Boat is a 98 29 baja outlaw, had 2 454mpi 310hp engines and they were pulled and sold. Replacing them with 496ho engines. I first noticed the flywheel coupler has a shaft sticking out with a grease zirk fitting which looked different from what was in the boat before but the issue im having is the bushings on the flywheel cover mounts seem to be sticking down some. I installed the first engine with the double lock washer on the transom part of the rear engine mounts and the alignment bar would not go in, i could see through the gimbal bearing hole the front of the engine needed to go way up. the alignment bar would go in a little bit when i maxed out the front engine mounts raising it up all the way. I took the double lock washer off the transom side which lowered the rear of the engine and let the front engine mounts down about half way and am getting the aligment bar to go in all the way now. Did they do away with the double lock washers on the later models? Is there a reason for the double lock washer?

i did not see you mention the fiber washer that goes along with the lock washer? You need them both.

The fiber washer is there as well but the bellhousing mount dont touch those even with the double lock washer removed so they wouldnt have any affect on alignment.

Missed detail in the beginning. You took out 98 454's which used the spring washer. You are putting in 8 1 HO which at some point they stopped using the spring washer. 454 or 496 flywheel cover and rear mount? There is where the problem lies. Put 454 cover on and it will fall back in where it belongs. If you use the 8.1, you might need to change inner transom plate.

after hours of working on it, finally got it dead on where the alignment bar slides in/out with ease. Had to take out the double lock washer and install a single washer, after doing that i adjusted on the front mounts to get it perfect.

The single washer is incorrectly done. What flywheel cover are you using? The 454 cover that is mated to the inner transom, or the flywheel cover that came with the later model 8.1? And what year 8.1?

the engine coupler was different in the 496 than the older 454.

setting up the transom assembly has nothing to do with what engine. Bravo to bravo or alpha to alpha.

It goes buy serial number. YOU NEED TO FOLLOW this Service bulletin to a T. Many do not know this at all but I understand most up here are NOT a Merc dealer. Totally understandable but you have to follow proper procedures regardless if you are working on OEM marine stuff. Stuff like this creates issues for the boat owner. Many times dealers really do come in handy so owners to do not create their own issue headaches..

I was a bit confused of your install and something does not sound right. SO here is the set up per transom assembly change. Again it goes by the serial number

http://www.marinemechanic.com/merc/d...her-design.PDF

That is great info, need to double check the thickness of the washers i used to see if there the same as the merc shim kit washers but i basically did exactly what that service bulletin says.

I knew we needed BUP for this. And the REALLY important part of that bulletin is that the inner transom assy does NOT have to be changed. That this shim setup is acceptable. I would get the correct shims from merc. It is not just the thickness. It is the alloy they are made of. They have to be hard enough. They have to be soft enough. The ID and OD are very specific to clear the fiber washer. Dissimilar metals and salt will do very bad things. Motors aren't in there that tight.