I had to remove the belt drive wheel from the front of the Harmonic Balancer to get enought room... but yep I was able to.

You still have to remove the drive. You have to align the engine after you drop it in.

Here is a picture of the Scarab with the 330 Merc removed.

thermostat housing
Any Marine Center.

Looks like alot of work to pull the engine without taking the drive off. You must of used an overhead hoist.

Jim... actully it was suprisingly easy, but yea we did use an overhead hoist.

Checkmate what does aligning the engine require? If I use the same motor mounts and the engine slides onto the driveshaft... isnt that aligned?

Ok guys... I am begining to get the feeling that I am missing something huge here? The removal of the engine was easy... the new engine is comming together fast. The outdrive is still in place and the same engine mounts are on the new motor. Can I simply slide the new motor back onto the drive shaft? I am sure that someone will say no... but please explain why!

If I could have afforded to have this done professionaly I would have... but I would have had to wait untill I returned from my second tour in Iraq. So I decided to take a crack at it. I know I sound like a noob here... I am one. Just trying to get it right the first time!!

Thanks all!!
Jared

While you may be able to just slide the engine back in place without removing the drive, it is not the right way to do it. Dont think anyone here will disagree with me on this one.
You should align the engine with the drive to do it right.

Hmmm ok well crapola. If anyone knows of a good online instruction on how to do this... or someone in central TX willing to help for a small fee... I would be indebted.

Jared

Aligning the engine is pretty easy, but you need the merc. alignment tool. All the tool does is make sure the gimbal bearing in the transom assembly is aligned with the engines coupler. When the tool slides thru the gimbal bearing and into the coupler smoothly and without binding the engine is aligned. You can probably use the drives yoke by taking it off the drive if you dont want to buy a alignment tool. If you do this pull the o-rings off the yoke so you dont get a false feeling of binding. Putting everything back in the way it came out is where you need to start, If the tool or yoke binds, you just need to adjust your motor mts up/dn, or left/right untill it slides in smoothly.

Trust me on this. It will be so much easier to just pull out your outdrive before you drop in your engine. It takes 10 mins to pull it out. 6 nuts is all that holds it on. I can pull mine off faster then I can change a tire. That is the reason why you hear about so many people that have gotten the outdrive stolen, because it is so easy.