New to me 2.4L Bridgeport EFI no start / fuel system questions

[OnPad]

Little hint on that shift shaft. It can be reached through a little hole right above the forward most nut on the lower. Way better than standing on your head and trying to get that bugger lined up. Probably end up standing on my head anyhow, but it took me a few times before I figured out I coul grab on to that shaft and manipulate it from the outside. If its installed properly you should be able to get some vertical movement in it

Half an inch to pull tight would be a little concerning the dowel pins are about 1/4". Depends on how clean the studs and pins are. Shouldn't take much to suck it up. If real clean

[Baker343]

Also, I have found sometimes when using aftermarket shifters, the attachment bracket on the shifter is to short and won't allow for enough throw. Foward/Reverse. I had to extend one and then fabricated a longer bracket to allow for enough throw to grab reverse.

[mxr181]

I appreciate the hint and yeah, I didn’t use that area you are talking about to line up the shift shaft! And it definitely did have some upward plunge, I was kinda using that and manipulating it at the top were the linkage hooks up to get it lined up. You are saying it should plunge once fully assembled as well right? I will check that when I get home.

I never felt like I was forcing it but I definitely couldn’t get it higher than that without using the bolts. I pulled it up evenly and it went but without bolts I just couldn’t get that last 1/2”. At that point water tube was in, shift shaft was close but had plunge so I think it was the top of the driveshaft and I’m thinking there is some junk in the splines on powerhead side

on the shift arm I think I’ll disconnect the linkage and pull it further and see what it does. Looks original but not positive on that

[mxr181]

Oh the shifter itself is the original merc one (for now)

[Baker343]

Every once in a while, when the install of the LU gets past my level of patients, I will start with lining up the power head only to check for binding, then added the water tube and check for binding, then save the shifter spline for last

[mxr181]

I like that idea. Also thinking about sticking compressed air or maybe pressure washer up into powerhead splines if I pull it back off. I am really leaning towards that being my issue

[OnPad]

That's a crusty crankshaft! Get some grease on that once you get sorted.
Check out that access I mentioned. Was just trying to say if you miss the shift shaft on install, the shaft extension would be pushed up against engine block, or wedged sideways down at lower. You wouldn't be able to grasp the shift shaft extension and get any vertical movement out of it. This could of been cause for lower to not want to go home. Or your crusty crank, or water pump, or studs, or dowel pins.
If your doing install yourself, something to hold the case up (other than a knee) while you get everything aligned is very helpful. Not saying that's how you did it, just putting it out there.

[mxr181]

Agreed! Yeah I greased the driveshaft splines heavily and after I pulled it the first time they were def dirty. I had a combo of a ratchet strap, big wood block and I might have used the jackplate carefully to help get it in and hold / support it all.

I think I’ll pull it again, manually check the shifting splines & ratcheting. I believe rotating shift shaft clockwise is forward? Then I’ll see if it goes in with just driveshaft, then water tube then all of the above as mentioned. Thank you guys! Really excited to see what this thing does!

[pcrussell50]

Well, today is Saturday. Where are you taking her for her shakedown runs? (I’m from SoCal too).

You can add me to the list of people who are interested in how it goes

-Peter

[donmac]

when installing a case the shifter and case should be in forward gear! that way you can turn propshaft reverse direction to align the driveshaft with crank splines and stay down low to align the shiftshaft splines and water tube guide while it all comes together! It all just works better that way,especially by yourself, neutral can be used if you have a helper to turn flywheel but forward gear is the most important position and I like that to be exact! then shift to neutral after the install and check for no clutch dog ramp contact in neutral while spinning prop!

[mxr181]

Buttoning it all up today and going to smelsinore tomorrow to see how she does. Was hoping to go to Parker for the weekend but just ran out of time. Everything is done now except poppet is going in right now and then pulling the lower back off to troubleshoot but should be good to splash her tomorrow! Thank you guys for all the help!

I did originally have both in forward, then 2nd time I tried nuetral and had a little better luck but still not 100% confident in it so gonna drop it again as discussed above

[mxr181]

The new “carrier” that came in poppet rebuild kit is larger OD than the bore in the block for it but I would assume they are all the same block…scratching my head again…thought this is sopposed to be pushed in there and staked?

[mxr181]

If this poppet situation isn’t gonna work can I restrict anything temporarily so I can run it tomorrow without hurting it? Ran it on the hose earlier with the poppet assembly in there but no carrier and I’m pretty sure it’s just dumping water through it and down to the lower which I think makes sense because the popper isn’t sealing up against anything. I was hoping it would block enough of the hole to atleast reduce flow. Setup like this the block never got warm.

[62 bugzilla]

If this poppet situation isn’t gonna work can I restrict anything temporarily so I can run it tomorrow without hurting it? Ran it on the hose earlier with the poppet assembly in there but no carrier and I’m pretty sure it’s just dumping water through it and down to the lower which I think makes sense because the popper isn’t sealing up against anything. I was hoping it would block enough of the hole to atleast reduce flow. Setup like this the block never got warm.

I have exact same issue no part to seal at the engine block. Ordered same part and doesn’t fit. With just poppet I had no pressure either.hope someone can tell us the part for block

[mxr181]

Mine is ready to go minus the popper carrier issue. mine did show 3-4psi water pressure with hose half way on and I know I was getting flow up through the block because there are 1/8” NPT tapped holes in front of thermostats that had a water temp sender in it but didn’t fit with thermostat and I forgot to plug it and got water out of there pretty quick. I know have a T in that hole so I can run the water temp sender / gauge, just need to wire it now. Also was getting slight stream out the thermostat dumps. Guessing this is from the small hole in the thermostats and is normal?

Also, just filled sportmaster lower unit, I’ve read they take 28oz of gear oil to not blow shift shaft seal. Mine took 20-22oz and is now coming out the vent. Guessing there’s still some old fluid in there but not sure if I should put the full plug in and add more or just run it the way it is. Motor is upright & level