I'm doing the same after I noticed the ball gears were almost shot *after* purchase :( it's now being gone thru. I did find one very important...
Did you get any suggestions on this? The fix must be something very simple hopefully and no damage has been done do to the overheat.
I recently purchased an older OMC which needs/needed some sterndrive work but hopfully it'll be a nice shape in the next few weeks. It's the 1972...