1990 wellcraft 186 eclipse 4.3 L mercruiser alpha 1 Leaking oil?

I'm new with boat talk & names of things.Please,bare with me.
I found oil under the motor floor area/Pump area.Hual?
It's not engine oil.I believe it's coming from the sterndrive 80 or 90 weight oil..
What seal would that be?How big of a job to fix this problem?
I also, have a prop question,
Does Michigan & quiksilver take the same hub?

Last question,
I have a 19 pitch.If I change to a 15 or 17 pitch will I have more or less speed?
From what I've been hearing,Seem's the high number pitch the faster.
I have a 4.3 Liter Mercruiser alpha 1 came with a 19 pitch prop.My friend has a 4 cylinder Mercruiser Alpha 1 with a 23 pitch on his.Our boats are both 18 ft.Would I go faster if I used a 23 pitch?
If you have a 18 ft 4 cylinder with a 23 pitch.& a 18 ft.6 cylinder with a 23 pitch who would win?My guess would be the 6 cylinder.Engines bigger,more power.
I'm changing my pitch from 1

Re: 1990 wellcraft 186 eclipse 4.3 L mercruiser alpha 1 Leaking oil?

starwriter said:

I'm new with boat talk & names of things.Please,bare with me.
I found oil under the motor floor area/Pump area.Hual?
It's not engine oil.I believe it's coming from the sterndrive 80 or 90 weight oil..
What seal would that be?How big of a job to fix this problem?
I also, have a prop question,
Does Michigan & quiksilver take the same hub?

Click to expand...

Been there, done that... Thread got closed...
Short answer is if the michigan prop is designed for a Mercruiser application, then it will be the same. :facepalm:

starwriter said:

Last question,
I have a 19 pitch.If I change to a 15 or 17 pitch will I have more or less speed?
From what I've been hearing,Seem's the high number pitch the faster.
I have a 4.3 Liter Mercruiser alpha 1 came with a 19 pitch prop.My friend has a 4 cylinder Mercruiser Alpha 1 with a 23 pitch on his.Our boats are both 18 ft.Would I go faster if I used a 23 pitch?
If you have a 18 ft 4 cylinder with a 23 pitch.& a 18 ft.6 cylinder with a 23 pitch who would win?My guess would be the 6 cylinder.Engines bigger,more power.
I'm changing my pitch from 1

Click to expand...

There's far more to engines and props than just the pitch... Your friend's boat with a 4 cylinder engine has a drive ratio of 1.98:1, you have 1.84:1...

As prop pitch increases it puts more load on the engine, so the revs at Wide Open Throttle (WOT) will be less... The engine maker specifies what the WOT revs should be... Yours is 4400-4800rpm. So you should have a prop that allows the engine to rev to that range at WOT... Changing the pitch will not effect top speed that much (a few knots at best), but if it drops the WOT revs below the recommended then it will damage the engine, and your acceleration will be crap.

The bottom line is that a given boat with given power will go X knots. If you want to go faster you need more power, budget about $1,000 per mile per hour...

Chris.......