Mercruiser engine alignment sideways

[MichaelBC]

Hello,
I had to rebuild the wooden blocks where the engine base is screwed onto because they were completely rooten down. So I have to drill new holes to screw the bases on.

I have seen a lot of videos and articles how to align the engine with the alignment tool and grease to see the marks of the coupler. But they all refer only to align up and down because left an right is fixed already by the factory.

I did put in the engine and the rear bolts through the flywheel housing and the transom. Then I can still move the engine sideways for about 1 inch because this bolts have a little bit of play in the transom holes.

So is there a better way to do the sideways alignment than the tool with grease ?
Could this maybe be measuered somehow like moving the engine from max left to max rigtht and take the middle ?

If it has to be done with the alignment tool, how do I start ? Should I do horizontal or vertical alignement first ?

Regards
Michael

 

[Scott06]

There is some side to side movement that is normal. When I did my engine a few years back I used the witness marks on the alginement tool to verify side to side alignment as well. We just shoved the engine sideways a little until it was equal grease lines on the tool. It helps to take some weight off the engine mounts with what ever hoist you are using.

One issue i think i ran into from putting the alignment bar in several times with new grease you get a lot of grease in the coupler that makes it hard to put the alignment bar in and out of the coupler again. It was taking more than a finger or two of pressure to push the tool in but the grease marks looked good... Its been 5 years now and havent had to adjust the mounts and the drive comes off and on very easily, I realized was over thinking it on how perfect the ease of inserting the tool needed to be.

 

[tpenfield]

The horizontal alignment is a consideration and as you noted there will be some play. The best thing to do is use the grease marks on the alignment tool and also rotate the crankshaft in 90˚ increments to understand if the coupler is giving you consistent results. Then do your horizontal alignment and finish with the typical vertical alignment.