Running with cracked cavitation plate?

So I've been digging into my MR drive and have found evidence of water intrusion, severe overheating (melted impeller housing, burnt oil in the upper bearing assembly), as well as deep grooving where the oil seals ride on both the input yoke and driveshaft. I've got a slightly older MC1 lying around and it's internals are in very good shape, but it appears to have been dropped during handling and a portion of it's cavitation plate is broken off. My question is how will this affect performance of the drive? Would you run it like this?

Re: Running with cracked cavitation plate?

Don't know for certain, but it looks like it would affect the actual steering somewhat at minimum. And personally I wouldn't use it that way. I had a similar issue with a broken cavitation plate missing on one side of my OB. So I made a new plate and then took it to a welding shop for them to professionally weld it back on. Aluminum is very tricky to weld properly and you have to have a TIG setup, and I only have a MIG setup. Then I grinded and sanded the weld back into the proper shape and then I used Zinc Chromate and top primer then base coated and clear coated it. You could never tell it was ever broken. But yours is going to take a little effort in that it will have to be milled out to accommodate the trim tap. But it is doable all the same... Visit a local machine shop for some ideas and prices... Has to be cheaper than a new lower section...

Re: Running with cracked cavitation plate?

Run in in to your local prop shop they should be able to fix it.