A bud of mine was told he couldn't keep his garage door open in a Chicago suburb. So he had a local outdoor sign shop print up a picture of the inside of his garage and paste it on the door like a billboard.
cheapest route would be a running boat with rotten hull and pull the whole assembly.
second cheapest route would be find a running motor in a truck. pull the heads and swap head gaskets to marine. swap out the core plugs to brass. get a new marine circulating pump. buy new exhaust, swap...
fuel injection will cost you a bunch of extra money for zero gains. however that is up to you.
if it was me, I would take this time to get a complete post 1996 mercruiser long tail and swap in the boat eliminating all OMC
First, troubleshoot what the issue is. most likely bad connection and or a bad slave solenoid.
most likely its just a bad connection.
NO, you cant use the insides of an automotive starter. I paid less than $200 for a polished stainless performance starter
I dont think I paid more than $60...
If the throttle is closed and the motor still runs above idle. Something is broken.
Look at the IAC, plug in Rinda, see what is out of the ordinary. Check fuel pressure, see if you have a leaking injector or a wonky regulator
with the boat in the water and the engine running. is your crank mounted raw water pump dripping? if so, it needs a seal.
if water is running in from the transom area, you need bellows
a bellows kit is under $200 for OEM parts
the manufacturer of the wiper is who supplied the EPDM rubber seal initially.
I would get a rubber washer myself or some butyl putty.
https://www.mcmaster.com/products/rubber-washers/weather-resistant-rubber-sealing-washers/
