Originally Posted by
Master Oil Racing Team
It was the following Saturday I took our 15 cu. in. Merc/Quincy to Dan Waggoner's shop to diagnose why our dependable little motor wouldn't start after it was completely dry..had decent plugs and the fuel was fresh.
I had called Dan to make sure it would be OK if I came over. He was ready. I brought the motor into his shop and he had me set it on a slanted 2X8 or 2X10 rack where he set motors. He had already made a space. Since Dan had just come from the race where our motor quit...and he apparently had watched or heard of the laps I was making, he had made a quick inspection and showed me something we never noticed.
On the right side of the block (looking forward), there was a solid crack. It started at the top and ran through the tower housing until it quit where the lower unit was bolted on,
All the science I had learned at that point about water, and hydraulic pressure didn't mean anything compared to what Dan showed me. He said I had the motor running and the carb open......yes!......and water came into the motor.........Yes!..........and the motor quit.......Yes! Then he traced with his finger, the crack running from the block, down to where it was so great it split the tower housing. Dan's explanation of how the water did all that in just a couple of minutes was more than I ever got in science class.
I don't remember what happened next. I don't know if Baldy had Dan replace the busted parts and rebuild the motor and buy a new tower housing, or if we replaced the old powerhead with another used one. Some of these parts are not forgotten....but that Baldy did stuff that I didn't know about.
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