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  1. Rick Stephens

    MERCRUISER BELL HOUSING

    I do it for a living with all-aluminum boats. TIG beats hell out of MIG when the metal is dirty, which with boats it always is. You see what it is like with an aluminum box dump truck!
  2. Rick Stephens

    Alpha one gen 1 5.0 mercruiser

    Here's the shift cable adjustment video you want to follow: When you assemble upper and lower you must set the lower shift shaft into position that lock the prop shaft from turning CCW. Then when dropping the upper down onto the lower the brass intermediate shaft show faces forward. If you...
  3. Rick Stephens

    Transom plate question

    A couple things for you on welding aluminum. First of all is the gas is different - need 100% Argon. Next is either a TIG process or a MIG that accounts for the way aluminum wire is soft, expands when heated, gets soft in the welding tip, and tends to stick in the tip while welding. If you...
  4. Rick Stephens

    1996 mercruiser 4.3lx electric fuel pump only works when cranking

    The purple wire from the ignition switch goes to the electric choke and the oil pressure switch. When there is oil pressure that switch should then run to the fuel pump. The fuel pump then will quit running if there is no oil pressure. The purpose is to stop fuel from pumping when the motor...
  5. Rick Stephens

    Transom plate question

    Well, if you were closer to northern Idaho, I'd do it :D Only way I mig aluminum is with a spool gun. I tried pushing aluminum wire, even harder alloys way back when with the gun whip cutback to 6 feet. Still didn't work without birdnesting all the time.
  6. Rick Stephens

    1996 mercruiser 4.3lx electric fuel pump only works when cranking

    Still sounds like a problem with the oil pressure switch. It is the one on the top rear of the motor Not sure how you can get 10 volts. The pump isn't very high amp load, just a few. And it obviously works or it wouldn't prime when you cranked. As you sound like you already know, there is a wire...
  7. Rick Stephens

    Transom plate question

    Needs a TIG or MIG weld. Brazing is not welding. I own a welding company, I'd do the job for $40 or $50. Cleaned, ground, welded and repainted.
  8. Rick Stephens

    Milky madness

    Need to do a couple oil changes. I'd be worried from the look that the motor is pumped full of water from a crack --a manifold, the engine block or head--, all the same as far as filling the motor up and pooping oil water mix out the breather and onto the flash arrestor.
  9. Rick Stephens

    MERCRUISER BELL HOUSING

    Is it just that little piece broke out by the shift slide? If so, it would cost a ton less the have it welded back together. If you have the piece that makes it really fast, but even without it that is an easy fix with no structural issues.
  10. Rick Stephens

    Oil Leak from lower unit

    If you really want to know where the leak is, then you need to pressure test your drive. No one can tell you where it is other than that it is above the place where you see oil coming out. Can be in the lower or the upper gear case. Building a pressure tester is easy.
  11. Rick Stephens

    Need Some Help Identifying Transom Plate - Alpha1 Gen 2

    Take it to a welding shop and have em put it back together. Easy stuff to weld up.
  12. Rick Stephens

    Mercruiser 3.0 reliability and overall maintenance?

    No doubt. Boat manufacturers will change when customers ask for it. Regardless, there is no difference in my mind - they are all virtual concepts anyway. Made up. I would admit that at least the nautical mile is fabricated from another fabricated measurement, a knotted rope. While the mile is...
  13. Rick Stephens

    Alpha One Upper Gears - Are there HD versions?

    What SEI offers is china made copies... may not be anything wrong with that. Knowing the Alpha drive is fairly well balanced on component strengths, seems like if the gear set is actually stronger for the HD version gears, the failure would just move to another part of the gear train. Also...
  14. Rick Stephens

    Mercruiser 3.0 reliability and overall maintenance?

    Haha ha ha. Now get US manufacturers to install em in small craft. Good luck.
  15. Rick Stephens

    95 MerCruiser 4.3 cracked block

    Generally speaking it costs about the same to recondition rods and crank as it does to purchase a brand new Scat assembly. And seeing as how you need a block as well, might be even more responsible to find a used truck pull and have it gone through or do so yourself. Was mine, I would seriously...
  16. Rick Stephens

    Hydrolocked in the parkinglot

    I have to ask, do you have the proper Alpha 1 Gen 2 service manual? If not, you will have issues. Torque settings, lube types, where to use thread lock, which direction seals face and a lot more necessary points of interest.
  17. Rick Stephens

    Hydrolocked in the parkinglot

    Watch Chris's video here:
  18. Rick Stephens

    Mercruiser 3.0 reliability and overall maintenance?

    You need to start getting manufacturers to install said knautical gauges.
  19. Rick Stephens

    Overhauling my 1988 MerCruiser 4.3 ltr. engine

    If not mistaken, those pry off pretty easily.
  20. Rick Stephens

    Hydrolocked in the parkinglot

    I didn't think they are close enough to the same size to put on backwards.... could be wrong. Is that OEM Mercruiser bellows going on or aftermarket? It is going to go on the way it goes on. Whether it looks like the picture or not that groove has to line up with the bulge perfectly.
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