I just finished installing a new water pump kit in my 1994 Johnson 150 FastStrike motor and have a couple of questions. I strongly believe I messed up and installed the gasket for the water pump plate on top of the plate instead of between the bottom of the plate and the lower unit surface. I realized this after I was done and rethinking all that I did. Is this something that warrants me tearing the lower unit of and correcting? I know it isn't right, but if it will not hurt anything, I would leave as is. Also, when installing the shift rod grommet, the shift rod moved down. I rotated the prop and pulled it back up. I noticed when I did this that there seemed to be three definite stops. One all the way down, one in the middile and one when it was pulled all the way up. I left it all the way up when I reinstalled the lower unit. I then had some difficulty getting the shift rod hole and the shift linkage hole to line up (about one half of the hole too low). I then moved the shift handle in the controls back toward neutral from the forward gear position it was in. The hole then lined up and I was able to intall the pin and the retainer. I started the unit up on the driveway with muffs and had a good pee stream. I shifted to forward and the prop spun ok. I then went to neutral and it stopped as it should. I then went to reverse and it spun the other direction ok. What are the three positions for the shift rod (all the way down, reverse? Middle neutral? and all the way up forward? If it worked ok on the driveway, am I safe in assuming it will work correctly all the time? Sorry for the long post, but I need advice from you experts on these questions. Thanks in advance!!
