Building A looper Beast

[R Austin]

This thread will be documenting a QUINCY LOOPER “BEAST” reproduction project. It will actually be a hybrid because of changes to the induction side of the engine and ignition system. After looking at a billet of aluminum that had been purchased to make a new 60/66 inch looper block, I realized that it was big enough to build the a SUPER BEAST HYBRID.

The 15’ Jones really could stand a larger motor and heck, the motor is to short, and does not come to the top of the fairing. So, with that being justified, over the past year and a half I spent hours doing general layout work to confirm that it was something that could really be accomplished. The project has now been committed to and more will follow.

[R Austin]

This build of a 100 Cubic Inch Looper will be the 4th engine I have spent time designing and the 3rd one that I have built. Each time I have gone thru this exercise, I run into the same problem.
The first engine was built in the spring of 1970 as an attempt to improve reliability and performance. I sat down with a 4 carb Konig C motor and copied its design, incorporating it into a 6 cylinder, again around a Merc crank,this one from the 850 6 cylinder. This crank was still a 2.125 inch stroke. This gave me more room between cylinders for transfers and remain a 60 cubic in engine. Rotary valves were also built into the crank and the reed blocks were replaced with steel bodies with hardened centers for roller bearings. That's when I learned why some hardened steel parts, like connecting rods, are copper plated. Carbon will not go thru the copper.
The crank was suspended from the top double row thrust bearing that was locked into the top cap and snap ring grove cut into crank, keeping the clearance controlled between the discs and bodies. The engine was assembled with .010 feelers thru the carb inlet holes on each side of the valve body, then the case was tightened down. Rotary timing also came from the Konig.
All patterns for casing and the machine work was done by my father and myself. I spent quite a few evenings after work at a small aluminum foundry as free help learning the hows and whys of the casing processes.
The engine was completed the spring of 1970 and first ran on Mothers Day at Lake Lansing. Its a strange feeling when you add the electricity and the fuel to make it come alive for the first time. Could just be a lot of wasted work and a dud. However it ran. Not the strongest on the first run, but acceptable and we had something left to fine tune.

It was run a number of times that summer with significant improvements in performance. The last run, resulted in a piston failure and destroyed the engine. Pulling the wrist pin from the bottom of the pin tower. The spinning rod cut the block in two and caught a section of the block strong enough to bend the rod 90 degrees, split the rod crank roller bearings length ways and thankfully sheared the pinion gear at the drive shaft allowing the boat to coast to a stop. I had used the Levendusky pistons, however the wrist pin in the 850 was larger in diameter and thinned the tower to much.

[R Austin]

That last run felt every bit as strong as the 6 looper that I had previously ran in 1967.

Now, 42 years wiser, I will foolishly attempt another, why, because I can.

[Mark75H]

From Mr Austin:


Because I Am falling behind on keeping this thread active I will skip the progression of the other generations of motors that got me to this point.

I will say that, each time I have made an attempt, the piston is always the road block. A set of pistons for a 6 cylinder is almost as labor intensive as the block itself. And the reality is that the piston is the most critical part. Each time I am unable to find a piston of sound manufacture that will work or be modified for the design. I will insert a model of a 50ci 6 Cylinder Internal Rotary valve concept that I could not find a piston for.

For this engine, using the “Direct Charge” piston, which I think was a marketing driven joke to compete with OMC’s Looper, provides enough material, to just remove the heat soaking dam and have a sound flat top piston for a looper. With that problem 90% resolved I have proceeded with the design. The balance of 10% will be to obtain a set of pistons without the boost port hole and top notch. Contacted Wiseco and they said they could provide that piston. When asked about without ring grooves, communications ended. I need to make a trip to Ohio.

I will attach pics of the piston and resulting layout drawing. Models that confirm the build will follow. I will then move to the drawings of the patterns required for casting of new parts. The molds have been made and the castings produced. All that is need now is machining time.

[Mark75H]

Update:


The following will be the line drawings and the models of the final version of the cylinder block. The is being machined out of 2024T4 aluminum billet. The down side to the billet is that is not friendly for welding should a mistake be made machining and it is just tougher to machine. I wish that I just made a pattern and cast. One single core box for the cylinder with roughed in ports would have made machining much easier. Will make molds for that next winter. For now, machine the billet.

700

[Mark75H]

More
I did not realized that the file name of the attachments would not show up on the site, so I will explain each pic in the text as I move forward.
The last post is as follows:
Pics 1&2: Mid case and block porting passages as cores. Cores being the removed material.
Pic 3: Same coring including water pockets and passages.
Remaining pics are 3D line drawings and photo rendered pics of the block.

So what is the real status of the block? The block has been roughed in, which was just a weekends work. I quickly realized that this is foolish without the rest of the required parts. The mid case, the front case and the cylinder heads. So I stopped work on the block to proceed to build patterns for the balance of the required parts.

As chance would have it, I came across an add on E-Bay for some T2X parts. I acquired a block with a front cover and the 7 main bearing crank. That cut a good year off the making of patterns and modifying a standard crank and bearing bodies to achieve a 7 main crank.

That left the mid case and the cylinder head patterns to make. A project that could be managed in a couple of months.

I will include in this segment pics of the roughed block and all the dimensioned drawings for finish machining the block.

Pics: 1 Exhaust Positions, 2 Head bolt locations, 3 Lower Transfer port position,
4 Top Transfer port position, 5 Transfer runner positions, 6 Porting angles, 7 Water jacket positions, 8,9,10 Block rough machining.

I will try to honor Ron's request for more pics. The drawings and pics for producing patterns is many. The mid case is a very involved pattern requiring a cope, drag and 2 cheeks. Easier understood by saying the mold has to pull apart in 4 directions.

[R Austin]

The head is probably the easiest part to make patterns for and to machine, of the parts that I need to make. After much contemplation on the water jacket design, I took an old Quincy head that looked like it had been used for shot gun testing and split it. For those that do not understand, I will take a pic of the combustion chamber side. I am aware that alcohol runs cooler than gas, but how little water was required was a guess. The Quincy head was quite revealing. Not only was there not much volume but the core pattern was a single sided mold with sand pored over it and screed-ed off. Trying to determine the combustion chamber shape and position was another challenge.

Having run across a Quote letter by O.F. to a customer, I gleaned good information. His statement was that a "B" motor was running a 13cc chamber at 135 thousands timing. That was a good enough number for me to run with. My timing will very due to the larger chamber volume, design and flame front time which may be compensated with dual plug ignition. With 13cc for 10ci and knowing port positions of the "B" engine, let me compare total cylinder volume ratio and actual port closing ratios to determine a chamber size of 21cc's. That chamber calculates to a 13.9:1 compression ratio for the total cylinder volume and a 8.8:1 ratio using port closing time. Those 2 numbers match that of the "B" motor calculations.
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[R Austin]

With all that funny information I design a 3 piece head, as was the looper beast. Which is the most practical for molding and coring purposes. I will not use a head gasket, but a flanged sleeve with silicon o-rings. I do find it interesting that the Konig did not use anything but interference and per-matex for sealing. Which is what I did on the 6 rotary valve motor at the beginning of this piece. Worked fine. Mainly because it was a open wet sleeve and the head was also open. This allowed the bolts which were place in notches a the sleeve base to actually clamp the cylinder sleeve and the block perimeter by deforming the head to comply.

Now a trailer ball of 1 8/7" size would make a good plug to create the chamber, except that they have a flat on the top. That's acceptable if I can find a ball with the right size flat. While walking thru the Wal Mart auto department a trailer ball in their rack caught my eye. It was a miss-machined ball that had been cut down to far on the blank making the base thin and you guessed it the flat on the top small. The size of a spark plug hole. I bought it.
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[R Austin]

Thanks to modern age computer and printing systems the need to allow for aluminum shrinkage is some what easier. Aluminum shrinks at a rate of 1/64 of an inch per inch in all directions. Therefore all dimensions to create a pattern must be raised to include that rate. You will see wood pattern parts with paper glued to their faces. These paper patterns have been printed from the cad drawing full size to reflect a 1:1.0156 ratio at printing. All pattern prints were created in this manner to cover shrinkage.

Bondo is a great medium for fast pattern development as you see in many of the pattern making photos. Parts used a reverse pattern such as the trailer ball are painted with lite vegetable oil and plunged into the bondo to create the pocket. Removal as soon as the bondo takes a rubbery set, allows a few minutes window of time to trim excess material. It also allows easy sanding and shaping.

The trailer ball was bored and an alignment pin was added to center and square it in the head. Because of the added material for machining the head surface and changing chamber size, the ball went into the wood pattern beyond the spring point of the ball which would create a back draft condition. To cure that problem I turned a band that had a ID of the 1 7/8 ball and turned the OD to form a chamfer at the surface and zero at the ball mid point. The ring had a flange that seated on the wood and continued to displace the Bondo to finish the chamber. The final casting has enough material to allow chamber sizes for both alcohol and gas.
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[R Austin]

My water core size was near double that of the Quincy. It is a split mold that is filled by air pressurizing the sand and blowing it into the mold. I Had 12 heads cast and made near 40 cores before getting my oven temp, mold air venting, time in mold and hand mold rotation correct to insure internal coverage right before I had enough cores for 12 pieces. That's correct, rotating a 450 degree mold by hand. The Quincy single side mold sure was easier to fill did not need rotation. Having 2 sides to the mold near doubled the water volume and still left adequate material around the chamber and the bolt bosses. I hope! That will really be a time prov-en test.49955499564995749958

[R Austin]

On the first trial run of heads, the core had 4 posts that met the plug side of the head to insure positioning of the core and would be welded shut with a plug. They are eliminated in the final head allowing the heads and all other cast parts to go straight to heat treat to bring them to T6 state. The following pics are of a head that I sacrificed to ensure core position and wall thickness around the combustion chamber.

[R Austin]

On another head some combustion chamber machining to test the cutting tool. I will now build holding fixtures for the complete machining of another sacrificial head, after complete machining to drawings and a 21CC chamber. The next series will be drawing and pattern development of the mid case casting pattern.499754997649977

[R Austin]

On another head some combustion chamber machining to test the cutting tool. I will now build holding fixtures for the complete machining of another sacrificial head, after complete machining to drawings and a 21CC chamber. The next series will be drawing and pattern development of the mid case casting pattern.499754997649977


Attached are more pics of the roughing in of the cylinder heads. 1 end and 1 mid head.

Also I have attached the drawings produced for making the mid case half. After the design of the part, the sand mold form needed to be created. This actually is harder than a cylinder block for the looper. I spent many hours creating this mold in the computer. Trying to keep my head around what I was looking at and how to get it to pull apart in the right places. Looks like a simple drawing, but not so.50087500885008950090500915009250093500945009550 096

[Schiada]

Just to cool!!!:d

[Fastjeff57]

Now we have TWO fascinating projects to look forward to on a daily basis! Life is good.

But why go to all this work of building a looper while retaining the restrictive, stock Merc reed valve system? It appears that Tim's project and this one could be combined for a truly killer motor!

Jeff

[Gene East]

Because the Looper design works even with the "restrictive" reed valve and because Dick Austin is a genius who enjoys doing things a little differently.

I have nothing against Tim and his project. I would like to see the 2 motors face off on the water.

My money would be on Dick!! Sorry Tim, hope you understand.

[BJuby]

If I had the expertise, know-how, tools, and time to do this, I would make the Looper exactly as it was put together, without a single improvement as well.

[Fastjeff57]

..." I would like to see the 2 motors face off on the water.
"

Yeah! Love to see/ hear that happen.

Jeff

[F-12]

I'll be there............

[Aeroliner]

From past 4 cylinder four carb engines that both Tim and Doug Kay built I beleive that there is no way that a cross flow of equel cubic inches can match a the looper relative to pumping efficiency and HP per cubic inch. You can expect the crossflow to do about 2HP per cubic inch while the looper will approach 4 HP per cubic inch. Having a number of Quincy deflectors and loopers sitting here and having run some of them it might be fun to go further. One day after restoration we will run a Quincy D looper on gas along side our 4 carb 44 and see how the two stack up. Could also run a Quincy 40 with pads and the rest.

Also just obtained a 40 Quincy looper block and I am looking for pistons, elbows and horns to put this engine back together.

Alan

[Tim Kurcz]

Because the Looper design works even with the "restrictive" reed valve and because Dick Austin is a genius who enjoys doing things a little differently.

I have nothing against Tim and his project. I would like to see the 2 motors face off on the water.

My money would be on Dick!! Sorry Tim, hope you understand.

Gene is correct; no offense taken. While the 666 is a dramatic improvement over the Merc reed cage system, it's still a deflector, no match for a looper on gas or alky.

