Got the lower unit back together. The old gear had 4 broken teeth, one tooth fell out when I took the unit apart and I found 3 more teeth when I cleaned out the lower case half, so I don’t have to worry about where the pieces are. I also paid careful attention to the shift rod adjustment when I put that back together, so hopefully that cures it from popping out of gear…
So now I just have to get the idle straightened out and we’ll be good to go! I’m tempted to drop the boat into the lake to give it another run this afternoon (I want to see if loosening the cap on the fuel tank or squeezing the bulb has any affect on how it runs) but it’s hot out and the sofa is really comfortable…