VERY helpful info. Great video. The most informative I've seen (and I've been looking for a while). Took your advice and did some more checking. First of all, as I mentioned, everything is brand new including the updated coupler with the grease fiitting. Also, I performed the Mercury Service Bulletin which uses the 3 3/8-16 x 3/4 taper head screws to ensure the coupler is centered on the flywheel. With the grease fitting as a reference (while turning the engine with the spark plugs out for ease of operation) , the alignment tool at the 9 o'clock position was the easiest, the 12 and 6 a little harder and the 3 o'clock position was tough. With the alignment tool left in, I could rotate the engine with ease in all positions and the tool rotated with the coupler. You could be right about the bar being slightly out-of-round. I borrowed from a friend and it's the generic one without any accessories. You were also right about the grease build up. It did help. When I'm ready to install the outdrive and it goes in without any heavy persuasion, I'll leave it as it is. Thanks for your response.