Alan suggests 2 HP/Cu In for the defector on gasoline, and 4 HP/Cu In for the loop on Methanol. Considering my best OMC 49.9 Cu In loopers make 105-108 at the crank, the 666 will be more like 1.5 - 1.75, but throw in alky and you get 20% more.....

A face off will happen next year at Hillsdale for sure. Any way you look at it, we'll have fun making Merc 6 music on the race course. The smiles-per-hour will be off the scale.

On the subject; Just returned from Hillsdale where Dick ran one of his hydros with a Quincy F loop. The course emptied, and the entire pit soaked in the sight, sound, and smell of that big cabover. Sweeeet!

More soon!

Tim

[Gene East]

Tim,

I had a "444" at my house for about 3 weeks earlier this year. You certainly do not need to take a back seat to anyone regarding the quality of your craftsmanship.

No, I did not peek inside the motor while it was in my possession.

Your description of the response to Dick running at Hillsdale is typical. Nothing sounds sweeter than a six looper singing an aria! And yes it smells good too!

[Aeroliner]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAuPj6BKwY4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To0uISTwpYA&feature=related

This is a video of our 75-H during it's first outing. Mercury six cylinder engines on pipes sound so sweet. Added a second video link. The other white boat is our 444 fut hade fuel issues with the tank.
Alan

[Gene East]

Sounded pretty, but looked like you need a longer straightaway to catch those OMC's

[Aeroliner]

Hi Gene,
If you will notice the engine wasn't run at max power. During this heat if I remember correctly we were the only legal boat so there wasn't any need to push it. We did find we need a wider bottom then the Ropp has. 37 inches is a little narrow with all the weight up high. This also was the first outing for the rig and the engine still needed to get some time on it. When we get all the six cylinders together it will be fun.

Alan

[F-12]

Nice............but he was stroking it a bit. there is so much more there than these videos show. He just had a little mercy on the OMC's. Oh and by the way.........it looks like you need Mr. East to rope it. One pull Gene never misses. Looking good...............and sounding good.

[Gene East]

Charley,

The secret to cranking a 6 banger is to slowly feel a piston come to TDC, rewrap the slack in your rope and snap it sharply.

If the timing is right, it will start first pull every time.

[Tim Kurcz]

Tim,

I had a "444" at my house for about 3 weeks earlier this year. You certainly do not need to take a back seat to anyone regarding the quality of your craftsmanship.

No, I did not peek inside the motor while it was in my possession.

Your description of the response to Dick running at Hillsdale is typical. Nothing sounds sweeter than a six looper singing an aria! And yes it smells good too!

Hi Gene,

Then you must have had Roger Hinsdale's 444.2 (serial #2). You get a lot of credit for not peaking. Not to worry, the images posted on the 666 thread will answer your questions.

Agreed wholeheartedly with the "song" of Dick's Quincy F loop. Haven't heard one since the mid-70's. The only thing better is more them. Can't wait for more - it was a real treat. Reports from the Hillsdale pits (blown out today) is they all look forward to the special event next year.........

Tim

[Gene East]

Wouldn't it be great to see/hear a full field of six bangers singing together? Dick has 4 of them ready to run right now!

You are correct, I picked up Roger's engine from Larry McAfee and brought it to Depue.

[BJuby]

Wouldn't it be great to see/hear a full field of six bangers singing together? Dick has 4 of them ready to run right now!

You are correct, I picked up Roger's engine from Larry McAfee and brought it to Depue.

Just purchased a brand new block for my 6 and will have it freshly ported and use my old block as a donor motor. Then, finally, it will run right. It's a shame you guys are so far away. Would love to participate in any kind of 6 cylinder symphony!

[R Austin]

The following will be pics of the construction of the pattern for casting the Mid Case. As previously mentioned, over sized paper patterns were glued to the wood for cutting. The 3rd dimension being height, was done by selecting the proper split point for drafting purposes, laminating wood and plane to the correct thickness, including shrinkage. Lots of small parts for making boxes from bondo to make many parts and the use of bondo for repeating cavities from a single model. The pics are sequenced as the construction proceeded.

[R Austin]

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[Aeroliner]

Exceptional work! Thanks for posting the design and building of the engine. All of us can learn a lot about what it takes to design and build an engine. This has to be a labor of love.
Alan

[Tim Kurcz]

Exceptional work! Thanks for posting the design and building of the engine. All of us can learn a lot about what it takes to design and build an engine. This has to be a labor of love.
Alan

Second the motion with an enhancement: This is a labor of passion!

Tim

[Gene East]

He does do good work doesn't he??

[baldad45]

Simply amazing, just to draft this design , then to pattern it , cast it , and finally machine and assemble it . Details ,details, my hats off to you ! The patience ,skills ,and knowledge to undertake this project without a team of experts is very humbleing . I wait in antisipation to see and hear the finished product . Watching this and the 666 project with great interest ! Glen

[Schiada]

QUOTE=baldad45;124563]Simply amazing, just to draft this design , then to pattern it , cast it , and finally machine and assemble it . Details ,details, my hats off to you ! The patience ,skills ,and knowledge to undertake this project without a team of experts is very humbleing . I wait in antisipation to see and hear the finished product . Watching this and the 666 project with great interest ! Glen[/QUOTE]

What HE said!!!!

[R Austin]

More pics of the mid case pattern development. It is amazing how fast the pattern is built thru pics. Took a lot longer in real time.

[BJuby]

One word. WOW

[R Austin]

The previous post completed the to side cheeks of the mold. The following sequence completes the crankshaft side (top) of the mold. This set will give you a good series using Bondo and the importance of removing the excess as soon as it starts its hardening process. You will notice the small half rounds at each side of the impession. These released the Bondo from under the clamping bar to assure that the bar would touch the surface. Hard to believe but the stuff does not like to be displaced.5023150232502335023450235502365023750238 5023950240

[R Austin]

The following group of pics will complete the pattern for the mid case casting. The first pic is the crank side pattern turned over exposing the side with cheek patterns and the block side stack up laid in position for gluing to the block side board. Pic #6 is the block side board, which is removable to allow the release of the cheek sand parts, turned over, exposing the underside with the boards from pic #1 glued in position. The last 4 pics are the mold closed up and looking into the sides that produce the cheeks for the sides of the casting. The circle impressions and half circle mounds in the face and on parts of the patterns are alignment points for the sand parts to set in the correct position when assembled for the pour. The under side of the block side pattern has split circles because the separator board is missing when the sand is set. The moving of the side cheek sand together brings the half circles full for alignment. That separator board was the hard part to the development of this pattern. Each time I had to remind myself that the part of the pattern between the top and bottom was 3/4" to wide and the cross section of the part would be OK in critical areas when in the cast position.50254502555025650257502585025950260502615 026250263

[R Austin]

For those of you that do not visit the Quincy thread, here is a phone video clip form 9/7 when I ran my 60 inch Looper at Hillsdale Mi. Just think what a 100 inch will do on the 15' Jones cabover.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNPxRvdAusA

[Tim Kurcz]

Thanks again for traveling to Hillsdale and providing such a wonderful, nostalgic show. That shriek still sends chills up my spine.
Please keep posting images as your project progresses. Your 100 CID Beast will likely need a stiffer wheel.......

Tim

[R Austin]

That completes the major castings for the project. I had to make a lower starter bracket for the TIIX front cover also. Three other castings have been identified that will be required and those are for the coil holders on the heads, a new top main bearing cap and an adapter for the power head to tower housing. The Jones tower housing is so short that the unit is set bad to clear the water pump housing. This moves the lower carb back over the swivel pin and because Merc did not offset the reed assemblies upward the bottom carb will not clear. So the need for an adapter to raise the powerhead to clear. Those patterns have been completed. So another trip to the foundry is required. The following pics are of the castings from the patterns that have been viewed so far. Enough parts to do 2 engines with exception of the billet block. The next block will be cast. The drawings have been completed for the cylinder core box . I will work on the block patterns this Fall? Well maybe winter.
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[R Austin]

Over the last couple of weeks I have bee able to complete 2 heads. The end head, which serves as both top and bottom heads and the middle head. I made new cutter bits for my fly cutter to be able to cut 71/4" wide parts which will take care of all surfaces of the engine. This pair of heads are just test parts to again check all clearances and section thicknesses. The test heads were not heat treated and the finish reflects that. I have started cutting the mid case which is heat treated and what a difference in the cutting and finish. Having access to a laser is a great help. As you can see in the pic, I made a fixture for holding the heads for drilling and tapping the spark plug holes. It took less time to design, make laser cut files and weld together, than too readjust the mill head for the plug angle.50409504105041150412504135041450415504165041 750418

[R Austin]

The heads as finished met the goal of a 21CC combustion chamber. Three fixtures were required for the heads. One to locate the chambers for positioning the two 1/4" pilots holes for cutting chambers and drilling head bolts. One to turn the head in the lathe, centering on the pilot hole, to radius the edge of the combustion chamber and the one to cut the plug holes.50420

[Gene East]

Perhaps you should give the foundry a plug. Those are some beautiful castings!

[BJuby]

Reason for 2 plugs per cylinder? Also what ignition system will drive that setup? Unless I am missing something here that's 12 spark plugs.

[R Austin]

Two plugs for redundancy. Less loss of power with a fouled plug than a dead cylinder. That is why piston aircraft engines have dual plugs. The Mercury ADI system will fire 2 plugs. Add an extra coil, wired in series with the standard coil. The primary circuit will charge both coils. That is all any dual output coil is, a single primary winding with two secondary windings. I have seen on the net "Hi Performance" outboards with dual plugs and the coils wired parallel. That will only fire one plug, the one with the least resistance to fire or the least resistance thru the primary winding. I spent a week in the early 80's at Merc outboard school, the system was new at the time. They had a test board set up, flywheel driven by electric motor, the first thing a friend of mine and I did was, at break when there was no one around, was to rewire and test the system with dual coils. Tested both wired in series and parallel. Only wired in series worked!

[Schiada]

Land and Sea dule plug heads from the 80's for the V6. Just used 2 set of 6 coils. Ign worked fine,the heads would crack!
Power gain? Never had the fire go out,so the Ign worked.

[BJuby]

Thanks for the info. Very interesting.

[Looperfan]

504375043650435 Here is a few more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbtyxrymFVo&feature=colike

[R Austin]

Cracking between plugs has been a fear since I decided to go with dual plugs. They are only 10mm thread but still not much metal between them and a likely hot spot. Still looking at a way to cross drill between the plus for some water flow. not even practical for a core redesign, just not enough room. We will see!

[Tim Kurcz]

Cracking between plugs has been a fear since I decided to go with dual plugs. They are only 10mm thread but still not much metal between them and a likely hot spot. Still looking at a way to cross drill between the plus for some water flow. not even practical for a core redesign, just not enough room. We will see!

Have you given consideration to an external water jacket? Though cross drilling will introduce water between the plugs it will also weaken the head.

The attached image is a 4-plug head for my "Piranha" 45SS Mod. Note the water bleed centrally located between the plugs. You might be able to add this feature to your heads.

Tim

[R Austin]

I should not have said cross drill, but drill bleed holes left and right into the water passage and allow them to vent out between the plugs. Just 1/16 or 3/32 bleed holes to pull some heat, will not take much and the angle will not put the hole in an area to weaken the head. I will drill one of the test heads before I split them and see how it looks.50499

[R Austin]

The following pics are of the continued machining of the mid case. Being part number one, most of the work is just roughing in the casting to remove warppage and square it up. The measurements of the casting to print to make sure the casting conforms to the print for shrinkage and proper location of cylinder centers and crank and rod throw depths. Once determined more roughing was required to properly position. It actually was about .150 removal from both faces, so back to a roughing cutter and then a finishing cut again. Plenty of material to remove. One thing I do is over kill on machined surfaces. I believe that it is easier to remove material than to start over.5050350504505055050650507505085050950510

[Tim Kurcz]

I should not have said cross drill, but drill bleed holes left and right into the water passage and allow them to vent out between the plugs. Just 1/16 or 3/32 bleed holes to pull some heat, will not take much and the angle will not put the hole in an area to weaken the head. I will drill one of the test heads before I split them and see how it looks.50499

Looks like you should have room for a 3/32" port which should be plenty if the plugs are relatively cool. Having blown two gaskets in the turbo in short succession begs the question: What do you plan for sealing the head to block interface?

Tim

[Powerabout]

typical of an engine that comes apart every day, oring and copper?

