Wobble, I am running the stock lifters from Mercury. You ought to see the lifter, it has a pinhole in the bottom of lifter, everything else checks out OK. The valve springs are fine. Dave

All I am waiting for is the Supercharger gasket. The local marina was going to charge me $64.99 for it. I went to my local speed shop, $4.62. Ya gotta love Mercury! Thanks for all the replies. Dave

Good to see you found the problem.

I have been using hylomar on blower gaskets with good success over the years. Also have found that it works very well on the intake gaskets around the water ports, therostat housings etc. Seems to be better than silicone for protecting aluminum surfaces, and it just wipes off when you take the motor apart.

I pulled my outdrive last night because I saw a 1/4" drop in drive fluid level last w/e. (Top seal around input shaft is seeping.) I used hylomar on the mating surfaces when I put it in 50hours ago. No corrosion there either.

Where do you buy hylomar?

I have found it at autozone and O'Reilly, comes in a small tube. Permatex is one manufacturer.

Been using it for years on race cars etc. Not my choice for thread sealant, but the best for gaskets.

Hylomar® is a polyester polyol–based compound that turns from a gel into flexible putty within minutes of application. Originally developed by Rolls Royce, where it performed under the most stringent aerospace tolerances, Hylomar brings superior qualities to automotive applications. Its non-hardening formula maintains seal integrity even when subjected to thermal distortion and vibration.

Hylomar is impervious to oil, gasoline, glycol and other engine fluids. Hylomar is oxygen-sensor safe, seals gaps .01" or less, and performs at constant temperatures up to 600°F. With Hylomar, components are assembled, reused and reassembled with ease. Use Hylomar for thin gaps without a gasket or as a gasket dressing. It holds the gasket in place during assembly as well as giving a great seal.

Many thanks for the info, Wobble. Lou

Great info

I'm kinda intrigued by this stuff. In a prior life, I didn't use gaskets under the front and rear of the intake manifold of my race car due to all the decking etc. I used a tube of pink jelly marketed by I believe Dow that was quite expensive. It was anerobic in that it hardened in the absence of oxygen. It was not reusable as I recall. Modern science is amazing...

Hylomar not suited for big gaps like end of intake but is awesome in it's corrosion and shock resistance. My buddy used to blow out his blower gasket on his jet boat every 3rd or 4th time he had a backfire. We pulled it off 3 times to true the surfaces, when the 4th time came around we just put it back with hylomar both sides of gasket, still sealed tight now.

I would change the valve springs with 300 hrs on them.