Pulled my drive off yesterday, and behold, two exhaust shutters are wedged in the bell housing. So today I got a set for both sides, rolled up my sleeves and got to it.

Anyways, I took apart the first side and the were gone. I thought I found where they came from. Put in new ones on that side and took apart the other side. Guess what? they were gone too. Only I didn't find those. So either they were taken out before I bought the boat, or they are still in there somewhere.

I took my Ridgid See Snake and looked up the exhaust bellows and didn't see them, nor did I see them when I looked down the exhaust piping.

Those are my only options as to where they could be, correct?

Any chance I hurt the motor in some way by those blocking the exhaust like they were?

Mine came loose last summer on a Volvo 5.0 Gi. At first, they caused intermittent power loss, and later, became wedged somewhere that they caused a significant power loss. I didn't remove them, but the mechanic at the dealership said he knocked them loose with a long breaker bar.

I doubt running with them out of place would cause engine damage, especially if they weren't obstructing exhaust flow enough to obviously reduce power. Volvo doesn't even sell replacement parts for them. They discontinued the part a number of years ago according to my parts guy.

Since they are rubber, they kinda melt before they fall out. I am surprised that you actually found the two. And if your motor was able to reach it's proper WOT RPM you did not damage anything.

One other place to look, since you have a cool plumbers tool, is the exhaust cavity in the drive all the way down to the prop. Pull the prop and look at the exhaust holes there too, just to be sure.