[R Austin]

This engine is not one that will be disassembled each run. Obviously, no class for this engine, just something to have a quick ride with. The only gaskets will be for the exhaust stacks. The heads will be o-rings, all other joints metal to metal with permatex. Have made some progress on the mid case. The following pics are of the front cover and the mid case matched up with the original Mercury dowel pin locations. Bolt holes laid out, drilled and tapped for now in the mid case. When mated to the block, the inner bolts along side the mains, will be through drilled and be cross bolted into the block face. There appears to be a lot of metal to remove for the crank bore, however that is not the case. The TII X front cover will have saddle blocks installed and the crank bore will be the same as the 60-66 block (3.283) and I will use the main blocks from the 60-66 engines. This will keep more material through the web between the main bearing block and the cylinder block. This was an area that was a problem on the Quincy engine.50640506415064250643506445064550646

[Tim Kurcz]

Freakin awesome!

Carb centerlines appear very tighly spaced. What carbs stack that close?

Tim

[byrdsperformance@tds.net]

Great looking work, what type o-ring material will you use ?

Mike

[Schiada]

The "80,s" 4 cylinder carbs mite work?

[R Austin]

The cover is the TII X and I intend to use the carb from that unit which is a Tillitson float carb. Uck! I received a set with the cover, so we will try them first. They were fitted with a shallow float bowl and modified float. I will convert to Alky and make adjustable by rotating the bowl 180 degrees and fitting with adjustable high speed jet. Why rotate, the starter is in the way to make adjustments, however the bigger issue would be the float sitting on the needle and not letting the float drop to let in fuel. If they are a problem, I will use Tillitson diaphragm units. The o-ring for head gasket will be the orange silicon in the 60 durometer range for oils alky, and high temp. Pics are of the final, I think, patterns required for the project. They are the coil holders that bolt to the sides of the heads, the new top main cap required because of the smaller crank bearing bore size mentioned before and to tighten up the fit of the trigger. The power head to tower adapter required because of the lower carb to swivel pin interference. The Jones tower has the bracket bosses on the outer sides of the housing, opposite of the Mark 75H system. The patterns went to the foundry today so I should have those parts in a couple of weeks.50656506575065850659506605066150662506635066 4

[R Austin]

Had some time the last 2 weeks to get deeper into the machining of the mid case. Spent much of the time checking dimensions and alignment for proper material removal. centered up good could make some miner changes to mold if I was to cast another, but nothing to impact this project so we will press on. More pics of the machining. Lots metal removal. What you call making chips?50862508635086450865508665086750868508695087 0

[Tim Kurcz]

Concern about converting carbs to adjustable needles - not recommended! With one barrel per cylinder it will be impossible to tune properly unless you peak each with a test wheel - nearly impossible to accomplish without a sophisticated test tank or better yet a dyno. Once tuned, all is OK until one vibrates free. This could mean a soggy cylinder, or worse, one smoked piston. Years ago I converted to fixed jets beause of scenario #2....

Otherwise, your machine work is coming along nicely, a sign of serious progress. Anytime a one-off is built, alot of chips are generated to be sure! Keep up your good work, this truly is a beast. A big, beautiful beast!

Tim

[Fastjeff57]

Like many of us "old geezers" I began my Merc experiences with adjustable jet motors, and they made good sense on a two cylinder Hurricane. When I went to a KG-9 it made a bit less sense, holding on at full throttle and dialing in that second carb. But going to three or (gasp!) six carbs means it's time for fixed jets. And (as stated above) if an adjustment vibrates away from where it was set, disaster could result.

Agreed?

Jeff

[Gene East]

There's always the option of a second man in the boat adjusting the carbs while someone steers the boat. Not a viable option!

When we were both 17 years old, Bill Seebold Jr. suggested that I "drive" his D-Hydro while he set the carbs.

Bill Sr. nixed that idea in a big hurry!!!

Probably saved 2 young bucks from getting wet, plus saved a very good rig from getting busted up.

RE: Chips

Dick you could probably get someone to clean your shop for free. Just let him keep the chips he sweeps up!

Have to agree with Tim. This is a thing of beauty you are creating here

[R Austin]

To all, thanks for the compliments.
I have not found alcohol carbs that difficult to dial in as long as the floats hold. Dealing with alcohol is no where near as sensitive as gas. The ratio of gas to air being 14:1 verses alcohol at 7:1 make the adjustments less difficult. I set rich and use plug color for adjusting. If the carbs are all made the same they all set the same. Gene send me your e mail address to rkaustin@frontier.com. Starting on the heads. Now need to weld the front cover for the new reeds and re machine mateing surface for line boring.5087550876508775087850879508805088150882508 8350884

[BJuby]

If this were mine, I'd use a standard crank case cover. I wouldn't need the 6 carb setup, I'd want it as close to the original Loopers as possible. Amazing machine work!

[Tim Kurcz]

Fabulous work Dick - it looks positively fearsome!

You might consider splayed 1-bbl carbs similar to the 666 if vertical space is an issue. Better yet, you might consider six two-barrels which would look freaking awesome. Those cylinders are big, so they might even work! I will post mounting centers from my Mod-50 for OMC carbs. You shold look at Merc V6 two-bbls as well. A 12-pack = Woof!

Tim

[Tim Kurcz]

Hey Dick,

The OMC 2-bbls are installed on 4.000" centers top to bottom. Not sure about the Merc's, but have a request out to a friend with a 120 motor.

What is your cyl-to-cyl centerline distance? Have you given any thought about the 12-pack?

Tim

PS Will gladly send a carb or two for fitting purposes (not sure if I have six).

[Tim Kurcz]

Hey Dick,

Jim Robb measured 4-1/2" carb centers on his 2.5l 120 motor, with space to burn. If your bore centers are 4.00 or more, 2-bbls are possible! For reference, the OMC Mod-50 uses three 2-bbls with 1.000" venturis. Here's what the front half of your "Beast" might look like!

Tim

[R Austin]

Not had much time for replys but will try to catch up. Nice photo work on the 12 pac look. Wish the real thing was that easy. The carb centers are only 3.406", not leaving much choice for options. That is why the TIIX carbs have cut bowls. The only option will be to use diaphragm carbs if the conversion becomes a problem. Work continues, just not had time to upload pics. Maybe can do that tomorrow. Heads are almost complete. Just need to finish cut chambers and do plugs. Had to make a riser for setting up the front for line boring.

Picked up the last of the castings and machined the coil holders, they are ready to mount on the heads when they are completed. Will try to weld up the front cover tomorrow for modifications required for new style reed cages.

[R Austin]

The following pics are more head work. The first two are a fixture I made to align the combustion chamber pockets for positioning the head referenced to the chambers. The two discs are spring loaded with spring washers from the Mercury rewind starter. With the head placed over the fixture, they are compressed into the chamber centering it. The bolt holes are relieved and the four edge trim areas are relieved for milling and drilling. The fixture has a rail on the bottom that aligns it to the X axis of the mill table.. Then center with a center finder to the center of the fixture. The head is symmetrical form the center and with the digital read out and a print it goes quickly and is repeatable for each head. The third pic shows the disc mark in the bluing ( red in this case) left by the disc as it was compressed into the chamber. The balance of pics are just milling and drilling.51250512515125251253512545125551256512575 125851259

[R Austin]

While I am at it I will just dump the rest of the info to date. Which will create a lag in new data because I will have to accomplish more work to add.
Following pics are of the recently cast coil holders that attach the coils to the side of the heads. Not any place else to attach with the exhaust coming from each side of the block and the front being consumed by the starter and the switch boxes. Two per head, one on each side.

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[R Austin]

While being almost ready to line bore the case on my old 1910 converted lathe, I needed to build a riser for the carriage. It has a table now for line boring the Merc 60 and 66 inch blocks. Not wanting to disturb that set-up it was back to the computer and laser to cut out an interlocked puzzle of plates to weld up a riser. After welding I had it blanched both side to the right thickness and paralleled. The bolt and dowel pin holes were all pre-cut by the laser. The laser can hold with in a couple thou in size. Holes were all undersized to allow for weld distortion and plunging for clean up with an end mill to recenter as a drill would bend and try to follow an off center hole. Drilled, taped and checked with part. Ready for line boring.
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[R Austin]

And for those of you that think this should just be a copy of the Quincy Looper with the standard three carb front and the third ported block, I add the following pics. This will of course mean that I have to pattern the block for casting this winter as I will not cut another from billet. It will also require moving the starter bracket for carb clearance before line boring. I will use the steel four petal reed cage/bearing from the three cylinder direct charge 650- 700 motor. Also I have included pics of the TIIX front carb set-up. NOW you know why there were two sets of castings made.

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[mercguy]

best thread ever!!! Thanks for posting the amazing work you are doing!!!

[kraazyboat]

I think that what you have done. And the time of posting has been very fun to read. And wait to read and see as time goes on IS SO WELL WORTH THE TIME. As for what Tim K. has done and the input to the board. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK GUYS. Dave

[Fastjeff57]

This thread "Makes my day!"

Jeff

[Jeff Lytle]

Mine too!

[Tim Kurcz]

Not had much time for replys but will try to catch up. Nice photo work on the 12 pac look. Wish the real thing was that easy. The carb centers are only 3.406", not leaving much choice for options. That is why the TIIX carbs have cut bowls. The only option will be to use diaphragm carbs if the conversion becomes a problem. Work continues, just not had time to upload pics. Maybe can do that tomorrow. Heads are almost complete. Just need to finish cut chambers and do plugs. Had to make a riser for setting up the front for line boring.

Picked up the last of the castings and machined the coil holders, they are ready to mount on the heads when they are completed. Will try to weld up the front cover tomorrow for modifications required for new style reed cages.

Hmmm, less than 0.6" needed (there's space between the OMC carbs at 4.0" centers). This weekend I'll measure up the 2-bbls to determine if they can be altered to work on 3.400 centers. It's too good an opportunity to pass up!

Tim

[Tim Kurcz]

The OMC 2-bbls can be mounted on 3.500" centers with out modification. With minor mods 3.400" is achievable.

Tim

[R Austin]

Well, finally did the dreaded job of welding the front cover. Had spent some time thinking about a way to add enough material to allow machining for the new reeds without destroying it. I knew that I would have to do it with wire feed to deposit that much metal. I also knew in doing that, the metal would become so hot, that it would drop out of the casting. So back to the computer and the laser. Made these parts with 3 things in mind. Positioning the weld, allowing metal to deposit in front of the gasket surface without undercut , and keeping the metal from falling out. The three parts in the pics , one 1/4" thick allowed for the casting thickness and was cut back to allow metal to flow out to the gasket surface area. It also had magnets inserted that ran face to face to hold the thin triangular shaped part for centering in the reed cavity and holding the metal that would drop out and the top piece that was cut to also provide clearance for other parts of the case and had a cavity to fill with weld. Once in position they were clamped with a pair of vise grip pliers. The weld cavity was large enough to allow for the cooling that it would cause. Made the parts months ago, just had to get in the right frame of mind to trust my judgement. Nice when a plan comes together. You can see the metal puddling that the plate held in position. One side of the casting was about 30 thousands thicker and only puddled in the area of the edge for building up the gasket surface.514385143951440514415144251443514445144551 446

[R Austin]

A few more pics of the welding project and the reed cages that made the modification necessary.
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[BJuby]

I love these so much, the sound is just breathtaking. However, I have never seen or heard a video of a 4 or 2 cylinder looper. If anyone has a link or one available let me know. I'd love to see/hear that too. Thanks

[R Austin]

Machine work to clean up the welding of the cover and fitting of the reed assemblies. I knew that the welding would distort to case, but I was suprised at how much. It had been preheated to 450 degrees for 3 hours and kept as hot as possible during welding. Meaning that once the welding started, it was pushed as hard as possible to keep hot. The part ended up with a .035 rocker on the case to block surface. That is not a problem as the surface has to be cut back to gain enough material for reboring. When you look at where the weld is deposited and the vertical web between the reed pockets, it is hard to understand. But, thats the nature of welding.
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[Fast Fred]

:cool:

[R Austin]

The next step in processing the front cover is install the saddle blocks so that case bore can be done at 3.283. That is the case size for the 60/66 inch deflector series engine. The bearing shells are the same. This will give me more material across the bearing web in the intermediate between it and the block. The saddles were made of 6061 aluminum tube. The wall thickness was just a little smaller than I wanted for cleanup of the bore. When I turned the OD I offset the center of the tube and turned the OD .001 larger than the case and put the heavy offset section in the case. The parts were glued with T88 aircraft epoxy glue and pressed into place with enough pressure to make a .015 deflection in the ring. Each had to be held in place for 24 hours for complete cure. 6 saddles equals 6 days, so I machined the adapter plate for the mating to the Jones tower housing.

