No Ooppsss needed Chaz...Thanks for your input and getting me started thinking about the options. I ALWAYS learn something new when I visit S&F and there is already lots of good information in this thread.

"There is absolutely nothing cheap about these motors."

Truer words were never spoken! I have bought and made a bunch of tools myself to work on this stuff and parts prices are always a surprise. I know it's hard to get the wife/girlfriend to understand you need diamonds for your hone...hopefully that investment will pay off well in the end.

I would like to stimulate a bit of discussion on the pros and cons of replating the whole block vs. putting a sleeve in one hole. Whats the approximate cost to install and finish the sleeve? Is that repair just as good / reliable as a replate? It looks like the block has aluminum sleeves from the factory, probably made by Mahle for Mercury? From the dimensions on Advanced Sleeve's site, it looks like the original sleeve is partially bored out and the replacement sleeve inserted into the remaining portion of the original sleeve. Is that correct or is the original completely removed? Is heat transfer just as good as the original solid sleeve?

Also a correction to my post about thickness. I checked last night with a feeler gauge and it looks like the plating is about .010" thick.