Good afternoon,
First let me start with i am new to the club and working on the old motors. That being said i purchased a boat with 1968 Mercury 500 on it. I started cleaning the motor up and wanted to remove the carbs to make sure they were clean. I was unable to get to the carb flange bolts without lowering the ignition driver assembly. I took the four bolts out to lower the driver from the pilot and noticed the splined shaft. When i raised the driver assembly to reconnect it i thought the splines should line up perfect with the bolt hole pattern since i didn’t move the driver shaft. Well it didn’t line up i had rotate the ignition driver slightly counter clock wise to line up the splines. Once i did this the bolts holes didn’t line they were off about 3/4 of a hole off. Once the slined shaft was in the pilot i rotated the driver clockwise slightly to line up the bolt holes.

My questions is will this effect the timing in the motor?

If so how do i correct this?

Also is there a place i can find a shop manual for this motor?

Thank you for any help or advice.
Nick