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[milkdud]

WOW! Looks like fun!
Conrad

[R Austin]

Some pics of the follow up work one on the front cover. After the gluing was completed, aluminum bolts were installed on both side of the cover, locktite-ed in, to keep the saddles secure. The top main required coming through the saddle and into the case because of the starter and distributor ears interference. The studs in the top saddle are also aluminum. Then cut nearly through with a slit saw so that they would not pinch and cut all the way through on the opposite side then broken off.

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[Tim Kurcz]

With one-offs, often the greatest challenge is figuring out how to accomplish a change in architecture. Hats off to Dick for his clever methods!

Tim

[Gene East]

How many boat nuts have noticed there have been over 11,000 hits on this thread and nearly 100 posts.

Obviously a lot of people are very interested in this project.

Way to go Dick. Keep us advised!!

P.S. I'm glad to see you're using good ol' Craftsman tools. I can't afford the super vanity brands!

[BJuby]

Gene. There are tools other than Craftsman?!?! ;)

[R Austin]

How can you beat them. Wear them out, break them, they repalce with no questions ask. You got to love them.

[BJuby]

How can you beat them. Wear them out, break them, they repalce with no questions ask. You got to love them.

This. I was 10 years old (will never forget it) the first time my dad went with me to Sears with a wrench or two that was worn after 30-40 years of use he wanted to replace. When we went to the register, he handed them the old, showed the new, "thank you sir". I was thinking "what just happened here?!?!". Haha, can't beat that. The only problem we ever had with them was when they went to the plastic forward/reverse lever on the socket wrenches. Those didn't last long.

[Aeroliner]

Neaded an extra Tool set for the hobby shop and picked it up at Sears. Their sales are great. What was more interesting is that they are back to making the hand tools in the USA. Good job Sears.

Alan

[R Austin]

More pics of the continuing preparation of the front cover. Cleaning the mating surface and drilling the fuel pump pulse holes. The last 2 pics are the preliminary set-up of the case assembly for line boring. As you can see the line bore is an old lathe that I made risers for to get the needed height. The cross feed was removed and replaced with a vertically adjustable table. Removed all carriage drive gears and added a power drive for a mill table directly to the feed screw. A good bore job is no better than the control of the feed. The bar is 2 piece, that allows one end to be removed for measuring the progress of the bore operation. The end of the bar is larger in diameter than the rest of the bar and is carried in a bronze bushing clamped in the steady rest. If you go back the the beginning of the thread, you will see this piece of equipment used for building the rotary valve motor. Acquired that lathe at the age of 19.

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[Tim Kurcz]

Thanks for posting more images, Dick.

What else can you say but incredible! Keep up the great work. I can't wait to hear the "Beast" run......

Tim

[R Austin]

Work continues on the boring of the front end of the beast. These pics will give you an idea of the boring bar setup. Setup is critical because the bottom of the front cover is already the target size. .0625 was taken off the cover face to shrink the bottom bearing bore, however at the edges which are near vertical, only a reduction of .010 was achieved. That is only .005 per side. Quincy would squeeze them in a vise then reface both surfaces, and then rebore. Not possible on this massive front cover. Again the saddles were added to allow the same bore size through the case and use bearing housings from the Mark series sixes. Target size is to be .001 to .002 smaller than the bearing block.

[R Austin]

I pulled the pics from the last post because of the ad box that takes as much as 75% of the viewing space. This seems to accure on the first post of a new page. So here are the pics related to the last post.


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[R Austin]

The case boring has been completed and it finished right on the number, giving me .0015 to .002 crush fit on the bearing blocks. Did a trial fit of the crank in the 2 parts by installing a mark 75 reed on the crank at the top and bottom locations. The 6 inline cranks all have the same size main and reed journals. Quick and easy why to try. Had to clean the mid case side cheeks of the bearing saddles. Had to remove more material on the top saddle because the top cheek of the crank is 1/8 inch thicker than the rest. Cleaned those areas by bolting down the mid case and used a long cutting tool in the bar and just move into the saddle cheeks. Stop the bar, rotated the tool up, and advanced to the next pocket. It is now on to completion the block. It has been within 2 weeks of 1 year that I started carving the block. I made a good decision by stopping the work on the block as I have discovered little things that would have been trouble.


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[R Austin]

Time to start catching up on the posting process.. After the case boring was completed, I bolted the mid case to the block to verify center lines of the block to mid case and the positon of the cylinder centers. I had left the cylinder bores small to allow for adustment after mid case completion. The cylinders were then bored to the finished bore size of 2 7/8 to be able to view the actual finished port configuration and adjust if necessary. Now just the process of teadious mill work. The next few posts will just be pics of the porting and water jacket cutting progress. I also included a pic of the original 60 inch Quincy block standing beside the new block for a small comparison. Note that the Quincy block is also standing on the lower studs and not the block base.

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[Gene East]

Seeing the crank assy in the case, you certainly have a "tight" case. Should really add to the velocity of air flow.

I was surprized at how much taller this engine will be than the 60-66 ci engine.

Do you have any plans for a lower transom mount?

[89HST]

why, because I can.

:cool:

Curious to if you are using sleeves or having the bores nicasil?

[R Austin]

Gene

In the beginning of this thread I justified this project with the statement that the 60 inch motor was to short and did not come to the top of the fairing. That is because this boat was designed for Jone's custom tower housing. I had only seen one in 1968 at a race in Saginaw Mi. that was on a 16-17' Jones with a 6 Looper. Pic attached. One popped up on E-Bay one day with a buy it now price. I new what it was when I saw it and snagged it. I have attached some pics of the housing and the boat and you can see for yourself that this job has to be done because the motor is to short. The housing has a single pinion speedmaster on it When it blows I will put on a twin pinion.

And for the question about cylinders they will be steel sleeved.520665206152062520635206452065

[R Austin]

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[Tim Kurcz]

Awesome! Can't wait to see it run.......

Tim

[Gene East]

Dick,

Do you remember who the boat with the high fairing belonged to. Also the picture didn't come through real clear on my computer. Is that Tim Chance eye balling it? If so, I guess we all were younger back then!

As always, best of luck with this project.

[R Austin]

Gene
I had forwarded a copy of that pic to Paul asking who might have had a 6 looper from the Chicago area built for them, In 68 there had not been many made. It seems like his family had a business called Thermo something. The individual looking at the motor was his or part of his pit crew.

[racnbns]

Gene
I had forwarded a copy of that pic to Paul asking who might have had a 6 looper from the Chicago area built for them, In 68 there had not been many made. It seems like his family had a business called Thermo something. The individual looking at the motor was his or part of his pit crew.

Did anyone in the Chicago area other than Michilini[sp] have a 6 Looper?

Bruce

[R Austin]

Bruce
I know that this was not Joe. This individual was in his twenties or early thirties at the time. Glad to hear that you are doing well. With your rebuilt pumper, you should be ready to hit the circuit again. I will post some up dates on the project soon. Just been milling on ports. Time consuming.

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Dick,

Do you remember who the boat with the high fairing belonged to. Also the picture didn't come through real clear on my computer. Is that Tim Chance eye balling it? If so, I guess we all were younger back then!

As always, best of luck with this project.



I was around Tim Chance quite a bit in that time frame, and like Gene, think that is him.

To confirm the owner of the boat, Tim could probably help, as he was also publishing Hydroplane Quarterly during that time, and was always interested in out of the ordinary boats and engines, possibly as towards writing an article or picture in the magazine.

He is a member both here and Hydroracer I believe and am surprised he has not chimed in yet on this question. Perhaps to get to the bottom of the boat ownership question you might PM him here or on Hydroracer, refer him to this thread, and ask him?

[R Austin]

Like I said before, this cutting of a block from billet is time consuming. It is either getting old or I am running out of gas. Added a few more pic of the porting which I am sure is becoming boring, but will continue to add. Hope by the end of this weekend to be ready to start the finish boring for the steel sleeves. I have started the casting patterns for the exhaust elbows. The Quincy elbow is not large enough through the mating outlet for the size of the exhaust port.

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[racnbns]

Rich:

The block is looking GREAT! All you have to do is quit early once in a while and have a little JACK or the drink of your choice. Those boring jobs can drive a man to drink. What really makes a job like that possible is the fact that it's a work of love. Keep up the good work.

Bruce

P.S. I've had sore shoulders for a few years and in the exercises in my therapy classes they seem to be getting worse. Went to the orthapedic guy and after x-rays he says my rotater cuffs are gone and I've got bone on bone. Got cortisone shots for starters. See ya next summer!

[Gene East]

It does look great doesn't it? But that's the only way our friend Mr. Austin knows how to do anything as is evidenced by the trailer he hauls his 4(count them 4) fully rigged F- Hydros to classic boat shows.

It would be nice to see a picture posted here showing a close-up shot of the rig in display mode.

[89HST]

beautiful!

[R Austin]

Well the first round of porting is complete. Next round will be to re-cut the port in the sleeves after installation. The port were opened up to create the port flow direction. It will be more obvious as work continues. Laid out the exhaust bolt pattern , drill and tapped. A lot of tapped hole in this block. Ordered sleeves today and talked to Wiseco again. Now just waiting for print of the final piston mods for final approval.

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[R Austin]

Machineing the transfer runners. Just making the block lighter each day. Looks like a block of swiss cheese.

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[89HST]

:cool:

[R Austin]

Block is coming along. a few pics of the mid case and block after cutting transfer runners. Set up and drilled and taped head bolt holes. Milled both ends of the engine assembly.


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[R Austin]

Having milled the ends of the block, I put a few bolts in to just sit the complete assembly vertical with a couple of heads in place. It is fitting up good. I received the cylinder sleeves a couple of days ago and talked to Wiseco a couple of times this week. Finally got the pistons on order and was given a by the end of the month delivery date. Will wait on the pistons before final fitting of the sleeves. I have left enough material on block to case and head surfaces and the case to block side of the mid case for final fitting. Will not commit without piston in hand and measuring. I have included pics of the new top main cap and the work progressing on the exhaust elbow. Should have them cast before pistons arrive. Will also rough in the cylinder bores with cylinder boring bar to within .060.

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[BJuby]

Are those heads thicker than the original Quincy heads?

[Fastjeff57]

I'm curious why you went with individual heads (vs. all 6 cyilinders at once, or at least 2 or 3 at once)? The block would be far more rigid that way, which was why engine designers went away from individal cylinder construction after World War One.

Jeff

[baldad45]

I think there are three heads that have two chambers each . Likely much easier to cast 3 smaller heads than to pattern and cast a large single head . See post #45 ,jigging for a 6 cylinder would have been much more involved ,plus if something doesn't work out you've only messed up a two cylinder head . It's hard to imagine Dick messing up after following this inspiring build .

[Gene East]

I'm curious why you went with individual heads (vs. all 6 cyilinders at once, or at least 2 or 3 at once)? The block would be far more rigid that way, which was why engine designers went away from individal cylinder construction after World War One.

Jeff

The block is more than rigid enough. Three heads V one offers an easier solution to a single cylinder mishap. In addition the shorter 2 cylinder heads will be less likely to warp. Many of the early engines were individual cylinders. A one piece head provided strength.

BTW: Bill Tenney's comment after seeing a Quincy Looper for the first time was, "It sure has a lot of head bolts"!

[R Austin]

First question, yes they are thicker. The pic with the 2 heads partially bolted on after head bolts drilled, are the finished thickness. The head is thicker because it has to have a 21cc chamber vs 13cc and carries twice as much water. To keep the chamber area 50% of the cylinder area per Jennings and make a hemispherical chamber it is what it is.

It has three 2 cylinder heads. I did address in an early post that it was the most logical way because of the ease of pattern and core making. The whole motor is three 2 cylinder motors stacked. This engine unlike the smaller motors, pure deflectors, has equal center to center spacing. All machining setups are done from the center line of each pair. Get the numbers done for half and mirror it for the pair. Move the pair center to center and you do it again. One head casting makes all heads. The round end was made with a long connector tube so cutting off the end for the mid head was possible. The last I knew, Cummins 6 inline engines ran three 2 cylinder heads.

Making the block more rigid? I don't think a head can do much when you look at the front cover and the mid case. I do not think those two parts when bolted are letting the block go anywhere. The main bolts are cross bolted into the block along with the block flange bolts. I look at the stock motor with its little water cover and its intricately cast head and think it does not take much to hold the top on. It takes a lot of bolts with a head to keep the gasket from blowing.

[R Austin]

Got the block cylinders roughed in to 2.998. Will take one hole out to a half thousands shrink on a 1/16 wall 2.875 sleeve that I have and warm the block and insert. Will then bore to 2.875 so I can load the crank and one rod/ piston assembly in that hole. That will let me get all my deck heights correct with the piston as received from Wiseco. Will then bore out sleeve and fit sleeves and re-deck all parts.

