Unbelieveable isn't it? :( Should I even mention it's taken 3 weeks to do a 2 day job, and the entire repower project enters month #9 on June 1?

You'll need a 3rd person Ted, I'll can bring my little checklist of things NOT to do. :D I'm only 90% of the way home, but 100% done.

Sounds like progress Kieth. That's a good thing! Not sure in your case, but I think the harmonic balancer and flywheel are a set. Have they looked at the balancers?

If it is any consolation to you, there hasn't been a nice weekend yet, so you haven't missed much. This weekend looks poor as well.

Hope they get it right this time for ya! :eureka:

Dave :cool:

This sounds just like the gimble bearing in the transom. In my old boat, took it to a local shop, they replace my unjoints. still nothing. Took it apart and found that the gimble bearing was shot. easy fix.

bsc

If they went through the trouble of pulling the drive, replaceing the u-joints and NOT checking the gimble when they where in there, I'd find another shop to go to.

My shop replaced the gimbal rings, gimbal bearings, as well as installed the new HP gimbals that do not have the trim senders or trim limits.

I'm curious about the flywheels and balancers piece Blue Thunder. I ordered long blocks from Merc, and was charged for new flywheels, that's all I know.

I'm at the mercy of this shop because I didn't have a place to put the boat in order to do all of this myself. It's painfully obvious they don't know what they're doing. I still owe them money for work completed, but it would cost me more to move the boat over to another shop to re-do some of the work I've already paid for. So while I haven't paid in full, I'm into this for a lot of dollars already.

I'm trying to get to a point where I'm 90% done, and I"ll finish it myself from there. Have no idea about the harmonic balancer, and if that comes with the long block I purchased. If the vibration is still there next week, I'll have no other choice but to take the boat elsewhere and give it to somebody who knows what they're doing.

Are the harmonic balancer and flywheels normally included in a long block purchase? Are they a matched set? These are Gen VI's, my old motors were Gen IV's and it's possible they may have simply swapped stuff over?

Keith, Going from my handy dandy Dennis Moore book (502):

Mark IV - balancer is PN 14097024 and is used with flywheel 3993827, ID # 3973457

Gen VI - balancer 10216339 and is used with flywheel 14096987, ID # 14096805.

The mark IV is set is good for cast or forged assemblies and the gen VI set is only for forged rotating assemblies.

Gen V and VI flywheels/balancers cannot be interchanged with the Mark IV because of the change from 2 pc rear main seals in mark IVs to one piece in Gen V, VIs. The bolt pattern remains the same though so they physically interchange. Bottom line, you cannot put mark IV stuff on a gen V,VI engine. The balancer part numbers are different as well, so I will assume you get an out of balance problem when using the wrong one there as well.

Balancers and flywheels are not a matched set per se, just need to have the correct parts together on the correct engine.

Balancers are easy to change if this turns out to be an issue.

The two long blocks I purchase last year as remanned DID NOT come with flywheels or balancers. I had to reuse my old which was ok in my case. Did you ask if they reused the old flywheel and balancer? If they did, make sure they are changing the balancers now as well. It may be wise to make a call tomorrow to a new merc engine supplier and as the question about if they are included in the purchase when buying new.

Dave :cool:

Dave,

I'm betting the balancers did not come with the long blocks, and I'm betting they used the ones from my old Gen IV 454 Mags. I'll call the shop tomorrow. I'm the patient, teaching the doctor how to diagnose the illness, and treat it, this is incredible.

Thanks a million for the info.

Just following up.

Shop replaced both flywheels with the proper parts, and I tested today. No more vibration at 3000 RPM.

And a final note to everyone who replied, my sincere thanks.

Well that is great news!! Now you can enjoy the summer. You still haven't missed any boating thanks to the mighty poor weather.

Good luck with the rest of the debug. ;) ;)

Dave :cool:

Dave,

Again my thanks to you and the other guys who responded with some great information and detail. I couldn't have done it without you guys.

I still have a major problem with the Holleys running too rich. The guys in my club have provided 3 different names and numbers of holley experts in my area, so hopefully this will be the last piece of my project. At this point, I don't know if it's too much carb, or simply a rejetting issue.

Thanks again.