Towers anyone ?

[will350]

I "could've" been doing my dishes .... or my laundry... or fixing the broken clutch diaphragm in my dirty S-15 ..... But NOOOOO . Ron posts a picture of that shiny OMC tower and all I wanted to do was take off some of the "pointy things" .
Now I have to do "something" with the clamps ( you just CAN'T put this on a set of ugly clamps ) I found something else "interesting" while I was
cogitating ( I think that means staring at something with a blank,really blank in my case lately, mind )
THe Polaris and Rotax bolt pattern are the same but the bolts are different size ( 7/16 vs 3/8). The crank centers are different . So ........ with some bushings and the proper spacers you could run either on this tower .
This could be even better than I thought when I started this .
Will

[RichardKCMo]

Are you taking Orders? How much for the clutch? Have you thought about running in Mod? Curiousity gets the best thought sometimes.
RichardKCMo

[will350]

Are you taking Orders? How much for the clutch? Have you thought about running in Mod? Curiousity gets the best thought sometimes.
RichardKCMo

Well... If some one were to want one of these ? I'd be happy to build one for anybody who would want one . It beats the fool out of what I usually do to make my tax payments.( I used to be able to spend an entire day on a creeper , rolling around under a car or truck but now days it's a different story)
I'd have to sit down and figure out a fair price for the time and material.
I don't "think" it would astronomical . It would depend on what you wanted in terms of a motor and foot mostly and whether or not you provided them or I had to . I can tell you that , as I remember, my 250 bravo was less than $300 from the flywheel to the prop. The motor was free, the lower unit ( OMC A foot ) was $200 and I can't imagine that I spent more than another $100 for the rest . For the one I'm doing now .......The range on the motor , $300-500 , new Yamato 302 lower unit $700 ( with a nose cone and 9/16 prop shaft and coupler ) clamps , $100 (?) , new material , maybe another $150 .This all just a guess but I would think a "high side" estimate to be right around $1500- 1700 for pieces and roughly the same for my time . ( "I think"
that would be about "right" ? I've never really totaled up what I have in one so there might be something I'm missing )
The clutch cost $175 and that's just for the unit . No drum . I'm going to inquire if they can make the outer segments out of aluminum to help get the engagement speed up . ( 2500-3000 would make a world of difference to the 1600 or so it has now) They make all sorts of different applications for this thing but the operating range for the drums they provide isn't anywhere near what these will turn as they're a centrifugal cast unit . I guess you could try one and hope it would stand up ? You "might" be able to shrink a steel band around it for some "extra" strength ?
As far as MOD goes ........ They never were "real" outboard motors from a production stand point. Trying to create real parity between them and what's there now would make the "AXS vs OMC" and the "Tahotsu-Bass vs Mercury"
thing fade away to nothing in comparison . There are just too many of them
and all with different porting and carburation etc. The inspectors would have to have an entire rolling library to even begin to have enough info . No offense
but those kinds of thoughts could easily get you a visit from the "tar and feathers" brigade . ( Something I would've had long ago if some folks knew where I lived due to my ,ummmm, "attitude". LOL ) These are basically an APBA PRO motor on gas . They're not real competitive in 350cch ... But then
they don't cost an appendage or 2 , They are REALLY reliable , 100 mph is well within the realm of possibility and one "could" blow up 8-10 of them for the cost of one new PRO power head . With more "investment" in R&D , I think
you could get real close to the guys on top . ( but then what the heck do I know?) They'd be a dandy lakeracer , say a 700cc twin with electric start , a clutch and "muffled" . That could leave some serious stains in your driving
suit.
If anyone does want to ............... send me an email and we'll talk about it .
Will

[Ron Hill]

Will,

I will polish the clamps and ship them back, for free...Just because you've written a great article...and you've inspired me to build a 45 MID section.....

[7500Blizzard]

The new Rotax 1000 twin is about 170 hp with over 150ft/lbs of torque on premium gas it has sdi fuel injection with two 52mm dry throttlebodies would make a nasty lake or 1100 engine..

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

Now that is one nasty looken 2 cylinder Rotax arite! At 160 HP on 2 cylinders I can only wonder what set of gears are gonna take 80 HP a side? How will they, those gears wear?