Boring aluminum with a cylinder boring bar has a totally different technique than boring a steel or iron sleeve. It takes a pointed end tool with a chip breaker point and a high rake.... And keep flooded with light weight motor oil or ATF to prevent tool heat and gumming of aluminum to tool.

Exhaust elbow progressing along nicely. Hope to complete that this week and I have completed a top cap mold for the block water out cover. Should go to foundry first of next week.

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[R Austin]

Finished the exhaust elbow pattern and the core for it is near completion. Just a few pics of the wood work. Not my favorite thing to do but just have to do it.


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[R Austin]

It does look great doesn't it? But that's the only way our friend Mr. Austin knows how to do anything as is evidenced by the trailer he hauls his 4(count them 4) fully rigged F- Hydros to classic boat shows.

It would be nice to see a picture posted here showing a close-up shot of the rig in display mode.


I quess I will take this opertunitity to plug my boat and trailer rig.

The first four pics are from Roar and Soar in 2010. The fourth pic is of my dad who looks forward to seeing the new motor run. I take him to the hanger some weekend days when he is up to it. He is now 90. He cretiques my work and keeps aksing if it is going to be to heavy.

The next four are a repair of the boat on the back, M-211. The skins were starting to peel off and leaked badly at Roar and Soar. So I removed and replaced them with some mods sent to me by Ron Jones. That took up all of the winter, spring and fall of 2011. Did not make any trips that year.

The last two were taken at Hillsdale last fall when we ran the 6 Looper. The M-211 is the M-14 on the rear of the trailer (left in pic) after completing the rebuild. I returned it to its original condition and number when new in 1966.


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[Tim Weber]

Awesome!

I can't even wrap my arms around this project.

How much do you think it will weigh? I'm guessing 150-180#'s. What boat will you run it on? That thing will need a lot of boat.
What is your guess for H.P.? It wouldn't surprise me if it put out 200-250.

Tim

[Gene East]

I quess I will take this opertunitity to plug my boat and trailer rig.

The first four pics are from Roar and Soar in 2010. The fourth pic is of my dad who looks forward to seeing the new motor run. I take him to the hanger some weekend days when he is up to it. He is now 90. He cretiques my work and keeps aksing if it is going to be to heavy.

The next four are a repair of the boat on the back, M-211. The skins were starting to peel off and leaked badly at Roar and Soar. So I removed and replaced them with some mods sent to me by Ron Jones. That took up all of the winter, spring and fall of 2011. Did not make any trips that year.

The last two were taken at Hillsdale last fall when we ran the 6 Looper. The M-211 is the M-14 on the rear of the trailer (left in pic) after completing the rebuild. I returned it to its original condition and number when new in 1966.


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Glad to see your Dad is still keeping an eye on you. I always enjoyed talking to him.

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

..................and everyone else involved for keeping this part of our history alive, not only in pictures and story, but with the actual equipment itself, and amazingly still capable of running laps..

As I have commented several times here on BRF, there is nothing sweeter or more memorable regarding the "Golden Years" of Alky racing than the sound of a Flathead Six "wailing in anger" on a race course. I used to hear that sound in the late 60's/early 70's while on the road to Lake DePue from US#6, at least 5 miles from there, and no doubt is could be heard further than that. It sent shivers down my spine then and hopefully I will be around when it happens again for that sound and the same reaction.

Thanks again as Dick Austin's and J.W. Meyers projects come to fruition, hopefully in 2013.

[calvin]

What is your race schedule this year?

[Powerabout]

Fantastic stuff
The pictures dont give justice as to how many hours went into all that.
Well done

[BJuby]

Great pictures. I love those rigs. Nice looking job on the restoration work too.

[R Austin]

Thanks for the comments on the boats.. Do not run boats for racing, just for the addrenillin rush form the past and it feels as good today as back in the day. Just knowing that, unlike the foolish kid in the past, I could get hurt today. I dont think that I would heal good nowdays. So I do it just for have fun and let those that know the site and sound to see it again and those that have never seen them before, just make the comments "I have never seen or heard anything like It."

I could not even begin to count the hours invested in the trailer and its load. Just enjoy keeping them alive and well.

Why this project, I think at this point, I have just gone over the edge. Obsessed..................... However I will see it to the end.

I will contine with a few more photos of the mold forms for the core that goes in the exhaust elbow casting and loading them with sand. Following that are photos at the foundry making a test run of the molds. The foundry, Century Foundry in Muskegon Mi., just 60 miles south, is a great asset for me. They are about 60 people strong and willing to try what looks reasonable. Sometimes smaller is better. Makes them more flexable and work you into their system without the usual, we do'nt have time. To them thanks for taking the time. It is not free, but reasonable, and whole lot better than being turned away.

After the core photos, one half of the mold is layed flat on a board with a box around it and covered with air set sand, a resin/hardner mix, and packed on the mold. Fifteen minutes to harden and then turned over. The other mold half with dowels, is alligned on the first half to complete the sand pocket. Before sand is placed on it, a stick with a nail tip is stuck in the sand to make the pore hole and two insulated tower tubes are placed to form risers, shrink towers. These will be gated into the pour and will fill with metal and feed back into the casting as it shrinks to avoid internal voids or deforming from the shrinkage. The tubes are covered and sand is then placed over the top, packed and allowed to cured.

As usual to be continued.


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[racnbns]

Fantastic---

Those elbows look like die castings! It's amazing what you can do with a foundry that knows what its doing and a perfectionist making the patterns and calling the shots. I'd sure love to put a rope on the beast or will it be electric start? When I was in the race group at OMC we were trying Counter rotation on the Switzer Wing and to decide which way to rotate the 125 hp engine I would rope start the left hand rotation engine. That was a couple of years ago!
KEEP HUMPING,
Bruce

[R Austin]

What you have seen in the previous post is just the pattern for the castings. The pattern is sprayed with a release agent of an aluminum like powder and that is why it looks like a die cast part. This series will complete the casting process. After loading with sand the sand is pulled apart and the pattern removed. The gateing is then ground into the sand. Once that is completed the core is placed in positon, cleaned out with an air hose and the top half of the mold placed back into position. you will notice the pockets ground in the corners before the placement of the top side sand. Those make locaters for holding alignment after placeing the top and removing the box assemblies. The halves are then clamped together for the pouring.

Like magic, an elbow is created.

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[Fastjeff57]

May I suggest starting a new thread since this one is now buried on page 3.

Jeff

[R Austin]

I went on line last week to check out and could not find. Ater running thru a couple of pages, it caught the corner of my eye in the top sticky lines. Now shows up on every page.

Thanks Dick

[R Austin]

Now that the exhaust TEST elbow has been completed and a minor mod made to the core, they have now been cast and out for heat treating. Had talked to WISECO and was informed the the completion date had been moved out to 4-18. So with that I set the block in the mill on 30 degree angle blocks to remove .100 in of material from the apex of the inside radius of the transfer corner. That will be the top of a 11/32 inch radius making the hand grinding more controlable and with the use of a 11/32 inside radius gauge on size. After one side of the block was completed I set up to make transfer inserts for a cylinder pair set. Using a bicycle inner tube, cut in half and glued, I ran thur the passages to form a base insert that could be trimmed to make the correct entrance angles. One cylinder is shown with the inserts in place. After that , material was added to the outside, four sides that are all tapered, reducing the insert depth that will be increased with the aluminum shrinkage. After casting they will be fitted to each position. Because all were machined, they should not require a lot of fitting work. That pattern was taken to the foundry when picking up the completed exhaust elbows and have been cast and out for heat treat.


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[R Austin]

Will add a few pics of the progress. Now behind after a short stint in the hospital and trying to get back up to speed. Have lots of work to do now. Working on the exhaust elbows that I had started 2 weeks ago. Trying to get them done and out of the way. Pistons showed up from Wiseco, thats a good thing and made as requested. So now the only thing required is time and that gets harder to find now that we have something that resembles spring.


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[BJuby]

Curious, but is there a difference between the wider sweeping elbows and the "quicker" sweeping elbows? I know the wider ones were the later style right? But I see that the ones you had made are the earlier style? Why is this?

[Tim Kurcz]

What can you say but....... Wow!

Any chance you might demo "The Beast" at Hillsdale?

Tim

[Gene East]

Sorry to hear you have had some health issues, but glad to hear your back making chips. Too bad you didn't save all the chips. The pile would have been impressive.

I had forgotten you intended to use dual ignition until I looked through the bottom of the block in your latest post and saw two spark plugs.

Many, many people want to see this thing run. Just be careful. This masterpiece deserves to live and breath like any fine engine, but it is too precious (yes that's the word, precious) to risk destruction.

The classic boaters have a meet in Quincy in September.

It would be great to have the "Beast" visit the home town of it's ancestors!

[R Austin]

A few more pics of the exhaust elbow progress.

Also a comparision of the Quincy eblows and the Beast elbow. Why did I use the tighter elbow design? The most important part of the exhaust path is the first inch or two. Ideally slopped downward and out from the cylinder head. The Quincy design being a siamees port is already compromised. I went straight out to get a reasonable divider in the elbow between the cylinders. Secondly, I did not want a frontal area the width of the door on a house. Once the exhaust is out of the block and in the tube, its shape is irrelavent. The tube needs to remain constant to the point of defusion. All three pipes have the same centerline lenght from flange. The exhaust port area is larger than the Quincy requireing a larger section at the flange. The flange itself is, of course, much larger. Those are the reasons the use of the Quincy pipe would not work.



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[BJuby]

Thanks for the explanation. Your pictures explain the comparison good as well. Another question. The later quincy pipes (to my understanding) had water injection at the elbow. What is the reasoning you chose to not do that?

By the way, that mock up looks amazing

[J-Dub]

What is your desired run date of this piece of art? Also, are you planning to run it on a hydro or a runabout? How about a Yellow 1976 DeSilva KR with R-12 painted on the side???;);)

J-Dub

[Gene East]

J-Dub I don't think your runabout or any of the hydros Dick has on his trailer can do justice to this "Beast", but won't it be great to see and hear it run at a speed the boats available can accommodate?

BTW: A friend sent me a limited edition boat racing calendar for Christmas. Guess what is the picture for May? Yep, Ole R-12 herself. Great looking boat. Hope you get everything lined out on your project.

[R Austin]

Slow at getting updates into the site. However work continues to progress. I had not finished the heads because of possible changes, head gaskets vs o-rings, final combustion chamber sizes etc. work on the heads and the elbows is nearing completion. Yup! I had to take off a additional .280 from the heads, as is apparent in cutting the chambers. It did yield the 21 cc chamber that I had planned on.

I have decided to hold off putting in sleeves and finishing the block until all the required parts are done. Hopefully that way I will not make short cuts when wrapping up. I had set a time line of June to have running. Do not think that is going to happen, but it will be later in the summer. I will not let a time line interfere with planned end product.

I will keep posting the continuing work, hope it does not get to redundant or boring.


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[GHMiller]

This thread will never get boring! Please keep up with the progress, I think we ALL want to see the completion of this project and the pay off...... Hearing it run!

[Aeroliner]

Outstanding craftsmanship! This truly is a labor of love and a project we can all learn from. Running the engine will be the cream on the cake.

Alan

[David Mason]

I will keep posting the continuing work, hope it does not get to redundant or boring.


Richard,

I don't know if you realize this or not, but you have a sort of cult of followers !!

If you need a place to run the beast let me know. I know we have lots of testing at the NBRA events, several of which are not all that far from the historic origins of the beast. Drinks on me if I am there to see it run sometime.

I am proud to admit that I am cult follower of this project, and of your other projects. I have been keeping dad up to date verbally on this thing, just can't get him to sit still long enough to show him this thread. Dad says Hi by the way.

[BJuby]

Truly amazing. I'm glad we have the 40ci Looper because I actually understand what I am looking at now. Really can't wait for you to install the crank train!

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Don't even think that this thread could be boring Richard. There's a lot going for it. Number one, you aren't just an accomplished machinist who is a fan of some unique outboards from the past and wanted to build one. You were there, and at the top of your game during the heyday of the loopers. As a championship driver, and motorbuilder when these motors were being developed and changes being make, you know what you're talking about. You have taken your knowledge and shown us through pictures and narrative how you go about building the beast. All the details and many great photos along the way keep everyone pinned to this thread. Not only that, but what you are doing by keeping everyone up to date with the whole process from design, casting, machine work and the theories in what makes the beast work will become part of outboard history that will last forever.

[chris3298]

BORING are you kidding? Heck no, keep it up man all I can say is WOW..... I mean I don't know what else to say. I had no idea man can create something like this from a block of aluminum.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

BORING.....Very clever chris3298! That one word you planted goes to the heart of what Richard has been able to foresee, plan and do. Thanks for getting straight to the point of what amazes us.

