Ok guys, now that the season is pretty much over here in Mississippi, im using the time to work on a motor I picked up. I plan to cut this 8hp go devil long tail down to size for timber use. What will i need to do with the cav plate, and the skeg and all once i trim the shaft down. Also how should i do these bushings up?

Put everything back the same. Make sure to measure the cavitation plate angle before you cut it off. I know it can be a pain in the woods with the longer shaft but I would leave it long cause it sure is nice to have some reach when the ass end is a foot and a half out the water stuck on a log. Just my $0.02

Its gunna have a steep angle on a 16 in transom.... You gunna cut it down?

Its at 13 inches now not sure how much shaft to take off to get it to run propper.

A 72" shaft on a 16" transom has a rise over run of 4.5", On a 13" transom a 58.5" shaft would have the same angle.

On another note, Go-devil crawfish models have a 58" shaft on a 16" transom so a 13" could have a 47.125 shaft at the same angle, If yours is a 72 inch shaft you will need to reposition the the drive tube at a steeper angle with a steeper u-joint to have a more horizontal engine and a better trim range. Dont get it too short/steep or you will start breaking u-joints and have a bad in the water angle.

So how short should I go woodie to get to 12 or 13 inch transom

What is your shafts current length?

Its 72inchs now and the transome is 15 inches tall, im just lookin to see how much i can take off for gettin around in the timber.