store. Other than that nothing plannned.

Fun with old boats. Oh, I learned how the warm up feature works on my throttle. Apparently the handle pulls out slightly. This disengages the gear selector cam. The throttle can then be bumped forward to start and warm up the engine. Guess we will find out when we get to the running part of this.