Been struggling to get my 4.3L '89 Cobra adjusted for the past several months. Fortunately I've been in & out of town, so not as much wasted boating time as there might be otherwise. Note that I've got all of Stuart's stuff printed out and the OMC Service Manual as well.<br /><br />Last year it started to require moving the cockpit shift lever further & further forward (more acceleration) to 'catch' forward gear. This spring I attempted the 5 point adjustment procedure (drive still attached) and ended up with reverse working fine, but not being able to engage forward at all. <br /><br />I had previously replaced the remote shift cable, but the transom shift cable had never been replaced so I bought a new one and put it in. Did adjustments exactly as specified in Stuarts documents and the OMC Service Manual (several times, lol/cryol). But even though I had the interior 7 9/16" dimension correct with the drive off, when I put it back on the dimension would be between 7 3/4" and 8", and I couldn't it adjusted correctly from that point. <br /><br />I split the drive and checked the shift rod height. Adjusted it to as close to 7 13/64" as I could measure (from the casing, not the shift rod cover). The bellcrank seemed to line up just a bit low with the shift rod notch when putting the drive back on the boat, so I split the drive again & remeasured the rod height. It was spot on from the right side of the casing, just a tiny bit high from the left side of the casing, so I lowered it one revolution.<br /><br />This last time I also 'extended' the transom cable at the engine end by unscrewing the threaded tubing that connects the casing guide to the shift cable by maybe 3/8", then set everything according to specs. My thinking was that if the 7 9/16" got extended again when I put the drive back on, I could thread the tubing back in the entire way and shorten to the correct measurement. <br /><br />After putting the drive back on the boat, the 7 9/16" measurement was ok. Did the Forward adjustment, everything ok. Did the Reverse adjustment, everything seemed ok (although it required letting the remote shift cable slide to the far end of the adjustment slot in the shift arm to get the ESA switch roller aligned in the center of the shift actuator v notch). Reverse engaged fine.<br /><br />But then when I go back to test, forward gear wouldn't engage, the 7 9/16" measurement was at least 7 7/8", and rescrewing the threaded tubing that connects the casing guide to the transom cable didn't really affect the 7 7/8" measurement to any extent.<br /><br />It's killing me in that it seems like I should be able to figure this out based on the fact that the transom shift cable measurement at the engine gets 'extended' past 7 9/16" either when I put the drive back on or after doing the reverse adjustment at the engine . But I'm drawing blanks.<br /><br />Some thoughts: I pulled the big shift cable tube out from behind the engine so that it ran straight through the bilge in order to make it easier to put the new transom shift cable in. Any chance that I might have rerouted it enough after the new cable was in to vary the distance between the transom mount and the engine attacment points to cause this problem? (it runs under the starter and behind the power steering module as specified, and it's not binding anywhere).<br /><br />When measuring the shift rod height, is there much variation depending on where you measure from the lower unit casing? I didn't pull off the shift rod cover, just measured from the casing on either side of the cover.<br /><br />Other than that, I'm drawing blanks. Anyone out there who can use these clues to give me an idea of what might be wrong?<br /><br />rodbolt, you talked once about making the adjustment at the transom first, then adjusting at the engine end. How do you do that given that setting the cable retainer ultimately sets the cable length, no?<br /><br />If anyone has any ideas, please pass them along. I'm at my wits end. If I have to pull the drive again (likely) and close up pictures of the belllcrank/shift lever/shif cable guide might be of help let me now & I'll post some. Would be even easier to post pics of the cables and shift lever at the engine mount if that would help as well.
