Mercruiser 3.0 Alpha One Alignment Question

[justinwhitt]

Background: I have a 86 Chris Craft 17' Cavalier with a Mercruiser 140 & Alpha 1 outdrive. Over the winter I completely ripped out everything from the inside to replace the floor which turned out to include all the side to side supports and the front motor mount supports. Put down a layer of 1/2" marine fir with a sheet of 6oz glass woven cloth and 2 fairly thick layers of MAS Flag Resin. I topped that off with a layer of nautolex decko dots vinyl with the 88 adhesive.

Question: When I put the engine back in place the front motor mount adjustment nut was somewhere in the middle of travel & as I started the adjustment tool would only go about 1/2 - 3/4" into the coupling and as I adjusted it down it would go in progressively deeper. About a 1/2 - 1 turn before it bottomed out the tool would go in to the point where you can't see the first shoulder anymore from the top but could tell with an inspection mirror that it wasn't all the way in, would say about 1/8 - 1/4" to go. I knew it would be a little high but I would say I've adjusted it about 1" or more and now it is completely bottomed out.

Is this far enough or should it go all the way in to the shoulder without forcing? I.E. do I need to lift up the front of the engine and sand down some of the resin and remove the vinyl under the motor mount.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated,
Thanks,
Justin

 

[Zackman]

Re: Mercruiser 3.0 Alpha One Alignment Question

Justin, the alignment tool needs to go all the way in using only two fingers with no twisting.​

I put a thin layer of coupling grease on the entire end of the alignment tool to be sure the coupler splines go all the way to the first step on the alignment tool. You should be able to see the spline marks on the grease after you pull it out.​

Sounds like you're going to need to do some more work to get the front motor mounts lower.​

 

[justinwhitt]

Re: Mercruiser 3.0 Alpha One Alignment Question

Zackman,
Thanks & honestly after I thought about it this was the same thing I was thinking. I just wanted to make sure I was right before I go to the trouble of putting the motor back on the hoist and all.

Thanks,
Justin

 

[Bondo]

Re: Mercruiser 3.0 Alpha One Alignment Question

Ayuh,... Another thing to check is the Rear motor mounts,...
The rubber bushings can deteriorate,+ sag....

Did you replace the Transom,..??