[Gene East]

Wayne,

You are absolutely correct; Richard, Rich, Dick, Mr. Austin, (whatever people choose to call him) has warmed the hearts of all of us who were there when our sport was at it's heyday. This thread can never be boring.

Nor were your threads, "An amazing story" and "Baldy's" ever boring. I look forward to reading each new post from Dick just as I did your posts.

The battles between Konigs and Loopers were the best of times in our sport.

Please note, I listed Konig first ONLY FOR ALPHABETICAL REASONS!

Thanks to you and Dick for keeping our memories alive.

[R Austin]

Boy!!!!!! Do not know what to say. I appreciate all the accolades. I just hope that I can live up to those compliments and that the engine meets the high expectations that seem being implied. Feels like the expectations are getting higher than my own. I would like to take the time to respond to each of your comments, however I find it hard to find the time to keep adding to the site. I am flattered by your comments and will try to live up them. I do still work a full time job and this project has consumed nearly 100% of weekends and evening hours. It is the challenge that keeps me going. It is almost as rewarding just to see it mocked up even if it did not run. RIGHT!!!!!!!!!! Just kidding, I want to hear and FEEL it run.

I have finished the exhaust elbows, the heads, and the pistons. Need to complete the patterns for megaphone extension. I will post those completed parts on another day. Today I will just post some of the trial assembly shots to get your imagination tuned up.

The first photo was taken 7-8-12. I think about the work and the hours since they looked like that and it just seems unreal, and that is after pattern making.


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[phillnjack]

Looks like its going to be very un eco friendly, extremely loud and very fast......boy would i like to see this best of an
engine run and tearing up the river.
This type of thing is what we all would love to own, and to have built it from the very word go is unreal.

Its a work of art even if it never runs, this would look great in a playboy's mansion as a focal talking point.
A ferrari in the garage, a masserati on the lawn, a bugatti in the main hall and this beast smack in the middle of
the lounge on a glass plinth.


fantastic piece of marine machinery.


phill

[Gene East]

I've just gotta ask. Why single ignition on #1 & #2 when the rest appear to be dual ignition?

[R Austin]

Sorry Gene! I should not fool around like that. I made 2 sets of heads, single and dual plugs. Thought the dual might crack between plugs. I won't throw a ringer in like that again.

[1100r]

Mr Austin,
That is one beautiful show piece. I along with others have been following this post since its start and I wont miss one either. Thank you for sharing all your pictures and comments throughout your build. I and many others cant wait to hear it run.

Thanks for sharing,
Todd

[dog74lover]

This thread will be documenting a QUINCY LOOPER “BEAST” reproduction project. It will actually be a hybrid because of changes to the induction side of the engine and ignition system. After looking at a billet of aluminum that had been purchased to make a new 60/66 inch looper block, I realized that it was big enough to build the a SUPER BEAST HYBRID.

The 15’ Jones really could stand a larger motor and heck, the motor is to short, and does not come to the top of the fairing. So, with that being justified, over the past year and a half I spent hours doing general layout work to confirm that it was something that could really be accomplished. The project has now been committed to and more will follow.

Good Job!:)

[R Austin]

Running behind again. will add pictures of the finished heads. Added the squish area to the chambers, very small to start, will work on after some running. Cut o-ring grooves in the head surface. Running flanged sleeves does not leave enough room between cylinders for the o-rings Therefore the o-ring is in the head and on the top of the flange. If that does not work I can go to a metal head gasket by re-machineing or replacing the heads.

Cut the head in half that has been my to size mock up head. Wanted to check the metal around the dual plug holes. Also a picture of the two sets of heads, single plug and dual plug versions. The heads on the right were all sacrificial parts. There appearance is not good because they were not heat treated. A Quincy Looper head is laying on top on one of the test heads. The twin pinion to the left is the unit I will use on this engine.


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[BJuby]

Can't wait to see the cranktrain installed!

[R Austin]

The piston line up. When Mercury came out with the Direct Charge it did not have a boost port. The piston did not have a hole. Then the boost port was created and the hole was added. Later they decided to add the eyebrow clip on the piston crown. So, on the left you have a service piston with the dome clip for non boost ported. The test piston I cut down which is the full blown piston with boost hole and eyebrow clip, which is the piston supplied for service today. Then the early version of the boost port piston without eyebrow clip. Next is the piston supplied by Wiseco as requested, my re-machined Wiseco piston and a Quincy Looper 60 inch piston.

The following are pictures of the machine work on the piston to create the loop piston. The changes that Wiseco made were, eliminate the boost hole which would have allowed cross flow between the transfers and the exhaust ports, elimination of the dome eyebrow cut which would have changed transfer timing, the piston is .100 longer on the skirt length below wrist pin for better exhaust port coverage a top dead center which would have been .063 and now .162. The notches for wrist pin keeper removed and the chamfering of the pin hole was eliminated. The wrist pin diameter is large and spans the web between the upper transfer ports and the web between the exhaust ports. Elimination of those operations keeps that width at the wrist pin diameter and to stop the cross contamination thru the wrist pin I will press a .75 long aluminum plug into the mid point of the wrist pin.

With the now known final piston height, I installed a .062 walled sleeve into number 5 hole and bored to size. Set up the block with crank installed and checked the deck to piston to verify port positions and the the final deck height. I had planned for a total remaining removable of .250 from the three faces, case to block, block to case and the head surface. The number came to .260. Removed .085 from case face, .080 from block to case face and .080 from head surface, leaving .015 on head to clean up after sleeve placement and final porting. Will have .015 piston to head running clearance. A guessed at number. The Quincys ran piston flush with the block and the head gasket gave .010 running clearance. Pistons ran so close to the head that there would be a distinct combustion color change on the top of the piston.

The reed blocks are on the crank only as holding fixtures, they split easily, bearings do not need to be loaded and they snap tight into the half case.



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[R Austin]

Work continues with small items that require addressing before assembly. Following pictures are reed adapter plate dressing to remove edges for better fit to the manifold cover. The stater mount pad on the front cover had to be re-milled after welding to return to a flat and true state. Only required a .010 cut to return to flat. Had to also confirm that the starter bracket cleared the welding for the reed modification. Completed machining of the starter support bracket.

Cut the sleeves to length and turned a .005 under sized pilot .187 long. Makes the quick squaring for insertion into the heated block much easier. Pilot is excess material that will be cut off after installation.

Making the final block head surface cut prior to boring for the sleeve fit. Will run a .0025 to .0035 under size hole for shrink fit.


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[R Austin]

The block has been decked and the boring process completed. After 7 1/2 hours to remove .080 from each cylinder and cut the counter bore for the flange, the block was ready to cleanup for sleeve installation. The heat, insert, cool down cycle was 4 hours. 1:45 to heat, 60 seconds to install and the balance for cool down. I weighed the block before sleeve installation. It weighed 77.4 pounds at the start and weighed in at 23.8 pounds before sleeves were installed.

A few more pictures of machining operations. Now into the second round of porting, through the sleeves. After machine porting they will be hand dressed and then work on the transfer inserts will begin.


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[Gene East]

Absolutely beautiful!

You stated the block weighed 23.8# after starting with a billet weighing 77.4#. That equals 53.6# of chips.

That's a lot of beer cans!

[Tim Kurcz]

Absolutely beautiful!

Hi Dick,

Agree completely with Gene. Simply fabulous! Will we see it at Hillsdale? Mark you calendar September 6-7-8!

Tim

[Aeroliner]

What an art project this is. The engine fully dressed will be a thing to behold. Anyone have a guess at to the speed! If you have the correct boat this engine should fly. Great workmanship! Thanks for sharing.

Alan

[chris3298]

That is truly aluminum art :)

[byrdsperformance@tds.net]

You got that right:cool:
That is truly aluminum art :)

[R Austin]

Your right Gene, and you could drink them faster than I have produced the chips. So you know, I have about 90% of those chip in two 30 gallon plastic bags. I hope to have ready by Hillsdale, but it will be close. There still many little things to complete before it will be ready. I will have the boats in Constantine this weekend. Have got the 6 Looper repaired after the run at Hillsdale last year. We will see if she will go or blow.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Maybe you should consider selling little bags of those chips. You've got quite a following here of people who might be interested in owning a sliver of what will undoubtedly become a historical motor.:cool:

[proprider01us]

Now that's a good idea!!

[Tim Kurcz]

Hey Dick,

We're all patiently waiting to see your looper beast up close. If unable for Hillsdale, please consider display at Mark Suter's Saturday October 19. http://www.aomci.org/events Meanwhile, we'd like to see all four of your F-Alky's on the water at Hillsdale. I've been assured there are several capable drivers to assist. Press on regardless!

Tim

[Tim Kurcz]

That is truly aluminum art :)

Aluminum art will be full song at Hillsdale this September 6-7-8 at the IOA “Carl Kiekhaefer 6-cylinder Mercury Memorial Exhibition”. Testing is Friday afternoon, with exhibition heats Saturday and Sunday for both runabouts and hydros. Any six cylinder F-class Mercury based Stock, Mod or Alky is welcome to run, the Looper Beast excepted: Stackers preferred. This includes deflectors & loopers with three, six, nine carbs running any fuel. Please contact race director Kevin Besonen or me for details. Single event APBA membership and full kevlar are required. Not to worry, there are plenty of drivers willing to loan safety gear to see/hear those sixes sing!

Tim

[Fastjeff57]

Any idea how much horsepower this gem will produce? The Twister IIs made close to 200 in their all-out factory tune, and they were merely cross flows.

Jeff

[R Austin]

Time to update on the progress. Finished the mill work on the sleeves and have nearly completed the transfer inserts. I have included a few pictures of the insert process. The first pic is of the port opening. when you look at the port it looks like it has a black line at one side. Actually that is a .040 land of the sleeve exposed for the insert to lock against. With that and the four sided taper fit, the insert will not vibrate loose after cementing in place with JB Weld. The shiny looking part of the sleeve is the edge of the sleeve cut by the mill. The balance of the pics are just the sequence of the fitting and final inserted look.

Have to make a choice of fixing the Looper after Constantine for Hillsdale or continue on the Beast. The beast will not make Hillsdale, Suters will questionable at this rate. Summer has bogged down work progress. The Looper needs a new set of pistons made, which I have blanks for, and re-bored. Time is at a premium.

How much horsepower? Good question. I do not know. I attached at Mercury propaganda picture of the TII X at 200 plus HP. Paul says the 66 Looper was at 200HP? 66 inches @ 70 HP Stock to 200 HP equals 100 inches @ 155 Stock to 440 HP. That is just math, who knows? I am sure if it runs at all, it will be enough for me.

Added a picture of the front end just laying in wait.

I talked with Dan Kirts at Constantine after AOMC meet and discussed the Line2Line piston coating process and decided to have the pistons done. So in the lathe and took the cam out of the piston and re-cut the top end taper. That also gives me some clean up room for the balance of the pistons I had to buy for the special production run, should I have a cylinder problem. Dan swears by the system, If its good enough for him it works for me. As a side note, was Dan injured in a boat accident? I noted the family said they would not let him back in a boat.


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[David Mason]

Richard,

Dan went into the hospitial right after COnstantine. He was bleeding in the brain area, and had to undergo emergencey surgery. He was fighting for his life, and a long battle it is going to be. he is still not out of the woods yet, but is improving each day. He did wake up, and does have some memory, but nothing of Constantine, yet. He is now moved to a regular room, and is trying to do some physical therapy to gain some mobility of his right side. he does know all of his family, and recalls past history. It will be a long road to recovery from what Jim tells me, and what I am seeing on Facebook. I do believe he is able to take visitors now from what I see, so if you are in the area again, I bet it would do him good to see some racing buddies.

[Tim Kurcz]

Any idea how much horsepower this gem will produce? The Twister IIs made close to 200 in their all-out factory tune, and they were merely cross flows.

Jeff


An OEM contact once confirmed Quincy loopers were known to deliver an astounding 6HP/In3 (over a very narrow powerband). Taking a conservative view at half the output, the "Looper Beast" should produce 300-ish HP. The larger question becomes: Will the driveline take it?

My guess is the "Beast" will be pressed for short blips to something less than blowover speed for the sheer joy of acceleration. Under these conditions, the gearcase, rotating and reciprocating parts should survive for quite some time.

That said, my comparatively low-output turbo 56 OMC (only 150-ish HP) needs pistons after about 5 hours operation (and two head gaskets). The fact is neither engine will be stressed to deliver full power for very long: Lakes are too short, and life is too precious.

This is a spectacular project regardless. Hats off to Dick Austin for seeing this through!

Tim

PS: As Hillsdale is not happening, perhaps you might consider mocking it up for Suters?

