Last monday me and the wife went down to lake fork. While running to the second fishing hole I heard a noise from the engine. Shut it down and found a dime size hole in the lower unit that came from inside the lower unit. We idled back to the ramp and put her on the trailer. Called my dad and told him I was ready for a gift. He had a 98 200 rude vindicator that he replaced after #1 cylinder broke a rod bolt and trashed the block. He had replaced the lower unit with a new bomb made lower unit about 9 months before the motor blew. He gave me the motor that was in boxes. So now I will replace my lower unit with the one he gave me. My question is I bought this boat and motor used 3 years ago and I have no history of any updates that may have been done. What updates do I need to do? I have heard of some high speed jets that would back out or something like that. I also know of the upper bearing housing bolts coming loose. Would like to know if doing a link and sync would make any difference. Can rusty and/or others give me some needed advise. I do not want to have any motor problems in the future.