Alignment after engine mount replacement

[sesmith]

Once things are disconnected, maybe it would be possible to find the correct center by pushing the shaft up til it stops, then down, then side to side. Estimate the center, then get creative with a solution to block it in the center position. This should get you to a happy starting place to move the engine to and use your feeler gauges there. You could double check the positioning again with any blocking removed, but that shouldn't change things.

From there, if there is misalignment through the cutlass, you have more problems. The only way to check that (provided the shaft isn't bent) would be on the hard with a laser through the center of the cutlass pointing to the engine with the shaft removed. It's possible some of that could be taken out by going slightly off center through the log with the shaft, but you really don't know which way to go without being able to see and feel how the shaft goes through the cutlass since the boat is in the water.

 

[jssailem]

If I read and understand what @sesmith is saying, the cutlass bearing on the strut may be out of alignment. I started on my boat's alignment while on the hard. I shot a laser light from the cutlass bearing up into the boat and, with nothing there, found an approximate height and angle needed to position the engine/transmission.

With that as a start, we could rough fit the engine in the space.

I can understand the concern about the PSS collar. You want equal compression. When I spoke with the PYI engineer about this concern, I was advised to get the shaft centered as close as possible. Make the coupler square and within tolerances to the transmission. Once you begin to use the shaft the collar and graphite ring will wear together smoothing the surface. The trick is to get it nearly correct and to assure you have the required spring compression. At least that is how I understood the directions. So far I have only aproximately 10 hours on the shaft. There are no drips sitting or turning the shaft. My fingers are crossed that this continues to be the case.

 

[sesmith]

If I read and understand what @sesmith is saying, the cutlass bearing on the strut may be out of alignment. I started on my boat's alignment while on the hard. I shot a laser light from the cutlass bearing up into the boat and, with nothing there, found an approximate height and angle needed to position the engine/transmission.

A bent strut could cause this. Getting a rope wrap on a prop shaft could make this happen. Also, some manufacturers don't get the strut on the boat quite right to begin with. I never had to do this with either of my boats (my Catalina 350 doesn't have a strut) but I've read the fix can be pretty involved with making an angled shim for the strut with thickened epoxy. My last boat was off by the manufacturer but not enough I couldn't make up for it by going a little off center in the shaft log and getting it "close enough" side to side, and the engine was angled a bit. I never had any vibration, but if I ever replaced the cutlass again I had grand plans to make it right. Your laser method was what I had in mind, though I would have shot through the cutlass from behind so I could also measure both ends as well.