Tim

[BJuby]

Are you talking about the 6 cylinder event in hillsdale being cancelled, or something different? While my 6 wint be ready for it I was considering hearing out there to be a spectator.

[Tim Kurcz]

Are you talking about the 6 cylinder event in hillsdale being cancelled, or something different? While my 6 wint be ready for it I was considering hearing out there to be a spectator.

Clarification: Dick Austin is likely unable, but the event is still alive. I'm looking for a roll call for testing Friday and the exhibition Saturday and Sunday. So far, confirmed are:

Rich Welch MK75H - hydro (legal 850cc Mod)
Tim Kurcz MK78H 666 conversion - hydro (legal 1100cc Pro)

Others please respond. Thanks!

Tim

[Tim Kurcz]

Clarification: Dick Austin is likely unable, but the event is still alive. I'm looking for a roll call for testing Friday and the exhibition Saturday and Sunday. So far, confirmed are:

Rich Welch MK75H - hydro (legal 850cc Mod)
Tim Kurcz MK78H 666 conversion - hydro (legal 1100cc Pro)

Others please respond. Thanks!

Tim

Much as we’d all like to see and hear the sixes run, planned attendees are unable to participate due to a myriad of technical and personal challenges.

Anybody that brings a six will get a chance to run, and you can expect another Merc six exhibition attempt next year.

Many thanks to race director Kevin Besonen and our friends at the IOA for supporting this event.

Tim

[R Austin]

Been awhile since the last post. Still making progress, just at a slower pace. Couple of weeks after my last post I lost my biggest fan and critic. My father, aged 91 years young, passed peacefully. I had hoped to complete this project before his passing.
As a result I have slowed the pace and trying to catch up on other things that I have let go.

I have posted some pics of the porting work after the sleeve installation. I made a plug to fit the cylinder prior to boring to fit the main transfer port. The upper ports have be hand finish cut due the radical change when bored to size because they lay 90 degrees to the bore and are right at the top of the cylinder. They are also cut on a bias to the cylinder so they open at the tips first to direct the initial charge to wipe up the side opposite the exhaust.

After the ports were set I bored to size.Yet be honed to a final finish and size. As the piston still will fit, I loaded number 5 & 6 piston to check rod clearances in the case and piston to deck clearance.
Need a little rod clearance work but all else looks good. Now on to gluing in the the transfer corner forms.

I did find the problem with the Quincy loop after Constantine. We can all make mistakes, and I did. A 1/4 inch pipe plug that belongs in the bottom head was not re-installed. Trying to do to much to fast will get you every time. You look at something and see what you expect and not what you really see. The result, no water in the heads and very little made it into the block. Maybe that is why it stuck.

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[Tim Kurcz]

Condolences on your loss; I'm sure your dad's spirit will beam with delight when you fire it. Again, simply fabulous! I hope you can make it to Suter's if just for fun.

Tim

[racnbns]

Sorry to hear about your dad's passing. See you at Suters.

Bruce

[chris3298]

Your dad is still with you right now on this build don't forget that, he's looking down saying thats my boy.

[Fastjeff57]

Well said.

Jeff

[Gene East]

Dick,

Your Dad was a great guy. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him. Rest assured, he is waiting for all of us at "Lake Paradise"!

[Mark Suter]

Dick,

Owen was a great guy and lots of fun to chat with. He sure was proud of what you have achieved and very interested in what you were doing. I'm sure he is still with you in spirit. My condolences for your loss.

Mark

[John Schubert T*A*R*T]

Dick,

My sincere condolences on your loss. Didn't know your dad very well but when our paths crossed his personality was very outgoing. I enjoyed talking with him.

John

[R Austin]

Thanks for the words about Dad. He is the one that made sure all the bases were covered. We will carry on with the project and he will follow along.

Have finally got the transfer blends glued into the block. What a project the turned out to be. To start, it was 2 inserts per day, tried more but had problems. That equates to 12 days to clamp and glue alone. 2 weeks.

The inner tube was a real challenge. It was in place to keep the JB Weld from leaking around the insert and into the passage and cylinder. The JB was thinned with acetone to a pour-able state, as per JB direction. I probably cut it a little more than their recommendations to make sure it would flow thru the tight clearances.

As viewed in the pictures, the tube would just inflate randomly, due to the wall thickness. I had set it up with a pressure regulator to maintain a constant pressure as it had to hold for 18 hours to prevent leakage. The thinned JB takes 12 to 18 hours to set enough to stop flowing. After a side was completed, it was baked in the over at 125 degrees for 4 hours to achieve a final cure.

The first side was an experiment of trial and error to find the right setup to hold 18 hours of pressure. The tube would just bust after a few hours or cut at the port at cylinder opening. Of course, that would take place after I had left for the night. The advantage to the first side was that I could cross thru the ports on the opposite side to enter and clean out any leakage. I knew that the problem had to solved before the second side was attempted. There would not be any way to clean the leakage.

The answer can be seen in the pictures. Complete containment of the tube. Only a small section in the cylinder next to the port opening to allow the tube to swell into the port opening and seal. Just enough pressure to cover the perimeter of the port. 10 PSI. Worked good, did not blow tube but still leaked a small amount. The final answer was the turn the tube inside out to put the mold ribs of the tube on the inside and have a smooth outer surface. Problem solved and side 2 went with out problems.


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[R Austin]

Finally got all the inserts glued into place and machined the two sides of the block. Bolted the block and case assembly together in preparation for drilling the tower housing studs.

The unit is progressing faster that my attention to keeping up with the posting. I will catch up in the next. week.

Just added pictures of the block after insert installs and machining.

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[BJuby]

OK, now i understand what you were doing with the intake ports. First time during this project I was confused by the explanations. I have seen some quincy loopers with ports covered, but not all. Why some and not all?

[R Austin]

To my knowledge, none of the original Quincy engines were filled / covered. I believe that was done on some of the copies produced after Quincy production ended.

The pieces installed in this engine are actually formed to direct the flow of the charge into the cylinder. Go back to page 19 and you will see what the insert looks like.

[chris3298]

I check email and am notified of another post and I'm like whats the mad scientist posting now can't wait to see and read all about it. :) Keep up with the great work, I'm enjoying the heck out of this thread.

Chris

[R Austin]

Glad to see there is still interest. I know that this has been a long and drawn out project. I keep finding little things that make me rethink my direction, but I just keep trying to get something accomplished everyday.

The first pictures are drilling the engine base for the tower housing studs The plate is made with a clamp in center pilot for the block and when removed has a hole and bushing to set on the tower housing, with unit in place, to fit over either a 5/8 or the 7/8 inch drive shaft for drilling the tower housing. Seems like most of the time is spent making jigs and fixtures, hours to make and minutes to do the job. Guess I knew that going into this project.

In the process of trying to round up 5 of the center main bearing holders with the heavy front half, I came across 3 sets of main carriers out of the late 60's block. The Typhoon series. They are 1/4 inch larger in diameter with the same inside mold allowing the OD to be turned down to the Mark series main size. This also allowed the removal of the bleed notches that drained the puddled fuel from idling overboard. Closer examination reveled the outer mold dies were narrowed to allow the larger bore Typhoon series, a larger land mating surface to the block, which works out well with this larger bore small main setup.

The back of the blocks had to be cut back for the piston to pull back into because the pistons are .100 thousands longer below the wrist pin. They clear the crank counter weights by about 1/32 of an inch after cutting the inside of the piston skirt on a 45 degree angle. With that being done, it required that the main blocks be pinned for alignment which would not be possible to do by hand. So with the pins out I ground them down to 1/8th inch in diameter and shortened up to minimize cracking of the mid case.

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[BJuby]

I have read that later loopers had the set pin holes in the crank case deleted. Why did you elect to utilize them? Just wondering cause this is fascinating stuff!

[R Austin]

As I stated in my last thread the mains had to have locating pins because it would be impossible to position them so the piston would not contact them as they pulled down into the pockets. The Loopers had locating pins early on but because of cracking of the thin mid case, they were eliminated. They did still have the 3/8 locating bolts and the piston did not move into any pocket. The reason that I chose the smaller main bodies was keep the mid case web as thick as possible.

The first picture is of a main block on a T2 X crank that I purchased. You will see how someone tried to punch the face to keep it from moving around in the case, all 5 had been worked over. Maybe they did not have a block and matching case, but the whole concept of the main bodies not being bolted down has bothered me, so I decided that I would bolt them as they are in a stock block. I will use a stud instead of a bolt and a nut due to the access point.

That required machining a portion of the web out at each main location, drilling the case and then reverse spot facing thru the hole for a good nut land. I am sure that will place a much better hold on the main without compromising the front case.


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[R Austin]

Thought I had better get some more information on the site as work continues. Must be ready for assembly of the power head as I have made the gasket punches and the gaskets. Got the cylinders honed to size. Installed the rotating assembly with all but the three reed replacement bearing assemblies which are still being machined by a local tool making company. Set end play on crank and rotated with all clearances good. Pistons have been set out for coating by Line 2 Line Coatings. Put o-ring grove in lower main cap and relocated the fuel recirculating port for pumping lub to the top main bearing. Will have to start on the modifications of the carbs soon. Almost there!!!!!!!!!!


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[Aeroliner]

Outstanding engineering and workmanship. Very nicely done.

Alan

[GHMiller]

Alan, I agree!!! Outstanding work!

Mr. Austin, I have one question, why 5 fuel pumps? Am I missing something or is there a reason for only 5 and not six? Thanks,

Gardner

[Powerabout]

looks very cool now...

[Tim Kurcz]

Simply stunning........ can't wait to see & hear it!

[BJuby]

I can't stop looking at the photo with the carbs on. Wow. I can't begin to fathom how many horses this beast is going to pull.

[R Austin]

Alan, I agree!!! Outstanding work!

Mr. Austin, I have one question, why 5 fuel pumps? Am I missing something or is there a reason for only 5 and not six? Thanks,

Gardner

The issue was a real estate problem. If you look between each fuel pump there is a black nut. That is the nut on the stud holding the intermediate case, along with the main thru bolts, to the block. I reasoned that if 3 fuel pumps can supply 60 cubic inches, which is 20 cubic inches per pump, then the additional 40 cubic inches of displacement can be supplied by 2 more pumps at 20 cubic inches each. I do not care for electric pumps and the only other option was to pressurize the tank with crankcase pressure. I am sure the 5 pumps will be sufficient.

[Aeroliner]

We run our Merc 44 with two pumps and turn the engine about 8,600 RPM. I know folks that only run a single pump on their 44 MOD engine and it works fine. I am sure the 5 pump configuration will provide far more fuel then is needed. The single feed line might be an issue but if this was made into a larger manifold it might distribute the fuel better.

Second thought! Looking at the carbs they have a rubber hose between each carb so 6 carbs equal's five hose sections. If a tee was placed in each hose then the 5 pumps would connect very nicely and the engine would have a very nice balanced fuel system.

Also remember that the 75-H engine only has 2 fuel pumps and a inlet fuel distribution block.


Alan

[GHMiller]

The issue was a real estate problem. If you look between each fuel pump there is a black nut. That is the nut on the stud holding the intermediate case, along with the main thru bolts, to the block. I reasoned that if 3 fuel pumps can supply 60 cubic inches, which is 20 cubic inches per pump, then the additional 40 cubic inches of displacement can be supplied by 2 more pumps at 20 cubic inches each. I do not care for electric pumps and the only other option was to pressurize the tank with crankcase pressure. I am sure the 5 pumps will be sufficient.

I understand what you are saying, it make sense to me now, thank you for your explanation. I believe you are correct that five pumps should be sufficient. On my mod 44 I run one inline six, 150hp, fuel pump and it works perfectly.

[Fastjeff57]

Can anyone explain where all those fuel hoses in the photo are going to/ coming from?

Jeff

[Aeroliner]

The square block on the center fuel pump mount has the fuel inlet at the bottom hose. From the fuel block the upper hose feeds the top pump and the lower feeds the bottom pump. The carbs are all on a common fuel manifold with the upper pump feeding at the top and of course the lower pump feeding to the bottom. Hope this helps on the 75-H photo.

Alan

[R Austin]

Correct Alan, the plan is use 5 tee's in the hoses between carbs. The question is the number of fuel pumps it will take to supply the required amount of alcohol not gas. Having just 50% of the BTUs of gas, it requires twice the quantity. That's why the 3 pump comparison to the 60 inch looper was made. I have no doubt 5 are enough.

your collection is absolutely incredible.

[Fastjeff57]

Outstanding explanation!

Thanks.

Jeff

[R Austin]

Few more pictures of some of the small work that has to be done. Trimmed the sleeves on the block and faired in the transfer passages.

