old dutchman
New member
I got a semi basket case that needed a rebuild. I have experience with merc but not omc. Got a seloc manual. got it torn down,cylinders acid washed and honed, got new pistons with rings, wrist pins and clips. Went together fine except getting the rings into the cylinders. Seloc says get a merc bellows clamp, tried that with limited success. I have used ring compressors before but seloc says to use the clamp on omc, is this gospel or is there another faster, easier way? have 1 ring in, several to go. I also have more questions that arent covered very well in seloc. So here goes, #1 in figure 105 it shows the main bearing bolts with the allen heads to have what appears to be toothed lock washers with O rings, the ones I took out have neither, which is right? #2 old head gaskets have small slots beside the metal rings that would allow water to flow between head and block, new gaskets only have holes at top and bottom that are 1/4 diameter, are those going to allow enough water flow? Also the gaskets on top of the heads have no holes at all to let water flow into the space between the gasket and the plate on top of the head, OK? #3 Do I use gasket sealer on the head bolts? If so how will it affect the torque numbers. The bolts I took out seemed to have some kind of sealer on them as did the exhaust cover bolts. #4 Do I use gasket sealer on all gaskets except the heads and carbs? Seloc says to use sealer on the spaghetti seal, do they mean gasket seal or gel seal? I would think gasket seal has no place between the block halves. #5 Do I use red thread locker on the rod bolts, reed block bolts and reed plate screws? I always have on merc but want to do the right thing on omc. Thanks in advance for any help you knowing omc guys can give a newbie to omc and this forum. There is certainly some good advise on here. One more thing, is it ok to drill and tap the water passage cover to install water pressure and temp senders? Thanks from sunny AZ.
