I am by no means a mechanic. This is my first boat motor which I inherited from my grandfather. It's a 1958 Kiekhaefer Mercury Mark 28 (Super Hurricane). The motor has been in storage since the mid '80s and most definitely will need the water impeller replaced (that's about he extent of my outboard knowledge). I removed the two nuts under the cavitation plate and finally found the hidden nut (behind the vent screw plate on the tower) and was able to remove the lower unit which was pretty easy. Looking at the top of the lower unit, there is a bevel gear fitted on a bronze sleeve protruding out of a large bearing seated in a metal cylindrical tower all of which extends about 2 to 3 inches above the top of the lower unit. When I turn the prop shaft, the bevel gear rotates accordingly. I tried to pull out the metal tower assembly (gear and all), but it doesn't seem to want to cooperate. Is this where the impeller is hiding (inside the lower unit)? Also, what else needs to be done while I have the lower unit off? Also, the starter recoil assembly is either incomplete or beyond repair (not to mention I found a regular threaded nut was used on the reverse threaded post to mount it to the cowl). Where can I find some assembly diagrams for this stuff? The library maybe? 