Got the pistons back from coating process and fit to the cylinders and then fit up the rings. Now the block, case, and pistons are ready for final assembly. Just waiting on the completion of the center main bearing races.

Welded up the drain passages in the back of the manifold reed cover. Then refaced both surfaces.

While waiting on the bearings, I have started to modify the carbs and continuing work on the megaphone patterns. Coming up on the second anniversary of the start of this project. Now looking at the end of the tunnel.



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[F-12]

Beautiful, Mr. Austin.

[Fastjeff57]

Your photography is also excellent, by the way.

Jeff

[BJuby]

That carb adapter is simply an amazing piece of craftmanship. Well done, and SO CLOSE!

[GHMiller]

That carb adapter is simply an amazing piece of craftmanship. Well done, and SO CLOSE!


I agree with you! Absolutely amazing!! Can't wait to hear and see this monster run.

[R Austin]

That carb adapter is simply an amazing piece of craftmanship. Well done, and SO CLOSE!

Thanks for the compliments, however the carb adaptor reed cover is a Mercury part from the TII X. I had to weld and resurface to eliminate the drain passages.
Credit where credit is due, Mercury.

[Aeroliner]

Without a question this creation is an engineering marvel with a blend of new original designed components and some tried and true Mercury items. When the creation comes to life it surely will bring a smile to everyone's face. The machining of the components has been a slide show worth seeing. It would be cool to make a CD with all the photos along the way. Can not wait to see this beauty standing tall.

Again Well Done!

Alan

[R Austin]

Still waiting on the main bearing races, so work continues on the carbs conversion to alcohol. Added some pictures of the small parts being made for the conversion. Probably not as interesting as the engine work, but work that is still required to complete the project.
The conversion requires new main nozzles to eliminate the atomizing air from entering the tube. Just solid fuel flow. The main fix jet is removed and replaced by an adjustable needle valve that seats into the jet hole.
The carb bowl had a 1/4 in pipe plug for access to the main jet. That was removed and drilled and taped to 9/16" X 18 thread which is the thread and size of the pipe plug, just straight and not tapered. An aluminum adapter is made to screw into the bowl to accept the needle valve which will include o-ring seal and spring loaded for adjustment friction to hold adjustment.


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[baldad45]

As usual very impressive , I'm waiting to see your main bearing solution . Final assembly must be in sight now. Glen

[chris3298]

Dam you're a genius :) You are a very rare breed, there just isn't that many that skilled around like you.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

None of this is boring at all. In fact these little details make it all the more entertaining, let alone amazing.

[BJuby]

Are those adjustables a mercury part or did you fabricate them from stock. All my adjustables for the Carter N's I have for my two loopers are missing. Just curious.

[R Austin]

As the projects 2nd year end mark approaches, I am still working on the carbs and waiting for the main bearing shells.

The existing needle and seat will not supply the required amount of fuel so I pulled the pressed in float valve seats and have found an auto valve set that can replace the existing setup. It requires tapping the hole for the new seat. I aligned the carb with a pilot shaft that fits the stepped bore. The float valve has a 3/8 fine thread body and the casting with the seat removed is the right size for tapping with out drilling. First a starter tap followed by a plug tap and finely to a depth of 1/2 inch with a custom ground bottom tap to the bottom.

Then the excess was milled down to the base of the float hinge tower to allow for shortening the body and the valve far enough below the float hinge center line.

The idle/low speed fuel supply was from a tube that ran down the center of the high speed nozzle. This reduces the flow thru the high speed circuit and the flow thur the high speed jet. All fuel with this setup had to flow thru the high speed jet. So, to improve fuel quantity to both circuits, I removed the central idle circuit tube and relocated under the idle speed screw passage with a new tube. The hole in the top that the tube was removed from is tapped and plugged with an aluminum 6/32 stud. Now both the high speed and low speed circuits are clean, independent and can flow more total fuel. Just like the Model N Carters.

That of course required making new supply tubes. Taking a brass rod and drilling and reaming to the tube O.D.,to keep the tube from buckling or bending. Then grinding a taper with a smooth radius on the shank end of the correct size drill, I clamped the drill securely in a large vise with the drill exposed the length of the expansion. I then set the tube on the drill point and drove down with a hammer forming the expanded end to seat in the tube bore to complete the seal below the low speed idle screw and lock in place.

For those of you following this project, I wish you a Safe and Joyous Holiday Season.

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT YEAR.



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[Aeroliner]

Outstanding attention to detail! The engine will be to nice to run hard and risk a failure. Hopefully the engine will be sound and set the standard for scratch built projects.

Alan

[R Austin]

As the reed main replacements near completion, I decided to make a new tower housing casting. The Jones tower sets the motor back about 3 inches. This does two things, first it moves the entire unit behind the steering pivot point which eliminates any servo assist to the steering, and second the arc path of the prop is increased to the point that the steering radius is severely limited. The unit has to be kept deep in the water to clear the bottom so as not to notch out the bottom of the boat. The increased length of the twin pinion compounds the problem. I can, with this new housing and some mods to the unit, move the pivot to within 5/16 of an inch of the standard position.

In the first picture you can see where some prop work had been done on the bottom sometime in the past.

I will add to the forward end of the adapter plate casting pattern, an upper pivot boss and recast.

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[BJuby]

Very nice! And I spy a 75H tower and foot :D. Question, so this boat is not setup for a surface piercing prop? I don't see how it could with the way the boat comes back on both sides.

[chris3298]

That is insane, welder, machinist now woodworker?? come on, there isn't much you can't do.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I'm being blown away all over again.

[R Austin]

These are cabover boats, The proper set of the cabover is to set the aft of the boat level with the world. Set the engine on the boat tucked under 6 degrees. Set a line from the aft bottom. level, to the sponson. The line will be above the sponson. Measure the distance from the line to the bottom of the sponson. Set the motor height so that the center of the prop shaft at mid prop hub is the same distance below the aft bottom.

When the boat is running the aft of the boat is 4 to 6 inches off the water and planes on the bottom of the gear case. Run a 7 degree rake prop for 1 degree bow lift. and this is what it looks like: On the trailer with the 6 degree tuck under and what it looks like coming at you. At speed the sponsons are off the water and you are riding a bubble of air. I think these might qualify as surface piercing.

My wood working did start on page 1 of this post.


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[Steve Litzell]

Hi Dick, I have been trying to get in touch with you by E mail, I have some stuff for you. Steve

[R Austin]

Been a few days since my last post. Project still in process, just moving slowly as we try to find our way through 110 plus inches of snow. No place to even pile it anymore.
So much for that. I have posted a few more pictures of the tower housing pattern. Hope to finish that this weekend and get it off to the foundry. The center main has been completed and test fit on the crank. Need to finish fitting up the spiral lock rings that hold the two halves for assembly to the crank. That will be for a later post.
Hope spring comes soon. Looks like we could have snow into June before total thaw.

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[Tim Kurcz]

Simply fabulous!

Think Hillsdale, September.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Reminds me of the two wooden pieces Harry Pasturczak made to have a company cast two pieces to be fitted together to make a venture safety device for our vacuum trucks. My Dad got a patent on it and had them made at a sheet metal place until he met Harry. After they got to be good friends Harry said he could have them made of cast aluminum, and my Dad had 250 sets made. Harry gave my Dad the wood pieces after it was all over, and they were painted silver. They were stored on a shelf up at his pump house for many years. I would occasionally look at them and be amazed at not only Harry's work, but exactly how they fit into the picture. Now I am seeing the type of thing Harry did to get to the bottom line of the aluminum castings. Thanks very much for the posts Richard.

[Fastjeff57]

Where this project is concerned, "fabulous work" is the new normal.

Jeff

[R Austin]

After a year in the making the three center main bearings have been completed. The first picture is a pair of 60-66 inch inline cranks. The first crank for the 6 cylinder in the Mark 75's had a single row of needles in the main. The later cranks had a double row of needles and used the same shell and rollers in all the inline 6's till the end of their production. The single land between the double row of needles and its clearance with the shell made the seal between the cylinders. A labyrinth type seal from the oil, like a reed block but without groves to hold more oil. That said, the old style crank had a double seal, two lands. To make the bearing work, I had to incorporate the lands in the bearing shell to make the seal and to retain the end play of the roller.

The process was to machine the bearing in one piece and heat treat. After they were heat treated the ends were ground to size. Then cleaned the OD by grinding to a common oversize OD. They were then chucked and the inside roller thrust faces were ground to the correct size. That would be the roller end play dimension. After those operations were completed, the bearings were cut in halve with wire feed EDM. Now we were able to chuck the halves, which had numbers etched in the ends so they were not switched or reversed, in a 6 jaw chuck on an ID grinder. By indicating on the ends to insure no step in the roller thrust face and indicating the OD to have the same readings, due to the appox .010 removed by cutting, at the cut line and 90 degrees for centering. The ID of the seal face and the ID of the bearing runway were ground to size. Long winded process. Now we were ready to grind the OD. For that process I made a mandrel to run in a center-less grinder. The end of the mandrel had a land turned to the shell roller surface size and rare earth magnets inserted 180 degrees apart. These locked the shell halves to the mandrel along with a cap on the end of the mandrel to clamp the shells against one of the roller thrust faces. This also reduced the possibility of the shell rotating on the mandrel. Turned the OD to size and cut groves in the OD for spiral lock rings.

I had concerns about the getting the spiral lock on the crank, but they threaded around like putting a key on a key ring. They will be placed on the crank first and then the loaded halves will be placed between them and then snapped around the bearing.

Was a long and trying process, but came out as I had hoped.


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[R Austin]

Time for a progress update. I have completed the patterns for the tower housing and power head to housing adapter which has the upper pivot boss added. I also patterned the lower pivot boss which will weld to the gear housing.

I have attached photos of the finished patterns and they have been taken to the foundry.

I will now, with all parts completed and checked out, start a trial assembly of the complete power head.

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[R Austin]

I have attached photos of the lower unit as it has been cut for attachment of the lower pivot shaft boss. Sad to cut a virtually new unit, but had to do to complete my goal. The wood pattern is placed in the weld position. The front cut out is still nearly 1/2 of an inch in front of the water passage that comes up under the water pump base forward of the drive shaft. The weld will only be in and forward of the water passage and the extensions of the casting to the rear are pressure pads that align with the solid part of the gear case between the drive shaft cavities. I will remove the forward drive shaft to shorten and re-cut the spines. Welding and machining will be done then.

The need came for a new clamp bracket. The boat has a 90 degree transom and the standard clamp swivel bracket assembly on a 90 degree transom will not allow the engine to adjust parallel to the water let alone the required 6 degree tuck under. You can see in the drawing that I let the swivel bracket pivot on the tilt adjust pin 8 degrees back to a new tilt pin location. That adjustment is made in the new clamp bracket.

Have assembled the crankshaft with the main bearings and the rods. Just got the spiral lock rings for the wrist pin keepers, so I can hang the pistons. The spiral locks for the main bearings were placed on a surface grinder and ground to a tight fit in the bearing race grooves. I then made a socket mandural on the lathe and ground the ID of the locks to match the shell groove diameter. This was done to provide a perfect, if there is such a thing, alignment vertically of the two halves. These were cut with EDM and not broken like OEM bearing races. The rings were then loaded on the crank and then the loaded shells between the rings. Then the rings were loaded up into the grooves and lightly tapped into the grooves for positive seating.


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[BJuby]

Dick, if any situation or project justified messing with a speedmaster like this, THIS would be it. Awesome. Out of curiosity what generation/year is this speedmaster?

[R Austin]

The unit was purchased new from Mercury in 1970 or 71. I bought 2 left hand units that I was going to use on the rotary valve motors that I was working on. This one ran maybe 8-10 laps. The other is still hanging on the wall untouched as it came from Mercury. Paid 620.00 a piece back then. They are twin pinions. That is why I am using it on the 100 inch motor.

[R Austin]

I guess we are at the point where a picture is worth a thousand words. I am now in the test assembly and will do final fitting of the perifferials that will complete the powerhead. the electrical, fuel system and linkages. Next few posts will be just pictures.


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[Aeroliner]

The workmanship is second to non not withstanding the outstanding engineering. It will be a true thing of beauty when it is running on the water. Can't wait to see the finished product. Also love the lower unit/tower housing work.

Alan

[curbman]

Looking very good, we all can not wait to see you on the water with this project.

[BJuby]

I assume you're satisfied with the fitting? Truly awesome work. This was the moment I have been waiting for (other than it firing in the future). Also see a very cool original looper 6 on a 75H tower ;)

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Once your project is finished it could be made into a college course with three semester hours plus a lab. Engineering students would enjoy this class I believe.