Hey bud,

Upon closer inspecting my engine, seems as compression is relativly okay (the old finger test). What i did find is a lot of aluminum shavings and a bunch of aluminum debree on the bottom of the engine case. It's a 120 or 140 HP 89 or 90 evinrude/johnson/omc V6.

In any case all this debree is centered where the bottom of the powerhead meets the lower engine case, right where the driveshaft connects to the engine. Debree is relativly thin, 1/8th of an inch. I am thinking it came from the cracked housing of some sort where the motor meets the shaft.  Any clue what that could be called? Its not the divider plate by any chance, is it?  Either way, looks like the powerhead has to come out to even determine the extend of damage.  Stress fracturesd aluminum. Go figure. Why the hell couldn't they cast it from iron?

Sorry Andy, but I suck when it comes to naming parts. I usually call it the thingy amaboober, whatamacallit, the thingy, etc.

Metal savings aren't a good sign. Is the lower unit cracked or the powerhead?

They don't cast them from iron because they'd rust & they be more that twice as heavy. Plus casted iron would crack more than aluminum.

If you can find a model number on the motor & a model year then you could buy a repair manual to help identify the parts.

I'm going on a State Police raid next Wednesday (26th). I should be out of work early that day so if you're going to be home I could come by to take a look at it but I probably won't be much help.

The powerhead is okay. So is the lower unit. It's like a divider plate that goes between the powerhead and the drive. If you yank the whole block, and look at the motor from the top, you will see two openings. One is for the driveshaft, one is for the exhaust manifold...  Look at the attached picture, see the U shaped wall directly in the middle thats about 1/2 high? The driveshaft goes into one hole, and exhaust goest into the front port i believe or the other way around.  This is not the exact engine i have, but mine should be set up pretty similar with a plate thats on the engine that would directly align with that U and seperate shaft from the exhaust.  At least thats what I'm guessing took a sh*t and now there is debree in the area somewhere...

picture of the block where i think damage has been done