Yeah, when this guy didn't winterize, he meant it. Couldn't see the cracks since they were facing the engine. Risers still look OK, so I'm going to price out separate v. a whole kit. Bright spot is that my goal in this was to basically have a dead reliable motor when I was done, and I was nervous about 30 yo manis in brackish water anyway, I've been looking at 4.3 bowriders in my area, and the floor is $12k for a 2000 era boat, so I'm still way ahead of the game.
Went back today quickly, and we'll see if I've made an even *bigger* project for myself. Found a balancer puller and install kit. Put the crank bolt back in to push on, but the tool then wouldn't fit. The adapter also didn't fit, so I got impatient again and pushed directly on the crank. Realized after the fact why I didn't want to do that. Bolt now won't go back in, so I assume I mushroomed the threads. Visually they look OK. Hopefully I didn't ruin my crankshaft. Going to try to tap it, but of course my tap kit is not here. I also managed to get those oil adapter bolts out with a proper T40 socket and some persuasion to get it to fit. I'm trying to drop the oil pan to just take a look at everything and replace the gasket, but I need some external torx bits that I don't have (see a pattern?).
I didn't plan on doing anything with the timing chain, since apparently the composite cover needs to be replaced on removal, blah, blah. How big of a trouble spot is that? Is it worth the hassle at this point? Again, I want to get on the water, and keep on diving down rabbit holes. I could do this indefinitely.
Scott Danforth , I didn't look too closely at the balancers after I realized my F up. So I understand the reluctor ring for the crankshaft trigger is somewhere in that area...What changed in '96? If it's a different sized snout, is there a new balancer that I could buy that would fit properly?