Mercruiser 233 engine rebuild question

[DeckApe]

I am rebuilding the engine out of my boat a Mercrusier 233. Although it only had 400 hours on it the boat had been sitting for some years when I bought it and I want some piece of mind. When I disassembled the top end I kept all of the lifters properly marked to reinstall, but they ended up getting knocked over and mixed up by the kids. I know the right thing to do is buy new ones. So after much research and personal debate I decided to pony up the cash to buy new lifters. The Sierra lifters for this motor run almost $9 each, but I can get stock Ford 351W lifters from Summit Racing for $3. My question is are the lifters for a marine engine different then those for an automotive application?

 

[Don S]

Re: Mercruiser 233 engine rebuild question

are the lifters for a marine engine different then those for an automotive application?

Nope, nothing special.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Mercruiser 233 engine rebuild question

Nope, just make sure you adjust the valve lash appropriately.

 

[DeckApe]

Re: Mercruiser 233 engine rebuild question

So I have everything back together and following the manual I've torqued the rocker arms to 20#. Now the manual says to check the valve lash (which is not adjustable) by using a tappet bleeder wrench and a feeler gage. I think this is pretty important since I had a valve job done, I have new lifters, but I'm using the same push rods. The problem is nobody has this tappet bleeder wrench locally and it's $200 to buy on-line. The measurement is .090 to .190 so there's a big range there to be within and the only way to adjust the final measurement is to buy new push rods.

I actually have two questions:

1. Can I get away with not taking this measurement or is there another way to do this without the bleeder wrench?

2. If I do buy the wrench and bleed the lifter what was the point in soaking them in oil overnight if I'm just going to bleed all the oil out...won't this damage the lifter?