I got out of the marsh today, and while I was securing the boat on the trailer I noticed one of the bolts that hold the aluminum cover on the rear of the engine was missing a bolt. Upon further inspection I noticed a hair line crack. It is located on the bolt hole just behind the starboard side head. I have a few questions.
Has anyone ever seen this happen?
How hard is it to replace that cover?
Anyone have any Idea what that cover costs?
I put some JB weld on the crack just for a temp fix, and a way to tell if it gets bigger, I am wondering if it will get me through the season.

ive actually had this happen twice on 2 different motors in the exact same spot. its really easy to replace the case, only takes a couples hours. not sure on the case costs mine was under warranty but im thinking its in the 300 dollar range

Slap a cam in it while you have it apart!

I probably would not put a cam in it the motor runs great the way it is.

Happened to me as well. I had a 2 bolts come out, and another pair were loose. Part costs around $300, and comes with the gaskets needed to replace it. I was told it could be from vibration, or if you swap exhaust and don't put (enough) loc-tite on the bolts when you reinstall them they could back out. I did however opt to put the cam in there while it was apart. I didn't want to chance it, so I replaced it immediately.

So you replaced the cam for reliability? Is that something I should worry about. I am not that motor savvy, I am fairly mechanical. Do not understand why I might need to replace the cam unless I was doing an internal Mod, which I do not want to do.

The suggestion is to have a performance cam installed while the case is off, it takes 10 additional minutes to swap it out. You don't have to, but if someone is replacing the case it would be the time to do it.

The crack is probably due to movement of the case when the bolts came loose. If its stock and still under warranty, take it to your Briggs dealer for replacement. Hope they don't give you grief on the JB weld.

Its not under warranty the motor is 6 years old. Thanks for all the advise. I will replace the case ASAP

Just replace the case, you can put a cam in but you won't notice any real difference unless you do other mods along with the cam, But on the other hand if you do the other mods you will already have the cam

I just paid 500 for a sump from briggs

Damn, I thought they were a lil over 300.

After it's back together, take a sharpie and put a reference mark on the bolt and case. When you check the oil take a look at the bolts and you will know if they have loosened with the marks there.

I know it's for the vert, but check out this site


http://www.ereplacementparts.com/briggs ... 22077.html

Replace the cam. You already have heads, carb and exhaust - might as well throw the BPS perf. cam in there when you take it apart.