OK let me start with a thanks to all of you who played a major roll on a few things that i was unsure of. gel seal, reed pedals, bearings and such. i started the build friday night and finished up 8:00 sunday night i am guessing about 30 hours start to finish.i was really nurvous that i had installed the block halfs when i found out about the primer for the gel seal, untill i read my clymer manual and it stated that it only had to be used if you were going to run the engine within 8 hours of the build.it stated to let it dry 24 hours if no primer was used, so i guess i am ok there do you agree?every thing went well all new rod bearings main bearings pistons gaskets and seals.I also installed new water deflectors.i have new stats and poppet valves but i have been told as long as you do not run in winter cold water that it would be ok to run the stat housing wide open.seems as it would cool the engine even better. this came from my local marina. They said they take them out on occasions. I worry about putting them in as i did this before my engine swallowed a ring and the horn blew, took them out and it stopped blowing, however my deflectors were swelled and blocking some water flow. what do you guys think. my stats are silver and have no vent hole in them and this stat issue has scared me in the up most. i also had a friend who use to mess with out boards all the time almost made a bus out of it and he as well said he took them out on crossflows all the time. so please in lighten me as to what you guys think. also remember to let me know what you think about what the clymer manual said about no primer for the gel seal.
I bet you did just fine and she gunna pur like a kitten. mine did and I didn't sleep for weeks until she started up.. funny I was saying.. there is no way this thing can run.