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  1. Lou C

    Boat hit 200 degrees engine temp

    Yep I always use OEM for mission critical parts like impellers & driveshaft bellows. This philosophy has worked well for me with 20 years of saltwater boating & no failures of either.
  2. Lou C

    Omc 4.3 diagnosis

    Also make sure the ESA is not stuck on, that will make it run poorly as can a defective tachometer. I had a similar problem several years ago because the small buttons on the micro switches wore out (after 25 years!) and caused the ESA to stick on….
  3. Lou C

    Boat hit 200 degrees engine temp

    It could be that, these raw water cooled systems depend on a high volume of water in (impeller) and out (exhaust elbows and manifolds)….
  4. Lou C

    OMC Cobra I/O Tight shifting

    Common Not a quick thing to fix, except make sure that your idle is no more than 600 rpm in gear in the water & that the ESA when triggered drops the idle down to 450 rpm. If that fixes it great if not you have some reading to do…. Do a search on my username I’ve sited how to get these shifting...
  5. Lou C

    Water line runs to backing plate drum brakes ?

    And salt water is not the devil people think It does NOT rot wood transoms like fresh water We never have low water levels And don’t have debris like logs etc like in other places….
  6. Lou C

    Water line runs to backing plate drum brakes ?

    You can use painted but here even on a land only trailer all I will use is galvanized. Because they come with better aluminum wheel cylinders and stainless springs.
  7. Lou C

    Mercruiser ECM replacement?

    Ah well that’s better than the alternative Don’t need to pull valve covers just remove the oil cap and look inside run you finger carefully over the inside of the cover (cold engine) & see what you see
  8. Lou C

    Water line runs to backing plate drum brakes ?

    Those look like old drum brakes, painted backing plates…here the only thing that lasts is galvanized…. If they don’t work I’d just replace them with galvanized backing plates complete with wheel cylinders shoes & springs….in fresh water they’ll last a LONG time…
  9. Lou C

    Water line runs to backing plate drum brakes ?

    Mine (salt water) has always had a flush system
  10. Lou C

    Mercruiser ECM replacement?

    Any water in the oil? What’s it look like under the valve covers? Clean oil or milky like mixed with water?
  11. Lou C

    Mercruiser ECM replacement?

    Yep not normal Possible causes: Engine not stored right, flame arrestor left off and rainwater gets in Internal engine failure like a blown head gasket can allow water in the intake (this happened to mine) Either one isn’t good…
  12. Lou C

    91 Seaswirl 4.3 OMC Cobra Shifter Lever Controls.

    Yes you can the idea is to get equal travel on either side of neutral
  13. Lou C

    Ideal tongue weight?

    Well I can see not fixing what ain’t broke but if you have to tow that over 30 mph, get it weighed and fix it. There is no way that a tongue weight of 172 lbs is safe for a boat that size. 3100 lbs? Well FW said the dry weight of mine was about 2600 lbs! I thought it was more more like 3500 but...
  14. Lou C

    VP 5.0GL-C Head Gasket FelPro Part Number

    And check the torque specs on those Vortec intake gasket they are much lower than the pre Vortec. The Vortec intake gaskets have locating pins that help hold them in place when lowering that heavy cast iron intake in place. Pre Vortec doesn’t so I used a bit of Permatex Aviation to hold ‘em...
  15. Lou C

    Ideal tongue weight?

    it should be a LOT more than that. My boat which is about the same size has 420 lbs of tongue weight. Trailer companies recommendations vary from 5-10% of total weight, mine's at about 8.8% or so, total weight is 5050 lbs, 4650 lbs on the axle. To increase tongue weight the boat has to come...
  16. Lou C

    4.3lx intake manifold question

    When discussing max rpm remember that the engine manufacturers give their ranges for the boat being loaded as typically used. That is if you are out testing all by yourself, you are lightly loaded, and in that case you should prop it to get closer to 5000 rpm to allow for increased loads in the...
  17. Lou C

    91 Seaswirl 4.3 OMC Cobra Shifter Lever Controls.

    Is the drive installed? If these are shifted with the engine off you can sometimes find that they get jammed in gear. Have someone try to spin the prop while you work the shifter (KEY OUT ENGINE OFF). If it’s really stuck you may have to remove the drive….
  18. Lou C

    Camshaft Replacement on Vortec 4.3L 262

    You can tell if your engine came off that line because the GM serial # in the front starboard side of the block will have a T for Tonawanda in the serial #… Mine did & definitely had the stainless head gaskets when I took it apart…
  19. Lou C

    4.3lx intake manifold question

    I think you’ve got something else going on there. I have a pre Vortec 4.3 with the standard cyl head design and with the 4bbl Quadrajet & a 15.5x15 prop (heavy 20’ boat) it easily pulls up to & slightly over 5,000 rpm.
  20. Lou C

    Camshaft Replacement on Vortec 4.3L 262

    Was going to add that, make sure the cam overlap won’t cause reversion. When they went to the Vortec heads in ‘96, the 4.3s were seen as more susceptible to reversion (not sure if it’s the head design or cam, Scott do you know?). V/P made a few changes to off set this, they added one way check...
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