FD67 Restoration Progress

[RogerH]

I inquired about the proper reeds for the Looper from Boyesen, and their reply is below. I can use stock 0.012" steel reeds of Boyesen's dual or single stage reeds.

What do you think???????

The Boyesen reed #241-16 is a dual-stage fiber reed, meaning a smaller solid reed sits on the top of a larger reed with a port. This is a performance reed that gets better bottom to middle than single stage reeds. The price for the Boyesen dual-stage fiber reed is $87.95 + shipping.

We also offer a single stage Boyesen fiberglass reed, part #16684. This single stage reed is the recommended replacement reed for the stock .012 steel reed. The price for the Boyesen single stage fiber reed is $87.95 + shipping.

Any fiber reeds will react better to engine pressure changes than the steel reeds do.

[Mark75H]

They are completely wrong that "any" fiber reed will react better to engine pressure changes than the steel reeds do. I do not know of any racer that can prove Boysen's reeds work any better than steel reeds do in Mercs. I do not believe that the dual stage reeds can be any better than steel or single stage reeds in Merc reed cages ... there just isn't enough room. If Boysen was right, every mod racer would be using them or at least all the winners

I cut my own reeds from flat G-10 board with solvent resistant epoxy I buy from a local plastic supply warehouse or carbon fiber I buy from a model supply website. $40 (including postage) gets me an 11 X 20 or so sheet of .015 carbon fiber which is a little weak for prolonged use, but I only need the motor to run 15 or 20 minutes between internal inspections. G-10 used to be half or a third as much, but I haven't bought any recently. .020 or .025 would react about the same as steel reeds and last a long time.

Contrary to what I was told before I started making my own reeds ... you can cut both fiberglass and carbon fiber with regular scissors and shape with a file, nail file or sandpaper. You can drill them with a regular drill bit or the point of a pocket knife.

[RogerH]

Sam, Thanks for the reply. I don't have any experience with anything but stock Merc reeds, thus I was curious what Boyesen would say. I'm likely to put the motor back with stock .012" steel reeds, considering the limited usage this motor will get. I have a set of kevlar reeds made by Larry McAfee. Am tempted to try them, but probably should do that in my Mark 55 or 58A first.

[David Mason]

I echo Sam's theory on Boysen Reeds. Go with the single stage from them or make your own, or Larry Macafee is an excellent choice to have some reeds made. He does fine work. If you need a coupler he can make those too.

Sam, carbon and glass are easy to work with, it is Kevlar you will have problems with normal equipment. You need some good Kevlar cutting scisors for that. They are not fancy, just serated I believe. Stick to the carbon or glass, it is a lot easier to work with.

[RogerH]

Not that anyone really cares, but I need to vent just a little bit. Anyone who thought they wanted these motors from Phil Crown's estate might be happy to know that Frank and I have worked hard to just get these motor's apart. Basically, they looked pretty good outwardly, but the crank assembly was a total loss. I beat the pistons out with 2x2 wood blocks. Believe it or not, the bore cleaned up with just a reamer. I've spent the better part of two days to get two towers apart. The thumb screws in Frank's and my LU's did not come loose with anything we tried, and had to be cut, drilled, and taped again.

I just took all the parts to a great media blaster I've located down here. He knows what he's doing and uses all kinds of media to get the right effect on various materials. I can trust him not to ruin these valuable parts. After that, the fun can begin as we put these motors back together.

Thanks for letting me vent! -- Roger

[fbref5269]

roger,

thank you, you vented for both of us. i think you said one other time that heat was your friend, it sure was in this tear down! the catch phrase was 'heat and beat'. seems that was the only way to get some of the non quincy parts loose. and by the way did you notice which parts survived the 40 years of storage? ALL THE QUINCY PARTS!!!!!!!!!! those parts were in great shape!!! that's a testament to pauls' dad and the crew at quincy welding. we're getting closer to the assembly stage!

frank