i have one of those super special alignment tools too !

ez riser,
pic 1 is shaft, left plate is bravo, right plate is trs.
ive only aligned alpha and trs, but i gotta think speedmaster is same as trs.

basically on a plug in transmission engine you put the shaft thru the transom assy and into the transmission tailstock splines
theory being tailstock to inner transom plate mounts gets you in the ball park.

slide the plate on and if the plate lines up flush all the way around, it's aligned (pic3)

if there is a gap between the plate and the gimbal housing like in pic 4, it's not aligned.
as example pic 4 the front of the engine has to go down.

so you need to find i.d. speedmaster spline in the tailstock, so you can have a shaft made,and have a plate made that fits into speedmaster gimble housing.

no way do i believe anyone does an alignment with that much money and NLA parts on the table w/out a special tool

did you pull engines ?
did you pull angle aluminum off stringers ? - did you mark their locations ?
those angle aluminum are usually marked and drilled during installation / alignment, they don't come pre drilled as far as i know.
(if so someone tell me where to get them so i can save myself alot of work)

Very nice Safari, thanks. Yes I pulled engines and angles. There is no play in the stringer holes and very little movement in the angle holes, not nearly enough to get the plates to mount up properly. I'll get the right tools and figure out what's not right, hopefully something is and I can bring everything else to it rather than starting completely over. I didn't pay any attention during disassembly as to how much the plates sprung as the bolts were loosened. I can get all of the bolts back in but in some cases the plates have to flex 1/4" to mate up to the angles.

So put the mounts on the motors and hang them in place. Then start swapping angles around, maybe even plates from 1 engine to the other. You might stumble on the combo that works. Pretty much that or fill the holes and re-drill where the angles wanna be. Unless the angles were pre-drilled in a jig, they are all gonna be different.

If the engine mounts are offshore style (most are) you have very little adjustment if any, that needs set once when the boat is built or re rigged from restoration, at that point it should not ever change.

With my offshore mounts I can move up and down maybe 1/4" at most, my drives slide right on..

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at that point it should not ever change.


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I feel this is a very common misconception. even with alpha-bravo adjustable mounts. boats don't need realigned cuz the engine or drive was pulled and reinstalled. it needs realigned cuz it is made of fiberglass and wood, and some idiot (all of us) started putting between 250 and 750 ft lbs of torque on the points where those mounts attach to the boat. along with 750 lbs of weight AND they started splashing a bunch of water in there. ...AND THEN they start launching the boat off the top of every wave they can find...and all of this is going on while the prop(s) hanging below the transom are pushing in on the bottom and pulling out on the top of the transom assy like they are trying to tear it off the back of the boat. there is no way the transom and mount points on the stringers are gonna stay in the same place forever.

OUTONSAFARI

Actually if the plate does not fit flush both front and rear mounts have to be moved. You can't raise the front mounts or lower them and get the plate to align because now the shaft will no longer go in. First you align the engine with the shaft so that it goes in and out with two fingers and then you see if the plate fits flush. If it does you are golden. if it doesn't then you need to start making small adjustments to the rear mount and larger ones to the front.
I have added shims and large plates to lock down my rear mounts so that there is no motion available.
Since I started doing this I have not lost a single coupler with way more HP than they were rated for.

Setting alignment can be very tricky. I have aligned engines with the offshore style mount as well as stock Mercury adjustable mounts.

Either way you will absolutely need a good alignment tool. Grease the alignment tool so you can see the spline contact when you remove (just remove very carefully so you dont wipe off the grease). I also go by the rule-of-thumb that alignment is not good enough until you can remove the tool with 2 fingers and very light pressure. If you have to use a closed fist to remove the tool it is not aligned.

One other thing - the stop on the fatter part of the shaft is supposed to hit the gimbal bearing. When I do an alignment I insert the shaft part way and move the shaft in a circular motion to pivot the gimbal bearing in it's mount. I then center the shaft and give the bearing a little thump with the shaft.