Water pump replacement- I am not an idiot.

[toqwik]

Messed with Mercury my entire life and this is my first OMC. Model number is missing from my tag but the boat is a 79 so I assume it’s an 88 or 89. So I watch videos and they all start off pulling the bolt or nut from the shifter. Sounds easy enough. Can’t find this part on my engine. So I call a buddy who is mechanically incline for help. He can’t find it either. It’s a 115 v4. Anyway does anyone have a suggestion what I am missing. It’s so tight in there and I have moved linkage but can’t find that bolt. On the right side of my motor, non starter side where the cable hooks up is a big pull out pin, looks like a fire extinguisher and sorry for not knowing the name of the pin. What I thought would be an hour job we spent 4 hours playing where’s Waldo. Any ideas what is going on? It looks like the shift shaft comes up and has a turn that hooks into my other linkage. Definitely no bolt on it. Any help is appreciated.

 

[faztbullet]

How many carbs?? 2 or 4?

 

[toqwik]

2 carbs.