I have recently completed as 20" drive shaft conversion on my 1989 Evinrude 200. I broke the motor all the way down and sandblasted and reassembled everything. I am having lots of trouble aligning the shift rod into the shift mechanism on the powerhead. The shift rod is pressed hard up against the engine block and seems to be binding somewhere. It is set to the correct height per the service manual. I dropped the lower unit again and removed the shift to install it just on its own and still had the same issue, with and without it being attached to the lower unit. Checked the steering arm that it runs up through for obstruction and it's clear. The shifter won't budge when its all hooked up, even with only the shift rod attached. Im wondering if the power head or midsection could be out of line somehow? The power head bolted up perfect to the new adapter plate and midsection and all 3 alignment pins were dead on. What's weird is the old 25" shift rod now will not run up through the holes all. Any ideas? Really stuck here.