outlawinil

I replaced my 7.4L's in a 2000 Baja Outlaw with 500 hp's last spring. I do most of of all my own mechanic work myself and am familiar with aligning boat motors. I used the existing factory engine mounts in the boat which are a L-shaped and thru bolted.

When I dropped the 500's in i torqued down the rear engine mount bolts then raised the front of the engines until the alignment tool slid all the way in with ease, then ran the nuts that the engine sit on up against the motor mounts, took slack off hoist and checked again, everything ok. Tightened the top nuts but did not bend the tabs over on the bottom side nut

When rechecking alignment this spring the motors are sitting low in the front. It is noticeable by looking in thru gimbal bearing and looking at splines in engine coupler. The mounting nuts were all tight and the engine mounts at the stringers all look tight and ok. I have raised the front of the motors and the tool is getting very close to aligning but I am out of bolt to raise engine any higher. Actually by eyeballing the alignment the back of the motor looks high. Gimbal bearings are fine.

What has happened since my original alignment which I have since put about 40 hours on?

Could the nuts on top and bottom of the engine mount move together to allow the front to lower since I didn't mess with the locking tabs? They were still jammed tight together.

Is there a way of lowering the back of the motor? I rechecked the rear engine mount bolts and they are tight.

I read somewhere on here that you should turn the motor over 180 degree and recheck alignment which I didn't originally do as the couplers were new. Can someone explain how a coupler can be or get out of round?

Thanks

formula31

Ive seen couplers that were off by as much as .025" with the crank centerline but your problem sounds much more serious. Have you rotated the motor to see if the alignment changes now?

The rear mounts can fail which would drop the rear of the motor but you say the rear is high. Do you see any cracks or other signs of distress in the stringers or surrounding structures? Or maybe the thru-bolts holding the angles have sunk deeper into the stringer under load and thats why the front is low. Id pull one apart and look.

outlawinil

Stringers and the location where the engine mounts bolt thru the stringers were my first thought too. When I had the engines out I painted the engine compartment with interlux bilgekote which is a bright white. If bolts were loose on stringer mounts it would show where it has moved. I'll try to take some pics. Stringers show no signs of cracks. I remember the 29 having some stringer issues but never heard of the 33 having problems.

formula31

Roll the engine 180 degrees and recheck alignment. Youve got to remove the coupler as a cause before you start going crazy over what else could have happened. Also, the gimbal bearing can swivel in is housing. Is it possible that it could have moved when you pulled the drive? not likely but another thing to look for. When you install a new gimbal, its normal to have to center it to get in in line with the coupler.