Hi Gang,<br /><br />Well I am slowly (now going on 3 years) getting my boat ready to go into the water. It's a 1990 4.3L Cobra (PW model) with 4bbl Holley and it had a Spitfire ignition but that failed so I put in something from the darkside, yes, black parts from the Mercury Marine parts catalog. I went back to an EST type distributor with seperate coil and it works 100% now. Yes, I have a lot of patience. The boat was basically a freebie but the interior had been allowed to fill up with water over one winter, upto the bottom of the crank only thank goodness. Anyway, I finally have the engine running again and now have discovered there is a small stream of water running down the port side of the leg, coming from under where the badge used to be. I can see the stainless plug there and have tried tightening it, loosening and then tightening again but it is still leaking. I think this is the drain plug for the water pump?? If it is, how critical is it to get it sealed if it's just passing water thru to the engine?<br /><br />Also, to do with the water level in the boat, is there a seal on the drive shaft before it goes into the transom? i.e. could water have gone into the bellows and saturated the double U-joints? or worse, into the drive? I have checked the gear oil and it looks clear.<br /><br />I'm sure I will have more questions as I work thru this, so Thanks SO much in advance.<br /><br />Cheers<br /><br />Paul
