They are for sure back in the original place because I took pretty good measurements prior to make sure

I am 1 1/2 hour drive west of you IF you want to drag it over here this weekend I will help you with it.

They replaced the center stringer and lower bulkhead.

This what you said they did correct, so if you have the engines cranked all the way up, I dont think the L- brackets are in the original position ?? or am I missing something

I would find somebody with a overhead hoist and hook the front of the motor in the middle with the back mounts sitting on the transom plate. A three point pick. Then by adjusting up or down till the line up tool goes in smooth. then work with the motor mounts.

Thanks, I appreciate the offer. I have a forklift lined up for Saturday so I'm gonna give it another shot. Also going to replace the coupler just to be sure.

Correct. Yes, I think you are right about that. But, lets say that the L Brackets are just a little lower than they used to be, as long as I can get the motors aligned without running out of adjustment I should be ok, correct? Or, should the engines not be mounted close to the top of the studs on the mounts? If that is the case I suppose I can put a piece of flat stock aluminum in between the motor mount and L bracket...?

I do have the port engine aligned very well right now, tool slides in and out with two fingers, almost no resistance, and stays the same when rotating the engine in 90 degree increments.

There is nothing difficult about bolting up a coupler, if you use the collared bolts its pretty much self aligning ( centering ) on the flywheel, if this is the coupler you ran last year ( without issues ) then it should be fine, if its rubbing on the bell housing when rotated there's definitely something miss aligned. If you don't have the collared bolts, then I can see it being off centered.

I do have a hoist. I raised the X and engine on my Daytona by installing a 1 inch aluminum block under the mounts. I bought new solid stock type mounts. I tried to buy new aluminum L angle but couldn't find a source for the size I needed. SO I just shimmed the mounts up an inch. The other option IF you have the room is to use a low profile jack and a block above and below to protect the hull and the oil pan. Are you sure that you have ALL of the pieces installed properly on the rear mounts???

ALSO keep in mind that the alignment shaft on a PROPERLY aligned engine should be parallel to the bottom running surface of the boat. You raise or lower the rear mounts to achieve this.

The alignment tool is right when parallel to the bottom of the boat only if crankshaft is parallel to the bottom of the boat ...Point is ,you are aligning to the crank ,not boat

The point I am trying to make is you should be aligning both to the crank AND to the boat.

The alignment tool will ALWAYS be parallel with the crank when the tool slides in properly. BUT if the rear engine mounts sag or are too high or low because of transom angle or a thicker or thinner transom it will cause the alignment tool ( and the crankshaft) to NOT be in line with the boat. Both the tool and the crankshaft should be parallel to the bottom of the running surface. I had this happen years ago and was blowing couplings weekly with an alignment tool that slid right in perfectly. The rear mounts had sagged and this caused me to lower the front mounts to get the tool to align. I shimmed up the rear mounts and then raised the front mounts to get the tool to align. I kept doing this until the tool was parallel with the pad bottom. Never blew a coupling again.

They use a gimbal bearing for a reason so that it can be angled to align with multiple engine positions due to variable boat constructions.