I have a 1975 9.9 that I haven't run in a couple of years and decided to put it back in service. One of the first things I checked was the gearshift which turned out to be frozen.<br /><br />I dropped the lower unit and the cavity surrounding the gear shift rod is hard packed with what I think is salt water crud. The shift rod itself is frozen. The crud surronding it is nearly solid in texture and when scraped yields a small amount of white powder. I am having a problem getting this stuff out. I have been using a long screwdriver to scrape what I can get to but looking for other ideas.<br /><br />I was thinking of submerging it in water but wondering if there are other more effective solutions.<br /><br />Your ideas are - - - - -