Bonneville towers and Chrysler racers

[Sunburnt]

Here is a couple of Pic's of another project boat from the Dick's Marine stable (59powercat1400). This will be a sister boat to the Green Fantasy.

The Hull is a 63 Craig Craft Kit Cat.. a clone to the Viking SuperCat. The deck, from a Fantasy Cab over Hydro has had a few mild modifications.

Motors are 105's, with the short version counter rotating Chrysler Lower's.

Way to go Dick!!

[BBaron]

Here is a picture of the boat that won the 87or88 nationals at Kankakee Il. and the one on the left ran 2
thease are force motors on Bonneville exhaust housings that and the person who owned thease boats is from Texas and the drivers Roddey Forman
and Terry Strock and the blue boat was in the Chicago boat show that year

[brichter]

.....I'd appreciate any leads. Thanks!

[BBaron]

Check with clampon he may can help you as he is from the Austin Tx ares and also knows the people who owned them they may still have some parts but I don't know
Good luck

[Bob Rusnak]

Can anyone provide some info on Bonneville towers? I have one for a Chrysler and would like more info on them. What all did they make? When did they make them? Does anyone have more info on Chrysler racers than what is in the factory brocures? I have a 105 and a later one that was supposed to have been built my Mercury under the Force banner. Any info is welcome and greatly appreciated.

I attached a photo of a Chrysler Race engine at one of our local Eastern Outboard Racing Club racen in the the early 1070's. Interesting engine..Bob N-96

[brichter]

Check with clampon he may can help you as he is from the Austin Tx ares and also knows the people who owned them they may still have some parts but I don't know
Good luck

Thanks for the lead, I had already contacted him but too late. The ones he was selling are gone.

[brichter]

T-Rex knows how to make them go fast, but he's not a big historian.

Chrysler built racers from 1968 until 1976, ranging from 105 hp to 150 hp. Chrysler got out of the outboard business in 1983 when they sold the outboard stuff to an investment group that called itself "US Marine". I think US Marine sold out to Merc in the early 1990's. I've heard the Merc/Force racer rumor many times, but I very much doubt Merc had anything to do with any Force racer given the stretch of years between the Chrysler racers and the year Merc acquired Force.

There are a few simularities between the Chrysler racing lower unit and the McCulloch racing lower unit. This is because when McCulloch got out of racing in 1967 their racing R&D team became available and was picked up by Chrysler. The team consisted of Bob Kies, Jack Oxley and Danny Snead. I located and interviewed Kies and Oxley a few years back about their involvement with both companies. The early 105 Chyrsler racers just had the racing lower unit bolted on to a std short shaft powerhead. There were also racers badged as 120 and 135. Next they added the open megaphone exhaust and finally larger carbs, L-shaped piston rings and a higher compression ratio on the 150 hp racer. The early racing lower unit used a fat 7/8" prop shaft and couldn't use Merc Speedmaster props. The 150 type racing lower unit used the same splines on the prop shaft, but had more space between the shaft and exhaust outlet, so a larger diameter prop could be used compared to a Merc Super Speedmaster. There was also a 2" longer racing lower unit for bigger boats with taller transoms (the extra 2" is all under the cav plate). Chrysler never made a big splash in APBA OPC racing, but did very well in outboard drags, holding many speed records over the years.

The Bonneville mid sections were made by Bob Florian in California during the time Chrysler motors were popular and fast at the drag races. Bob also made short mids for 6 cylinder Mercs and 4 cylinder D Mercs; again popular with drag racers. The time frame was probably 1969 to 1972 for all Bonnies.

The Bonneville mids were intended to be used with Merc D clamps & swivel assemblies. The gear ratio is 17:15 (7% overdrive). There were optional 7% reduction gears, but they are very rare.

The most common ratio was the 15:14 (7% overdrive) and the much rarer 14:15 (7% underdrive). Strangely, there are also some units that were made with 19:18 gears (5% overdrive). I wonder why they would bother to make a second ratio that was so close to the standard one? Maybe the original ratio was 19:18 and later changed to the 15:14 to beef them up(???).

[Mark75H]

Strangely, there are also some units that were made with 19:18 gears (5% overdrive). I wonder why they would bother to make a second ratio that was so close to the standard one? Maybe the original ratio was 19:18 and later changed to the 15:14 to beef them up(???).

Kies strongly believed in alternate gear ratios and non-synchonized tooth ratios. The Mac's had many ratios and probably no matched tooth ratios.

A clue as to whether the 19:18 ratio was early or late would be whether the prop shaft was 7/8" or splined.

5% was probably to appease some racers that wanted a ratio closer to the Merc 1:1 ratio without going to 1:1.

1:1 gears wear out quicker than one tooth off ... after Carl was gone even Merc admitted this and change the Super Speedmaster to one tooth off.

[brichter]

Kies strongly believed in alternate gear ratios and non-synchonized tooth ratios. The Mac's had many ratios and probably no matched tooth ratios.

A clue as to whether the 19:18 ratio was early or late would be whether the prop shaft was 7/8" or splined.

5% was probably to appease some racers that wanted a ratio closer to the Merc 1:1 ratio without going to 1:1.

1:1 gears wear out quicker than one tooth off ... after Carl was gone even Merc admitted this and change the Super Speedmaster to one tooth off.

I had always thought it was the other way around, My reasoning is 1:1 gears always touch the same tooth so they will wear in to a tooth.
That is why you mark them before you take them apart.
When we ran the OMC V4s, we had a 1:1 that we put about 30 hours on and never had it apart. The 15:17 case lasted 3 hours and that was it.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

All I know is the "F" Konigs usually had a 1:1 and the "D"'s had 15:16. They were both so hard on lower units you counted by heats on them. Lost more races to a blown 1:1 than a 15:16.