Turner Pistons

[Ron Hill]

http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forums/showthread.php?16805-The-aftermarket-suppliers&highlight=turner+pistons

My dad an Wally Tuner were good friends. https://www.google.com/search?q=Wally+turner+outboard+motor+pistons&sa=N&rlz=1C1FLDB_enUS512US512&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=kvPLU76pMcOsyATqlIK4BA&ved=0CCgQsAQ4Cg&biw=1680&bih=925



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Y-116 Full House Mouse


owner / driver
Bob Foley


location
Escondido, CA


hull info / class
Original 48 ci class hydroplane (Y)
Built in 1954 from Kenny Ingram plans by DeSilva


LOA / beam
11' / 6'


motor
Four cylinder - Modified - Crosley 44 cu in, SOHC motor. 85 HP.
.100" over bore, 2.6" ported, compression ratio 12.5:1.George Salih machined Turner cast pistons; full floating wrist pins with teflon buttons, boxed rods, forged steel crank, Crane 9000 cam, Crane cam followers & valve springs; lightened Crofton valves. Oil pump runs at 1/2 engine speed. Modified distributor, reinforced mounting tab for points. Usually ran crankshaft scraper; oil control was always a problem. Runs on Methanol through Amal 1.125" TT carbs. Two fuel pumps (Bendix), one for each carb. .125 needle jets, main jets from .101 to .109 with one jet size larger in front carb.


gearbox
direct


propeller
Oakland Johnson A SPl 7.75 x 12; Cary 8.5 x 13; Hi J 8 x 12; Hi J 8 x 13.5; Hi J 8.25 x 14.5


years raced
1954-1979



1954 - 1956(?) Sonny Meyer
1958 - 1962(?) Mickey Remund
1964 - 1967 John Lyle
1967 - 1979 Bob Foley Competition Speed Record (5 mile): Nov. 6, 1954 - Salton Sea, CA - Sonny Meyer - Lou-Kay 99-Y - 67.72 mph.
1960 Nationals (Remund) 3rd
1961 Nationals (Remund) 4th
1975 Winternationals West (Foley) 2nd
1977 Nationals (Foley) 5th



launch:
land display

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http://www.vintagehydroplanes.com/boats/full_house_mouse/y_116race.jpg

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[Ron Hill]

https://www.google.com/search?q=Wally+turner+outboard+motor+pistons&sa=N&rlz=1C1FLDB_enUS512US512&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=kvPLU76pMcOsyATqlIK4BA&ved=0CCgQsAQ4Cg&biw=1680&bih=925

That 48 Hysros names Lou Kay. Lou was for Louis Meyers. Nancy Kay was his daughter. Louis Meyer was the Meyer or Meyer-Drake Offenhauser. Louie was the first three time winner of the Indy 550, Dale Drake was his riding mechanic.

George Saligh, bought Turner Pistons.

[Ron Hill]

George Salih
<img id="yui_3_16_0_1_1412634482276_12338" style="" class="yiv9742728212" align="left" height="190" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="300">Born in 1914, George Salih was an engineer and foreman for Meyer-Drake, the producer of the Offenhauser engine that would dominate the Indy 500 for three decades. He also built the Belond-AP Special, the winning car of the Indy 500 race in 1957, in the garage of his Whittier home He lived in Whittier on Milliken Avenue with his wife, Freda, and daughter Nannette. George used to cruise down Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles with friends and race cars on the Muroc Dry Lake in the desert. He used his own money to finance the race car but eventually lost his job due to too much time off for trips to Indy. The “Offy” engine, as it was nicknamed, was laid on its side and ran cooler. It gave it a sleek, slated profile and handled very well. The off-center weight of the tilted Offy made it quick on corners. By next year, every other race car copied its style

George teamed up with A.C. Agajanian and driver Jimmy Bryan in the Italian road race in Monza, Italy. Italian road racing required rear view mirrors, so to qualify, Salih taped a dentist’s mirror onto the windshield. Bryan went on to win the 1957 race in Monza and in 1958 in the Indy 500. From 1930-1960, the Meyer-Drake Offenhauser engine won 24 Indy 500 races. No drivers were hurt in the Salih race car. Salih was inducted into the racing Hall of Fame in May 1993.

George Salih died in 1984 at the age of 69, one month before his birthday. Freda Salih died in September 2007. His daughter, Nan, still lives in Southern California and collaborated with the Whittier Museum to present a permanent exhibit on her father, which is currently on display.

[smittythewelder]

I know Turner made pistons for the Konig Deflector B/C engines of the Fifties, and have a notion that he made the whole range of Merc deflector pistons for alky motors. Did Salih continue this after he bought the company?

I was a little kid, but I remember when the Salih roadsters came to Indy. I think Sam Hanks was the first to win with one of them.

[Ron Hill]

After my dad built my brother's "PUMPER" "A" motor and my brother won the 1949 Hearst Regatta, many racers started asking my dad for help with their motor (s). Doctor Wayne R. Ingels (Big Doc and Little Doc) was medical examiner for LA County, California. "DOC" would have my dad machine pistons for his son's "A" and "C". My dad would buy "TURNER" blanks. My dad would machine these pistons and "CAM" them and they worked well. Once "DOC" brought about twelve pistons to may dad and said they were "FREE", as Turner had made too many for an order and so "DOC" bought them cheap. Everyone of those pistons "STUCK". My dad assumed that maybe they had never been heat treated.

When Russ (My brother) took over Drake in 1979, he met with Wally Turn about making pistons for Drake. George Salih had been running Drake until my brother took over.

As far as I know George Salih had tried to make outboard pistons but the make was small. When George worked for Drake, I think Salih pistons was out of business.

[smittythewelder]

Slightly off-topic, but I remember when all the 48 Hydros looked like the one in the above photo. Jack Colcock built several for guys up here, a couple of the faster ones being Lyn Montgomery's "Short Snort" and Jack Philpott's "Voodoo IV". Philpott's little red 48 always looked impressive . . . until the summer when Mickey Remund showed up at Greenlake with the "Piranha." None of the old 48s had a prayer against the Piranha.

Then a couple of years later, a guy named Steve Ball came into town with one of the weirdest looking hydros ever, a 48 he named "Dragonfly." Set a kilo record with it, too.