Results of corrosion eating through the lower shell of the water pump housing.  This must have leaked like a sieve!  Note the salt build up and other crud.  The bushing below the keyway is just above the oil seals which prevent water from getting into the lower gear case.  To remove the lower water pump housing, the drive shaft has to be pulled.  That requires special tools.

Went to plan B.  Cleaned up the corroded areas inside and out using a Dremel tool equipped with a grinding stone.  Degreased the surfaces with acetone.  The gasket and wear plate give a sense of the problem.  The hole is now about 5/16" wide at the top.

Filled the gap with JB Weld epoxy.  Gave special attention to the inside of the lower housing and shaped the epoxy to match the contours of the interior.  After the epoxy set up, put everything back together. 

Hopefully this will last for the rest of the season!

October 2009 - Upon inspection, the "fix" was failing; a lot of salt had built up on the outside and upon disassembly, the epoxy disintegrated; lots of salt built up inside the lower water pump housing.  This was not going to last much longer; switched to replacement lower unit.

Here is the old impeller sitting on my knee which I re-used against conventional wisdom.  It looks hardly worn!  There were no nicks or cuts, and the vanes did not have a set.   I recall Frank telling me he replaced it about 4 years ago and thought the same thing then about the previous impeller. The current season ends in a few more weeks. Since all will be replaced prior to next season, I'll re-use it for now.

Purchased a cool bracket to build a stand for the outboard on eBay.  These laser cut solid steel brackets are 3/16" thick with 1/2" steel anti buckle rods.  See picture at right for my final design.

The stand consists of a base, bracket and a slightly angled support 2x8".  Started with a simple flat base.  In December 2008, added casters.  In March 2009, made the base wider and stronger for better stability.

Cleaned up cylinder head; removed old gasket material and re-opened cooling water flow paths.  I had to literally drill out the completely occluded upper bypass channel (see arrow; path exits to the upper bypass nipple) to deal with the clog.  Used increasingly larger drill bits (up to 5/16") to restore the upper and lower bypass flow circuits. 

Access port for upper bypass channel  installed by Frank's mechanic, visible after removal of the valve cover.  It is a segment of a bolt with a slot cut into the top.  Drilled a small hole in the middle of the slot.  Plug is now removable using an EZ-Out.  Too bad the motor required more drastic attention this time.  Plan to use this clean-out next Winter!

Had to pull the camshaft to access the internal anode.  What a PITA!  The anode bolt is in the center of the photo.  The damn thing would just not budge.  The green mark on the bolt head is my reference point to see if it was turning.  Not!!  Had to resort to an overnight treatment with PB Blaster (from inside the water jacket) and then more persuasion with an impact wrench.

No wonder the bypass exit flow was prone to plugging with grit-like crud.  Hope the old anode was the major source of that grit.  Better this than the engine.  Nice contrast between the old and new.  Time will tell...

Broken water intake pipe leading from output of water pump showing corrosion at point of entrance to lower oil pan. Probably leaked as well before completely breaking off, and another accident waiting to happen.  Now replaced!

Comparison of GE1406 and new LED bulb assembly.  The resistor is used to limit the current for LED protection.  The LED is yellow in the off state.  The inside is treated with a phosphorescent coating to give 360° illumination.  To improve alignment with the lens,  subsequently added an 8 mm segment of PVC tubing between the LED body and the brass base.  This lifted the brightest part of the LED to the same height as the incandescent filament.

                  What do you think?

                 Stock: GE1406 Bulb                         Modified: 360 LED

Lower bearing surface.  Some surface pitting noted.  Most of the wear is on the trailing edge of the rudder shaft (towards the right)

Opposite side of the shaft highlighting the wear on the trailing edge of the shaft (towards the bottom).  The unworn shaft OD is an "oversized" 2.375".  The lower bearing surface is 2.275" OD!  That's 0.100" with ~80% of the wear appearing to be on the trailing edge side.  Not very good.

The top bearing surface OD is 2.358".  Looks like Frank may have tried an earlier epoxy repair on this surface.

Cut the shaft off at the point where it enters the rudder.  The most worn area (lower right) wall thickness was 0.143" compared to 0.225" in an "unworn" section higher up on the shaft.  Maybe this would have been OK after building up the bearing surface with aluminum powder thickened epoxy?  Doubt lingers.  A new rudder with a stainless steel shaft is on the way.

Strapping and1/2" S40 PVC pipe frame held together with duct tape.  Taped pieces of carpet to bottom of vertical supports and any PVC touching deck. 

Looking towards the stern.