Swivel Case & Housing Mount Seperating....input needed

I have twin 1998 Honda BF 90hp outboards on my 21ft Sea Cat SL1 and I am looking for input with an issue I noticed with the starboard engine. The center housing mount, #16 (50161-ZW1-010ZA) appears to be separating from the swivel case, #9 (50201-ZW1-040ZA) to the point that the Circular C-Clip #49 (90651-ZV5-000) has popped off at the bottom of the mounting frame, #5 (50100-ZW1-030ZA). I tried putting the c-clip back in place, but its a bad angle and the gap at the top has covered the lip at the bottom of the of the mount . Anyways, I was hoping if someone can tell me 1) how big of an issue is this 2) am I doing any damage to the motor running it in this condition 3) is there a good way to tighten this back up and get the C-Clip back on? I'm really perplexed on what could have caused this in the first place. Thanks in advance.

Gap shown by arrows


Gap show by arrows as well as the loose C-Clip on top of lower unit



Swivel Case schematics


The center housing mount is on the extension case schematics oddly

It will not come apart if that's what you're asking. To repair this you will have to replace the top mounts to, a big job involving power head removal.I would leave it as is given the age of the motor's

Well that's good to hear that it won't come apart, but I was afraid the fix was going to involve powerhead removal which I don't want to get into. I was also reading the shop manual and see that these pieces are pressed together with a hydraulic press so I am assuming that there is an way to push the parts back together. That is unless anyone has any bright ideas. Thanks for the reply.

You will not get that back together, the clip usually pops off ad a result of corrosion. To fix it't a full tear down

iang6766 said:

You will not get that back together, the clip usually pops off ad a result of corrosion. To fix it't a full tear down

Click to expand...

There is some corrosion in there so that makes sense then and thanks for your input. As long as its not coming apart then I can live with it on a 20 year old engine.