[will350]

GOOD GRIEF !!! That's more HP & torque than my pick up has and.......
Those throttle bodies have sent me off on another tangent of thought that I've been trying to suppress . Dog gone you Ken , It's good thing I didn't see this last night or I wouldn't have slept at all .
Lately , I've had a couple of rigs show up with EFI . Normally , I don't touch those things because I try to stick to things I understand and the first time I "touched" one , it turned into a 3 week ordeal . I DID win ( finally ) .
Anyway, It got me to thinking about a very simple EFI set up for a "racing only" application . Since this doesn't have to have a whole big bunch of "driveability" (80-90% at WOT ) it shouldn't have to be as sophisticated as a set up that has to start and idle AND have excellent response through out the entire range ( + run 100,000 + miles ) I "think" you could do it with a minimum of inputs,say TPS , EGT , RPM . So far I've been told that you can "sort of" control an electronic injector with a square wave generator with an amplifier .
You'd need a enough PSI for the injector . The "mechanical" part of this is fairly simple but the "electronic" end is way beyond me . Are there any wizards here that would "know" ?
ENOUGH OF THAT ! ! ..........( Ken , you're a "bad" man )...................
Ron,Thanks for the offer, but I think I've come to my senses or back to earth...or something . Clean is plenty good for this.
AND..... Where would you find a lower unit that would even begin to deal with the impulse loads that WILL generate ? This is one of those things where a fluid coulper would really help to stretch out the "time to load" . I DO have a few other thoughts on a drive that "might" handle that but if I carry on with them in public , in my minds eye I can already see a crowd gathering armed with pitch forks , torches and arm loads of wood ........ Chanting burn ,
burn , BURN THE HERETIC ! ! Coventional is NOT my middle name and since I really don't want to go on the run , I'll just be quiet ( about that ) and try to stay focused on ........? (Rats ! )
Will

The new Rotax 1000 twin is about 170 hp with over 150ft/lbs of torque on premium gas it has sdi fuel injection with two 52mm dry throttlebodies would make a nasty lake or 1100 engine..

[will350]

I'm "cleaning up" so before I stash things away , I thought I'd take couple pics so you can see the progession from where I started to now .
From right to left , the first one that ran a 250 Yamaha Bravo single made out of aluminum channel and 3/16" sides ( I ran this for 3 years before the "need" got to me) . The first Polaris 340 tower . Originally this had a F/C
340 on it but when we started running L/C , it ate up couplers and input shafts . Double the HP made it deflect through the center . ( It is kind of skinny ) The Polaris clutch unit . There are 2 sets of mount holes . One for the Polaris and one for a 440 F/C Arcti Cat Kawasaki ( I couldn't get it run on end but I didn't try very hard either )
The "fish scaley" looking thing is under my "un-run" 125 . The wide fat one is under the Wankle. Both these were done with 1/2" and 1/8" on the sides .
The Wankle has been run for roughly 30 minutes in testing and doesn't appear to have any problems with construction or materials .
The last one.................... the new project . Clean IS just fine .
I'm going to have to do some "cutting" on those shiny sides to get to the fuel pump pulse port and maybe the other side too to clear that side for some "Rotax" things but it's moving along .
It's easy to see that the basic idea hasn't changed much .
Will

[will350]

Took a few days to make my Dodge into better driver because my dirty S-15 broke (1 out of 2 isn't too bad) ......
It's starting to look more complete . Final mount on the carbs and fab the throttle linkage . I decided I'd put a "main" pump on it. If you look , you can see where I'm going to have to gouge out a little piece on the tower to clear the fuel pump mount . That part on the end of the cable underneath the pipe will get screwed to the pivot .
The throttle cable from the boat will be anchored with 2 short pieces of 5/16" fuel hose clamped over the housing and I'll make a connector .
If I had 2 velocity stacks the same ................( If someone were to have another one of the "shiny" aluminum ones for an HD Tillotson, you could
"send " it to me . I'd be "good" about it.)
The pipe is just tied on and propped up ( pun intended) for now. This is a stock pipe . I've run them in this spot before but up a little higher . I have another one with an extra 1 1/2" that swings around underneath . The stock one is about 5 mph faster @ 80+ on a long (1 1/4 mile) than the "tuck under"
and I have 3 otherS ( 2 twin sets and another single off a 400cc Polaris,we'll get to those after I make it run)
Steering bars and drive shart are next . Then , when that's all fit up , I'll take it down , make it "purty" , reassemble and "see" if it'll run . That might be interesting . This is made from a pile of extra used parts that were stashed in various corners and a "gifted" barrel from Carl Lewis that's been ported(a little by me, a little by some else, a little more by me ........... I haven't the faintest idea how this is going to be ? ! ? ??)
Stay tuned .
Will

[John (Taylor) Gabrowski]

A friend of mine north of here has a vintage / collectors Merc 440 Twister Air Cooled with 2 Tillotson HDs and velocity stacks. For him, tunning is real simple! One turn open on the high speed needle and leave it alone! One and one quarter turn on the Low speed needle and leave it alone. Asked him about temperature variations and his answer was leave them needles alone, but that is for below freezing temps! How much less needle value turnout for say 80 degrees F? Gotta be some change to lean out a bit you would think? Asked him about Merc's use of Walboro carbs? He had a pained term for them! Yeeeech!