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  1. Rick Stephens

    Mercruiser Alpha 1 Gen 1 Project

    Take a swipe of that slurry in the bellows with a finger and smell it. Grease will be almost no smell at all, while gear lube stinks bigly.
  2. Rick Stephens

    New boat owner with dumb questions

    I believe red is battery power to the dash. Then purple is power from the ignition switch all the way to ignition powered engine components. This chart is for a carbureted V6, I don't have a V8 manual. Wire colors, circuit breakers and the like should be the same. You should post model and...
  3. Rick Stephens

    Fuel pressure dropping.

    Just one more thought: I've seen that on a truck where a flaw in a rubber fuel line (between tank and pump) allowed the inner lining to collapse.
  4. Rick Stephens

    Electric fuel pump install.

    Outside small lug on the starter solenoid is power for an electric fuel pump during cranking. Main power must go through an oil pressure switch. My pump is mounted on the front of the starboard head, although I used a dimensionally smaller Airtex and not a Carter.
  5. Rick Stephens

    Engine starts to sputter/breakup/lose power after warm 3.0 ‘98

    As noted by others, next time you run it, when it starts to lose power, open the fuel cap. See if it sucks air.
  6. Rick Stephens

    Mercruiser Alpha 1 Gen 1 Project

    like nola Mike, I have trouble paying $60 plus dollars for a u-joint made by an automotive manufacturer and sold under Merc or Sierra brand.
  7. Rick Stephens

    NEED HELP QUICK PLS: Replacement Engine choices for 350 MPI

    A salt water boat may need any component that salt water runs through - manifolds, both exhaust and even intake, engine blocks, heads and so on. Going to take some analysis of the condition of everything to answer your question.
  8. Rick Stephens

    NEED HELP QUICK PLS: Replacement Engine choices for 350 MPI

    Have to know why you need to replace a motor before answering the question. Usually the best solution with a SBC is to replace the block and internals and reuse all the external odds and ends.
  9. Rick Stephens

    Mercruiser Alpha 1 Gen 1 Project

    All Mercruisers will grind if you try and gently shift into gear. Proper procedure is to drop it into gear with a fairly swift push on the gear handle.
  10. Rick Stephens

    2000 Searay vapor lock

    Usually impossible to vapor lock a boat. Unlimited cooling,,,. sounds like an air leak in a fuel line or a plugged up anti-syphon valve.
  11. Rick Stephens

    Mercruiser 3.0 strange sound at low end acceleration

    Yup, as bbook83 said, exhaust flappers that get a little overheated will burn the rubber off and they will make some of the strangest tinny sounds as they rattle when running near idle. Your plugs look great..
  12. Rick Stephens

    Gear oil leak from lower drive water intake?

    A couple of thoughts. One place where oil can leak is the output seals for the upper case. These are particularly vulnerable if you pull just the lower half to service the water pump. When you reinstall the lower it is really easy to damage those seals if the shaft gets started crooked. Always...
  13. Rick Stephens

    Why an increase in engine horsepower will hurt your ‘holeshot’, acceleration and midrange cruising.

    Much much much much cheaper to install a bigger motor.
  14. Rick Stephens

    4.3 Mercruiser cold start issues

    Michael, I gotta say this thread has made me very uncomfortable. Setting things up as workarounds to basic safety features is not my comfort zone. The logical simplicity of the fuel system in gas powered boats is necessity for safety. Yeah, you can get away with bending rules for the most...
  15. Rick Stephens

    Alpha one gen 2 shimming tools

    Not really. Toolmaking is painstaking and expensive in machinist time. Also completely unforgiving of errors in measuring and performance to the degree of accuracy required.
  16. Rick Stephens

    Alpha one gen 2 shimming tools

    That I'd call you on.... however, making those particular tools would require the drawings or the tool, said drawings of which I have never seen beyond simple stuff like alignment bars. If I had the drawings or the actual tool could make a copy within tolerance.
  17. Rick Stephens

    98 4.3L Vortec problem

    Most common location for 4.3L to freeze crack is in the lifter gallery. This pumps water into the oil while all other mechanical operation is normal. Won't show on compression test. Only test you can do is cap off all the exiting water hoses and pressure test the cooling system. My bet is you...
  18. Rick Stephens

    Replacement motor going in ,need opinions

    Nice looking install. From the outside is hard to tell if you have dry or wet.
  19. Rick Stephens

    Back again

    I don't own one, but from what I have seen they are decent those late years, if you can get the price right. I run a 17 foot ski runabout/bowrider type boat. I rebuilt it for fishing with a bow deck instead of bowrider seating, and seriously fancy reclining seats instead of those worthless back...
  20. Rick Stephens

    Hydrolocked in the parkinglot

    Now I don't recall how deep I went with each, but I used regular driver and mostly just made sure I was square and lips facing right direction. Depth can vary and not hurt anything 'cept a purists opinion. That was many years ago on a running Gen2. Musta done sumthin right.
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