Hi everyone I am new to the site, anyways I recently purchased a 1980 Excalibur 24 that has been fully restored, so I'm told lol . Anyways when the previous owner was taking it out on a ride one day the bellow had a rip in it letting water in the merc trans II. He replaced the bellow and flushed the trans. Then I got ahold of the boat, I just bought a rebuilt trans and plan on installing the transmission this weekend. The boat has a 454 and runs amazing. This is my first boat with a transmission so I would like to know any tips or advice I will need on replacing this, also any diagrams on a merc trans setup. Thank you.

Remove drive, loosen the nuts on the trans bearing retainer, pull the engine out, swap trans, reinstal. sounds easier than it is. make sure you check the pilot bushing in the crank.
http://www.kcmarinetr.com/MercTrans-Facts.aspx

Thanks. I worked on alot of boats, just never one with a trans.

Sounds like you got it covered.

me too, I worked on alot of boats, just never one with a trans. thank you

get a trans from a reputable builder. it such a pain in the azz job you only want to do it once. i had a local guy rebuild one for me it puked first time out what a suck job that was swaooing it a second time in as many days...

Got everything installed, works great, it was definitely a pain in the butt getting the motor to slide out of there!! Thanks to all for the advice!

black Excalibur bad merctrans? chaparral seats? up by you in Michigan? I was hoping it would stay for sale till my dinero came through.

Yep that's the one, got the trans fixed runs very good, awesome boat, someone took there time restoring this boat.