Lateral alignment?

[nola mike]

Trying to get the new engine up and running. 4.3L replacing a 3.7. New front mounts glassed in. Gimbal bearing replaced. Transom shield/bellhousing cover are from the old engine. Coupler from the donor. When I try to align, It's a bit difficult to get the alignment bar in and out, but not terrible (full disclosure: I was never able to get it 2 finger smooth with the old setup, ran it for 10+ years). I get spline marks on the starboard side. I've been searching for an answer, but haven't found anything satisfactory.

--Rear mounts don't seem collapsed (and they were used on the old engine). I replaced the fiber washers and wound washers. I am able to spin the fiber washers, so pretty sure the load is where it should be.
--When I drilled the mounts, I tightened the rear, suspended the front from the lifting eye and aligned. I didn't try for perfect (maybe should have).
--On reinstall, I suspended again from the lift hook. Adjusted both mounts until they were resting on the mounting surface.

No amount of cajoling is helping. I can dial in up/down; you can feel the gimbal get tight on the alignment tool going too far in either direction. I removed the front mounts completely, just to see if they were causing the engine to pull to one side. Also tried loosening the rear mounts and bumping the engine around, no dice. Have been whacking the alignment bar with no difference. With the front of the engine hanging, I can certainly push the front one way or the other, but it wants to return to the same spot.

Thoughts:

1. Gimbal bearing not seated all the way? Don't know how to check this, but would also think it could gimbal to compensate, but IDK.
2. Engine twisted. Wondering if I'm not lifting completely straight up and down on the hoist. If I then set the mount height, then I'll always be twisted. This seems most likely to me, but I'm not sure how to untwist. Maybe exaggerate the lateral lift angle a bit on the hoist, and see if that makes a difference.
3. I've been doing this without the top nut on the mounts. I don't think that would make a difference unless I was able to get the alignment correct on the chain, and then it went out when I let the tension off?

 

[alldodge]

Motor mounts are bolted to the deck
When the motor is hanging from the thermostat housing just above the lower nuts of the mount are raised until they just touch the bottom of the mounts. Once nuts are adjusted up, they get turned "evenly" up or down.

Correct?

 

[nola mike]

Correct, although I didn't actually turn the the nuts to try to adjust, I continued to raise/lower using the hoist.
however, even when resting on the mounts the adjustment was off laterally before trying to raise or lower.

 

[alldodge]

Being off lateral just cannot happen unless the transom is not flat within 1/8 inch.

The transom is flat, the transom plate is bolted to the transom. The motor is bolted to the plate, there is no way for the inner transom to be off, unless the inner and outer transom is not parallel

 

[nola mike]

Being off lateral just cannot happen unless the transom is not flat within 1/8 inch.

The transom is flat, the transom plate is bolted to the transom. The motor is bolted to the plate, there is no way for the inner transom to be off, unless the inner and outer transom is not parallel

I know, and yet it is. I didn't remove the transom plate and I drilled extensively looking for rot after I pulled the motor. Like I said, I can push/pull on the front of the motor and move it, so if something is twisting it or if my front mounts were not positioned correctly...
thinking about it, I crushed my lower exhaust boot when lowering the engine. I wonder if that's tweaking it somehow. I might see if I can get someone to push the engine from side to side and see if that changes anything.

 

[nola mike]

Ok, just for closure (until I blow out the coupler I guess). I loosened the rear bolts again a bit and raised the engine just enough to take the weight off the mounts. Tried a pry bar to move the motor a bit to each side. Barely any movement, no change in the alignment. Also tried moving the hoist direction around, again, no change. Had a spare yoke that slid into the coupler without any issues, so I called it at that point and put the drive back on. Drive went on easily. So, still at a bit of a loss here, but we'll see what happens.