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Jack Erbes wrote in news:gaWdnSlacsDilLfeRVn-
:

Thus, it is uniquely equipped for
fishing in shallow water providing you don't suck up mud into the pump!

MUD isn't the problem. This Sport Jet ISN'T the kind of jet for shallow
water fishing, like the Australians produce. If the smallest rock gets
sucked up through that intake grate and lodges between the spinning
impeller and the VERY CLOSELY POSITIONED stator vanes behind it, the right-
angle gearcase in the pump simply is torn apart before the pin shears. You
might as well throw the pump away. A new complete Sport Jet is cheaper.

Mud isn't any problem at all, nor is weeds, all of which are soft. I added
the "Salad Shooter" intake grate Merc makes to replace the cheap one the
OEMs buy. This grate opens to allow weeds to be sucked into the pump and
VOILA! World's Largest Salad Shooter comes shooting out the back.

Take a former Sport Jet owner's advise, for your own good. DON'T LET THAT
INTAKE GRATE GET ANYWHERE WITHIN THREE FEET OF THE BOTTOM, even in mud!
There's always that little rock or other piece of hard crap in there that
will just make your Sport Jet ownership SUCK!

Question - When was the last time you had the stator off the pump to change
the rear bearing lube oil and carefully inspect the shaft seal that keeps
the water out of the poorly-designed bearing? Ever seen its guts? I
learned how from a Merc mechanic. When he took it apart, we found the
shaft seal GONE! The damned Mercury Platinum Dealer's expert mechanic
didn't seat it properly and the shaft just tore it off, running the bearing
on seawater, sand and what little oil didn't leak out. I learned how to do
it myself so it wouldn't happen again. Your dealer hasn't a clue about
Sport Jets and DOESN'T WANT TO KNOW.... He fixes OUTBOARDS.

If you take it apart, be SURE to put grease on the 4 stainless bolts that
screw into the cheap aluminum housing.....OR THEY'LL SEIZE! It took us
over an hour to work them loose without breaking them off INSIDE the
housing. My mechanic gave up. I took R-22 refrigerant and froze the bolt
to -50 C by dripping liquid freon onto the bolt head, shrinking the whole
bolt. That was the only way it will come off. DON'T LET THEM HEAT IT WITH
A TORCH as it will really screw up the Merc paint job and ruin the pump.
Freezing the bolts, then working them back and forth, got mine off. They
were hard seized! STUPID DEALERS! The grease keeps the electrolysis from
INSIDE the bolt holes just fine.

Just a few hints. I loved my Sport Jet, the 175hp carb'd model. Mine was
a Sea Rayder F16XR2 16' yellow with purple bimini. Chick magnet!

Oh, one more hint to save your Sport Jet.......
Take the flywheel off the top of it with a proper puller. The core of the
stator coils (about $300 at a dealer) is OPEN TO THE WET! Idiots....My
first one rusted solid, shorting out the magnetic fields and stranding me
with no spark! Before yours rusts solid, and it will, GREASE the surface
of the soft iron cores wherever you can see them around where the magnets
whirl around the outside of them. Grease up the inside of the flywheel,
too, to keep the magnets from corroding all up. The new core, an
aftermarket product better than Mercury's, never rusted or corroded at all
coated with a nice layer of marine grease....(c; The guy I sold it to has
never had a problem with it in 2 years.

Remove the chinzy oil injection made out of PLASTIC and all its plumbing.
The hole the pump fits into has a cover plate you can get from the dealer
for free after you remove the gear drive. Every new powerhead has this
coverplate on it and dealers just toss them away as they re-install the oil
injection nightmare. Mix your fuel at 40:1, oil company brands TC-W3. 1
quart to every 10 gallons of gas...or close to that, not critical. After a
thousand hours of running premix gas, the inside of the cylinders is barely
worn, the rings still real tight and in good condition and all the bearings
in the crankcase are LUBED, not dry like 100:1 oil injection the way the
greenies and government bureaucrats want them. The new owner still mixes
oil at 40:1 in the tank and at 1600 hours on a 1997 Sport Jet it purrs like
a kitten. LOTS of powerheads are blown by oil injection failures, STILL!

--
Larry