Punctured Oil Pan

More boat woes with my PCM powered Mb Sports boat. Just before purchasing, the previous owner had a new steering cable installed. To do so, the tech removed the engine. It appears that, when he reinstalled the engine, it was installed too low when lined up with the driveshaft. After trailering the boat and running it a total of a few hours, a tracking fin bolt has punctured the oil pan. The fact that they were close enough to the pan to allow the bolts to make contact at some point is what makes me believe the engine was reinstalled too low.

Anybody ever hear of this? Obviously the engine will have to be raised a bit, but I'm wondering how much wiggle room there usually is when lining up the transmission to bring up the engine?

With all four mounts sitting where they belong, how much space do you have under the pan? It's possible longer screws were used in replacing a tracking fin. It's also possible that the engine didn't go back in gently.

This is the first I've heard of pulling an engine for a steering cable...

Sorry, I am away from the boat and can't get pictures for the time being. I have begun searching for oil pans for Ford 351 based marine engines. Hoping I can find something!

I am wondering how much room there is to move the engine and maintain proper alignment? The weird thing about the whole situation is that, prior to this happening, the boat ran smooth with no vibrations or signs of misalignment. Could I raise the engine and maintain alignment? There must be some play in the prop shaft to be able to do this, right?

guitarist35jc wrote: Could I raise the engine and maintain alignment? There must be some play in the prop shaft to be able to do this, right?

No, there is none to very little. The strut is the starting point and then forward through roughly the center of the log. It doesn't take much engine movement to get to the less than .003" needed between the coupling faces. If you don't understand this, please take some time reading up on alignment.

Might as well replace, how much is getting a pan tigged cost? Going to have to pull the engine anyway to get the pan off. While its out, shorten the bolts for the fins, no need for more than a couple of threads exposed above the nuts.

guitarist35jc wrote: We plan to shave off a thread on the fin bolt. There is roughly 3 full threads exposed above the nut right now. The shaft appears to be slightly lower than centre in the shaft log, which should help our case in trying to get a little more clearance on the bottom. How much room do you guys have from the bottom of your pan to the top of the tracking fin bolts or the closest obstruction?

J,
You should not be worrying about how many threads you can shave off the machine screws for the fins. You, need to do a complete alignment!!! Start from the basics. it sounds like that "back yard tech" just through the engine back in the hull.

Who is "we"??