Hitting the water soon!

[Trolling82]

So, everything is finally put together. Got the T4 on and it looks sweet! Should work perfect for trolling but I wish it had a little more steering travel. Kinda limited to how sharp of a turn you can make. Which is fine when a newbie be steering the boat!

Anyway, fired the engines up yesterday. The main started pretty good with only a little coughing/sputtering. Ran good. Shifted. AND STEERED!!!!!!! Note to all who own the early 80s OMCs with stringer outdrives with hydraulic assist. WILL NOT STEER WITH THE MOTOR OFF! Guess an ez-steer wouldn't have worked..... Unless it's fine now that pressure is built up..... Kicker was another story. Did not want to start at all. Had to hand pump her full of gas and cover the intake with hand, do a little dance, and it would sputter to life. Idled fantastic. Give it gas and it's like it's choking itself out. Will run at throttle but it's like it's skipping, coughing, sputtering. Kinda hard to describe. Gonna put new plugs in it and Sea Foam the carb and see if that helps.

Noticed when the i/o was running, that there was water coming from the side of the engine. OH NO CRACKED BLOCK!!!!! Jusk kidding. 4 drains on the engine. 2 manifold, 2 block. 3 of them have your typical twist drains. The 4th had this short brass sleeve running into the block and a brass plug in the end of it. Someone must have busted the twist drain at one point and they cobbed this thing in there. Anyway, I must have tightened the plug up too much at some point and split the sleeve. So I took the plug out. Went to take the sleeve out of the block and oh yeah, broke it off flush with the block. Get the ez out. Sucker won't budge. Put the torch to the block. Nothing. Can't even back out the ez out! Whoops. Broke the ez out flush with the block. Good news is I think it's ok cause I bet that sucker is real good and plugged now! Bad news, have to figure out a way to drill it out before winter. Down under the engine is hard to get to.

Start it up again today and see if any water does come out the drain.....

[Gill-T]

Yea.....you don't want to sink. Piece of mind, get it fixed now before the season really starts.

[Trolling82]

That sucker is tight in there. If it leaks at all, I bet it wouldn't fill a gallon jug all day. Not enough water pressure to amount to anything. Gotta find someone with an angle drill. Only way you're going to be able to fit a drill in there. Pretty sure on these OMC/Stringers you have to yank the outdrive/intermediate housing to pull the engine. Not something I want to do this time of year. Maybe when I get a couple days off in a row....