Thanks Thanks:  0
Likes Likes:  0
Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 26

Thread: Merc 20H conversion year?

  1. #1
    Team Member Andrew 4CE's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Brampton, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    35
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default Merc 20H conversion year?

    What year did the popper conversion come out? These were added to motors and not sold on a motor correct?

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Team Member Andrew 4CE's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Brampton, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    35
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Thanks! Answer of 1959 was PM to me.

  3. #3
    Team Member russhill's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Posts
    103
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default The Toilet Bowl

    1959 sounds right, but it was a sad day in the history of stock outboard racing.
    Now, I didn't really like the Hot Rods and I was a pretty big Mercury fan. The stock Mercury 20H was getting beat regularly by the cheezy little Hot Rods so Mercury put out a midyear hop up kit--Tuned pipes, longer skeg and under drive gear ratio. And maybe a different carburetor.
    The legal implications were questionable. The Stock Outboard Racing Commission had a lot more people (like everybody) than the Hot Rod representation (like none), so the hop up kit was approved immediately, in mid year and the 20Hs again prevailed.
    This whole deal really hurt stock racing. First it showed that Mercury would prevail—no outside competition. Although the vast majority of the B racers were Mercury, a lot of them resented the whole deal and didn’t make the conversion—and quit racing. And finally, the loud noise from the tuned pipe toilet bowl kept all of stock racing off of many bodies of water.
    Finally, note that I never raced B. I had a Hot Rod once, took it to a race and couldn’t get it started, so I sold it. I didn’t really like Champions.

  4. #4
    Barry Rees Heliarc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Region 3
    Posts
    16
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by russhill View Post
    1959 sounds right, but it was a sad day in the history of stock outboard racing.
    Now, I didn't really like the Hot Rods and I was a pretty big Mercury fan. The stock Mercury 20H was getting beat regularly by the cheezy little Hot Rods so Mercury put out a midyear hop up kit--Tuned pipes, longer skeg and under drive gear ratio. And maybe a different carburetor.
    The legal implications were questionable. The Stock Outboard Racing Commission had a lot more people (like everybody) than the Hot Rod representation (like none), so the hop up kit was approved immediately, in mid year and the 20Hs again prevailed.
    This whole deal really hurt stock racing. First it showed that Mercury would prevail—no outside competition. Although the vast majority of the B racers were Mercury, a lot of them resented the whole deal and didn’t make the conversion—and quit racing. And finally, the loud noise from the tuned pipe toilet bowl kept all of stock racing off of many bodies of water.
    Finally, note that I never raced B. I had a Hot Rod once, took it to a race and couldn’t get it started, so I sold it. I didn’t really like Champions.
    I do not believe that the tuned exhaust was necessary. It was overkill in my view. The KA-7A and the 16:21 gears would have been enough to make the 20H competitive against the Hot Rod. Then again, I do not think that Mercury had "competitive" in mind.

  5. #5
    Sam Cullis Mark75H's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Annapolis, MD USA
    Posts
    1,795
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Yes, it is ironic that by the time Merc got these pieces into production and approved, Hot Rod was out of business.


    The tuned exhaust came out of frustration at Merc over the original tower being a power robber. On powerhead dyno runs the 20H was equal to or more powerful than the Hot Rod ... Strang had a propshaft adapter rigged up to check power as run on the water and it showed the original the Hot Rod tower was fairly neutral, but the 20H mid tower dramatically reduced power.

    The original plan was to just make a new 20H tower that didn't kill power. A number of tries were made ... unsuccessfully. Instead of continuing to find a neutral tower configuration, in frustration, Kiekhaefer gave the order to develop the toilet bowl.


    Merc made 4,000 20H's between '54 and '56. There were many unsold 20H's at dealers into the early 1960's. It is possible that a few of these got converted before they were sold, but it was not the general practice to do so ... most of the 20H's were already sold and being raced before they were converted.

    The conversion kits remained available from Merc up to about 1970.
    Since 1925, about 150 different racing outboards have been made.


  6. #6
    Jerry Wienandt
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Stockbridge, WI
    Posts
    19
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default 20H Conversion

    Jon Walters has a photo of the 1959 Neosho, WI BU race... that was the first time the 20H's with the conversion kits were raced. Jon won that race on a wide Sid copy, a Broas Craft. If memory serves, he still had 1:1 gears.

    When I converted my 20H for 1960, my first season of racing, I ran 1:1 at first, as I couldn't afford the gears AND new props! 16:21 was better, once I got there.

    Jon, any chance you could post thay photo and fill in the background info?

    Jerry

  7. #7
    Bob O'Connor Jr,
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Farmington, Maine
    Posts
    0
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by russhill View Post
    1959 sounds right, but it was a sad day in the history of stock outboard racing.
    Now, I didn't really like the Hot Rods and I was a pretty big Mercury fan. The stock Mercury 20H was getting beat regularly by the cheezy little Hot Rods so Mercury put out a midyear hop up kit--Tuned pipes, longer skeg and under drive gear ratio. And maybe a different carburetor.
    The legal implications were questionable. The Stock Outboard Racing Commission had a lot more people (like everybody) than the Hot Rod representation (like none), so the hop up kit was approved immediately, in mid year and the 20Hs again prevailed.
    This whole deal really hurt stock racing. First it showed that Mercury would prevail—no outside competition. Although the vast majority of the B racers were Mercury, a lot of them resented the whole deal and didn’t make the conversion—and quit racing. And finally, the loud noise from the tuned pipe toilet bowl kept all of stock racing off of many bodies of water.
    Finally, note that I never raced B. I had a Hot Rod once, took it to a race and couldn’t get it started, so I sold it. I didn’t really like Champions.
    I think my dad,Bob O'Connor said he got his kit in 1960, he was the second one to get it here in the north east, Bill Allen was the first.

  8. #8
    Team Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Ripon, WI
    Posts
    25
    Post Thanks / Like

    Question Champ Hot Rods

    Also remember that Champion had the about 15 cuber "A" engine designed by this time.
    They had built 3 engines at the factory. Chances are this engine would easily run with a KG4
    racer. What do think Carl would have done if they built these and they were approved???

    Cooper

  9. #9
    Team Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    MD
    Posts
    94
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Andrew,

    In my case, it's 2010.....

    I have the conversion kit in the shop and I'm picking up an unconverted 20H next week (and hopefully a SidCraft to run it on )

    Dave

  10. #10
    Team Member Andrew 4CE's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Brampton, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    35
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Haha, cool. Bring it up to Canada and race it some time!

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Finish on 20H Conversion LU
    By RogerH in forum Technical Discussion
    Replies: 75
    Last Post: 06-07-2014, 03:15 AM
  2. Number of 20H conversion exhausts
    By Mark75H in forum Outboard Racing History
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 07-19-2007, 05:49 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •