Minimum compression should be 100 and all cylinders within 10%; but the engine will run at lower values.
I am currently rebuilding two motors with compression around 80. They would run fine and idle but hard to start.
The rod bend should face the part it fastens to. I am assuming the shift cable pulls in reverse which pulls up on the rod. If so then the rod may need to be rotated counter-clockwise to lengthen. One way to check shift position is to disconnect the rod and push or pull with a screwdriver or...
I have a repair manual that covers thru year 1991. For a 175 the cylinder head bolt torque is 20-22 ft. lbs. They don't specify any pattern except to tighten in 3 stages. 1/2 torque spec, 3/4 torque spec, and finally full torque spec.
For test purposes find the wires coming from the tilt/trim. Use a jumper wire and from the 12V source touch the green wire and then blue wire momentarily. If the tilt works down and up respectively then it is a solenoid or wiring problem- maybe the tilt switch?
Just a follow up on this issue. It turns out the stator was causing the power loss issue. Seems it would heat up after running awhile and then start acting up. Replaced everything else and finally the stator which cured the problem.
Currently rebuilding the engine because of low compression.
You can use the wires coming from the tilt/trim to test if working by momentarily connecting to a 12V source. The way I remember which wire does what is that blue is up (for blue sky) and green is down (for green grass). Ground the black wire and touch either to 12V and the tilt/trim should...
I just solved a similar issue where the engine would run fine WOT until I shut it off for awhile and restart. It would lose one or two cylinders. I turned out that my stator seemed to die if it heats up. If I left the boat sit for awhile longer the motor would run fine. It never showed any...