Wow what did I get myself into with this boat. I thought this I/O stuff would be like a car boy I'm wrong. So here is what I have now. I got the boat back from the mechanic and had to put the elbows back on myself. I got the gaskets thought I got everything clean, put it back together, started it and it leaked bad on starboard side, a little on port side. I'm working on a 81 260, with the log style manifolds. There is two gaskets on each side with a plate in the middle and a breather hole. I reused the plates as I thought that I just needed gaskets and luckily the parts guy said I should take four. After the leak I drained the block and the elbows and was going to run it a brief second to blow the water out of the out-drive and it wouldn't turn over cause of hydro lock. The lock was on the starboard side were the leaks were bad and on number 8 I took all the plugs out and blew the water out then started it for a second just to add a couple drops of oil threw the carb. The breather hole in the plate is not in the middle it is towards the side. I read in the manual that it has to be towards the front but dose it matter wich side it is on. Should it be towards the carb or towards the outside? I didn't catch the breather hole till I looked at the port side before I took it off and it was towards the carb. And did my leaks and hydro lock come from not getting all the old gasket off, using the old plate, and not using any gasket sealer?
