the water path on the old VP drive is from the side inlets and the bottom port in the casting, water travels up the pivot shaft. there are potential leaks at the o-ring on the bottom of the hollow pin, or the raw water casting at top of the H-frame.
from there, there is a molded hose that runs...
the motor or at least the exhaust has been replaced with one from Commander, which is now under the PCM umbrella. the commander motors were originally inboards used in early ski boats
the blue paint and the stainless exhaust manifolds with "commander" is the old Commander trademark
The staple length depends on what you are going through and what you are shooting into.
I use 3/8" and 1/2" staples
I would run the stapler close to 100-120 psi
Inspect the bellows every year when you pull the drive for the annual maintenance (check alignment, bellows, gimbal, and u-joints)
Does your 470 have the upgraded heat exchanger?
I had two old merc's that had sentimental value as they were my fathers as well, a Mark 7 and a Mark 20 that both were running, but needed help (ignition, carb, water pump, etc.). sold both for $225 to a canadian snowbird that restores them.
look around on AOMCI and see if someone else has...
the 8.1 came with stainless elbows. so you dont have to worry about the elbows BARR probably made the castings for Mercruiser as they are one of the OEM casting houses for Merc, Volvo, PCM, Indmar, and Ilmor.
Bittersweet..... Lost my good friend Jeff to cancer a few weeks ago. His widow offered some boat stuff.
Two ditch bags, wet suit, air horns, Bennett repair kits, dock lines, ski ropes, dock step, spare anchor, small fuel tank
after adding my first oil drain kit, that is what I do now for all marine motors. yes, the oil has to be warm. and yes, it takes about a beer or two's worth of time to drain via gravity. however that is when I change the fuel filters and oil filters.
remember, these motors area a derivative of the industrial motors and came down the same assembly line as the truck motors. other than core plugs, head gaskets, cam and the circulation pump. it is essentially a truck motor.
some of the marine motors used the larger industrial engine oil pan...
