I have recently replaced the original '90 9.9 Merc 2-stroke on my 26S with a 9.9 Honda extra long shaft (25") electric start 4-stroke. I quickly realized this was not going to be a quick unclamp the old and clamp on the new situation. Mounted directly to the transom the Honda would not steer anything close to lock-to-lock and more critically, it would not tilt up to the top position thus keeping the lower unit from being able to come up clear of the water. I would like to thank Dan D for a thread he started 10 years back and Bob 04 H260 for supplying the answer to this situation. Dan D tried a spring-loaded motor mount, which I was considering. This proved unworkable because the engine ended up way too far aft to be practical. I benefited from Dan D's attempt and did not waste time and money on a mount. Bob 04 H260 solved the problem by putting a piece of 1/2" Starboard on the aft side of the transom to move the motor back a bit. (note that the top edge, forward side of the Starboard needs to be beveled a bit to accommodate the thicker edge of the transom) I modified this approach a bit by also putting a piece of 1/2 starboard on the top edge of the transom to move the motor up a bit as well. With this relatively small amount of position adjustment, I got lock-to-lock steering. Well, once everything was bolted up the tang under the tiller caught just a bit. A slight groove in the fiberglass or a bit cut off the corner of the tang would solve the problem. I chose to cut a corner off the tang. Also, Bob's solution of modifying the up stops of the tiller by cutting them back a bit, thus enabling the tiller to fold back almost to the engine cover instead of straight up as it does stock, combined with the modified mounting position, enabled the motor to tilt up all the way. I'm most grateful to have been provided this information to solve the problem. Forums rock! What I have to offer in addition is that moving the motor up as I did put the stock clamps very close to the top edge of the transom. I didn't like the long term potential for damage to the edge of the transom, so I opted to utilize the bolt holes in the engine mount for more support. The top two are 3/8" x 4" stainless hex bolts that go through to a 1/4" stainless backing plate. (using bottom hole of three on the port side of mount, middle hole of three on starboard) I had to cut out sections of the backing plate for the clamps as they do not open up far enough to accommodate the additional 1/4" of the backing plate. For the bottom two bolts I used 3/8" x 5" stainless carriage bolts. The squared section just under the head of the carriage bolt engages the sides of the bolt slot in the mount thus trapping the bolt from turning. I used a Starboard backing plate on the forward side of the transom for these. (Thus longer bolts. 4 1/4 or 4 1/2 would have worked but 5" were available to me.) The lower bolts are probably overkill as far as supporting the motor, but being carriage bolts with the nuts below the motor well and accessible only through the lazarette, which is normally full of stuff and locked, they make for a formidable anti-theft system. One would have to cut the lock on the laz and unload it to get to the nuts, or grind off the carriage bolt heads making a lot of noise and sparks in the process. I'm thinking that the prospect of attracting that kind attention would send a would be thief in search of a different target. Anyway, the Honda has many advantages over the old 2-stroke and there may be others here who would like to re-engine. The information here is really valuable so I'm doing a 10-year "bump" to make sure it is readily find-able. I plan to put up a photo album of all of this on FaceBook and will post a link here if that is possible. Thanks again Dan and Bob!
