Replacing wood engines shims

I was hoping to get lucky on engine alignment but I did not.
It appears the CC used wooden shims under the rear mounts to align the engine. It looked as if they used 3/4" plywood which, over the years had rotted and become squished. I threw in some epoxy coated 3/4" plywood replacements. Now the engine is 9/32" high and 1/8" to the right (starboard) measured at the shaft coupling. Surely, I cannot be the first to run into this problem.

Nothing I can think of sounds easy, fun, nor interesting.

I would very much appreciate tips, thoughts, remedies, solutions, ideas, comments and suggestions. Anybody?

I am stumped. I be stumped. I am the stumpee.

Jim, here is what my old ones looked like. The new ones I cut a slot between the bolt holes so I could move them to get my adjustment. I learned my lesson years ago not to throw anything away from this boat,so thats why I still have them-

Mr. Brainard,

When you say Chris do you mean Chris Craft? Where do you get the cast iron shims?

Just asking here, but could they not be easily made out of aluminum?

Thanks Pete, I enjoy seeing the older CC's staying alive. In fact some farmer / rig hand asked me on Thursday what I would give him for what I found later to be(I think) an early Atom Skier. It's on a traler but not in very good shape at all. I thought about it, but far more than I think anyone would want to tackle.

By the way, if any of you noticed the SS exhaust downspout in the pic above, a local fab guy did them for $150 for the pair. I furnished the material. Let me know if you want his name and email address.

Thanks John. I've been hiding in the woods. I got a little disgusted when I decided to change the oil in the '68 (about 2 years ago). I couldn't reach the drain plug so I decided to jack up the rear of the engine and install a drain hose. This is when I discovered the shaft log hose was rotten. CC covered the hose with glass so I had to pull the back floor so I cut away the glass with my Dremel tool. This is when I discovered the exhaust hoses were rotten. To remove the exhaust hoses I had to remove the gas tank. This is when I discovered the tank was seriously rusted on the bottom I had to repair the tank with acid and latex liner. When I pulled the exhaust downspouts they crumbled in my hand so I had to have stainless steel downspouts fabricated. I installed the oil drain hose, got all new hoses, fixed the tank, lowered the engine and discovered the rear engine mount lag screws would not hold torque - the holes were either rotten or stripped. I lifted the engine back up, reamed the holes and found good wood. I filled the holes with low viscosity penetrating epoxy. Then I filled the bottom of the holes with a slurry of wood powder and layup epoxy - the top half of the holes with a paste of wood powder and layup epoxy. Made new wood shims (which are designed incorrectly) lowered the engine and drilled new lag screw holes. The good news is the new stainless steel lag screws, which are 1" longer than the originals, are holding a LOT of torque. (But it looks like I am going to have to take them back out.)

I finally did get the oil changed. It took two years. That's what I have been doing. How about you?

Funny how life works Jim. Yes I used a band saw just because I had one. They are 7 1/2" long, 1 1/2" high at the front end and 3/8" at the back.

I like the wood because maybe it distributes the weight of the engine better.My old ones are actually compressed where the mount pad sits. I think you could just use a circular saw to cut them out.

Jim, you have a gift for stories. Even something simple makes me smile.
Some day I hope to sip a couple of cold ones, smoke a cigar, and listen to you tell some tales. Maybe you might even finish that bayou story. BKH

With angled shims the up and down adjustment is pretty easy as you just knock the shims forward or backward to get your hieght. The side to side is limited to where your lag holes are unless you're going to drill new lag holes. The lags on our fixed mount engine in our Mustang are on angles.

Your mounts look like they may not have to be angled. What if you cut thinner shims that are slightly low and then raise them using shim stock?

Jim, that is Tim Benjamin's boat, not mine. It is a 1972+- Skier. I'm sure he'll chime in if he sees your comments. I posted it as I remember he had similar mounts as yours and there are little chims under the mounts.

Here's the latest picture of ours. We are going to glue down some vinyl flooring. I have painted the inside sides of the hull, although will probably re vinyl the side panels when/if we do the interior over.