A mechanic friend of mine rigged up some stuff on his press and got the old engine mount out. The new one was tough to get in--I think the hole in the housing is slightly out of round. I tried freezing the mount and warming the housing, but no luck. I eventually used a thick walled socket and some wood blocks and was able to tap it into place. There is a beveled spacer that goes in first, which allows something to press against when removing the mount--anyway, I got the mount seated against that spacer.
Talked to Arco and they said I could ground the starter body and jump to the large post and the S (start) post. Did that and it engaged and turned the engine. Sounded loud, though, but maybe it's just that it's a different starter and oil hasn't been pumped into the cylinders for a while. I didn't crank more than about a second. I thought maybe the flywheel was rubbing on the plate that mounts ahead of it, but I was able to turn the crankshaft pulley about 15 degrees and didn't hear anything. So I'm hoping there will be no surprises with the starter and flywheel.
Got the engine back in and the mounts all bolted in. Then found that the oil drain kit brass block that mounts on the bottom of the oil pan didn't have good clearance and had turned loose about 1/8 turn. So now I get to fart around taking that kit off and going back to my drain plug. I originally tried to thread the drain hose straight into the oil pan, but it kept cross threading, so I went to the brass block that came with the kit. Bad idea. I guess I will have to buy a better pump to suck the oil out in fall, or maybe rig up a funnel system with a hose out the back. Thought I had her licked with that oil drain hose kit. Dammit.
Today's first question: My gimbal bearing pivots left/right and up/down if I push sideways on the alignment tool. That's normal, right? The alignment tool goes all the way into the coupler. But it takes two hands and some wiggling to get it out. The spline grease I put on the tool shows that the top is hitting more than the bottom. So the engine/coupler would need to go up slightly. But my engine blocks access to the lower adjusting nut on the front engine mount. Also, if the front of the engine was moved down any more, the water pump pulley would hit the engine mount bolt. A prior mechanic (or maybe the boat manufacturer) had installed one extra washer on each rear engine mount to raise the rear of the engine. See this diagram:
I put those back in the way they were, and that puts me where I'm at now. So the extra question for today is, is my alignment OK? Again, the tool slides in with some force (not a lot, but not just my pinky either), then takes two hands and a little wiggling to get out. In other words, I know the alignment isn't dead nuts perfect, but I'm not sure I can do anything about it (other than add additional, thinner washers to the rear engine mount).
Thanks!