Every time I remove outdrive i have to scrape the gasket off the surfaces because gasket is bonded to surface. That being said i paint the mating surfaces with Quicksilver outdrive paint since the surface is bare when i get done cleaning. I not painting anymore. Even when i removed outdrive after 10 minutes of installation the gasket was bonded, it peals off in layers, real PIA to get off. Paint must be chemically bonding gasket to surface. Another thing to note was even though the gasket blew out there was gasket material across the width of the mating flange, no choice it was bonded to the surface lol. I may have been lied to in the second grade when the teacher said two materials can't occupy the same space at same time. Mercruiser says they can with this design. Gasket can't move in because of O-ring on water passage, gasket getting compressed, gasket has to go somewhere, so it extrudes. The orange bead in my opinion is the issue, the hardness of the gasket is the issue, the mating surface width is the issue. I see a lot more reasons why it doesn't work than does! Again my gasket started popping at 10 ft-lbs. Gasket also extruded at top of outdrive, no surprise cant move inward. My path forward is do nothing, I know there is gasket material across the width of the mating surfaces, I witnessed it durning disassembly, again the gasket on mine gets welded to the surface lol. I cut gasket flat with outdrive using excacto knife. If it starts to extrude I will respond with zero paint bare surface and cheap flat thin gasket. I found numerous post on internet with my same problem except it happens on the shift slide side (mine perfect over there, gasket probably extruding inward). I seen numerous failures where the orange sealing strip is cracked in middle. No ****, the strip material is to hard. Thats what happened on mine over last 18 months? strip split gasket and 1/2 popped out. I actually had a groove of partial material but material remained and prevented water in. Seams like there should be away to access that cavity via a plug to check vs taking off 90lb outdrive, requiring shift shaft lever alignment, propeller CCW, shift cable, spline alignment all to happen at the same time. JUNK DESIGN.
On a side note my alignment was perfect, not even two fingers to push in. gimbal bearing perfect. gasket not so much so.
For my own files. sealing surface .1875" wide, gasket thickness without sealant .032" with sealant .039" so .006" gets smashed into gasket plus parent gasket material deformation. sealant acts as a pintle instead of deforming it goes path of lease resistance and pushes.
Like crap ford 351 water pump design gasket alway squirm out on water passage side EXCEPT Cometic made gasket with steel liner. Solved that problem, they don't make a gasket for this application.
