Well, I took it to the river and dunked the rear in the water and am still getting bubbles on the inlet side so will have to find a leak. Assume it is in the engine bay since almost everything else was under water. I double checked and all the hose clamps were tight, so not sure where it could be. I tightened the hose flush cap as tight as I could by hand. Even put a new hose gasket in there since the old one was pretty hard. Will pressure test tonight. Also wondering if a vacuum test would show anything.
Real bummer for a "drop in ready to run" motor. Which brings me to another thought. The raw water pump was originally hooked up backwards (figured this out about a week ago...long before this post). I had run the motor for a while on the hose connection before mounting it in the boat to check it out (due to other poor assembly issues). I assume the water pressure forced water into the cooling system even though it was hooked up wrong. It got warm, but didn't overheat. But I didn't really run it too long and it was mainly at idle or a little above. I didn't realize it was hooked up wrong until I got the motor installed and on muffs, then it would overheat. Finally figured out the wrong plumbing, but it still is overheating...just not as badly or quickly. I have a new impeller and water pump seal on the way. I did take the pump apart at one point (before I figured out it was plumbed wrong) trying to figure out the overheat and the blades looked good, but maybe it is toast now.
Hopefully it is readily apparent and easy to fix. Hey, a guy can dream can't he???
Thanks again for the feedback.
