Whoopbass said:
If I remember right you have to remove the powerhead to get the lower cowl off. Removing the powerhead most likely will not be easy since they seem to get frozen onto the lower section. It takes a long pry bar and different angles to get it to go.
We've emailed back at length about that engine, and the above paragraph is what worries me. Powerheads love to freeze themselves to the midsection anyway, and the condition of his motor (remember, he bought it from a saltwater angler) doesn't look promising for getting much of anything loose. I'd be worried about how much else (bolt wise) would be damaged by attempting to remove the head. I don't know about that particular motor, but I've pulled the heads on some that are just a PITA to even get to the bolts, period.
I wonder if you can have that cover welded shut?
Doubt it. Solely due to what's under that cover. Once you pop the cover, you find a gasket, a plate, and another identical gasket. One gasket keeps water out of the guts of the motor, the other keeps water from leaking out from leaking out the cover. Because of the need for the internal gasket, I'm afraid welding it would be out of the question, as while it would certainly stop the leak on the outside, and no longer require the outer gasket, it would destroy the inner (important), gasket. Plus, I think the powerhead would still have to be removed, as I don't think one could gain access to the bottom without it. I know that there is no way I could, even with the smallest of water cooled TIG torches.
If he found the right guy to remove the bolts, that would be an possible option, as for the right person, either removing them, or worse case scenario, drilling them out, and either retapping for a larger size, or installing a helicoil wouldn't be too costly. However, I don't know anyone that fits the bill, and while I could probably finagle some of them out with heat, I am not really capable of much else. I've never had much luck at all with easy outs. Left handed drill bits are better, but again, no guarantees there. Plus, the powerhead would need to come off, which from what I've seen of his motor, doesn't sound like fun.
The last thing that worries me is that often, when the outer gasket leaks, the inner one does too. He described a few symptoms the motor had last trip, same time he noticed the water leaking, and while they could be symptoms of a few different problems, they did match an internal water leak, as well.
The way I look at it, the motor can often be worth more for parts than it is as a runner, so in the long run, he may end up ahead by buying a used, but better condition engine, and selling this one as parts (gearcase, prop, tiller, electric starter, etc, usually fetch pretty good money, as people damage gearcases all the time, and lotsa people are interested in converting to tiller, or to electric start). The scare I see here is judging by the condition of this engine, this may not be the last problem it has, or worse yet, this may not be the last simple repair turned complicated because of the corroded bolt issue.