what was done to this crank?

[Chris Hellsten]

Frank,

My dad only built one 4-cylinder C service. We didn't have much luck with it and I'm not sure where it wound up. The crank work in this one is not something we normally did.

The steel welded up muffler looks very much like the ones Larry Latta used and he predominately ran 4 cyl Merc (we had aluminum). Also, judging the fact that it took over 2 days to get all the castor off also sounds like it could have been one of Larry's. My dad always had me there to clean his off! Jack Kugler may have gotten this motor from Larry, they were very close.

I believe Tim Warren won C Service runabout in 1982 in Bakersfield, CA. Tim and Todd ran hydro and runabout with a 4-cylinder in that timeframe.

Regards,

Chris Hellsten

[fbref5269]

chris,

thanks for getting back to me. i know what you mean about larry and castor buildup. i have 5 of larry's quincy z engines and castor buildup is pretty thick on them. it does clean up with the parts cleaner from gunk i'm using. there may be a connection with this engine and larry. would still like to know who did the crank. jack didn't think it was one of larry's but who knows. this is the fun part of finding the old engines. plans are to get it running again. 2 days soaking in the cleaner frees up the rings that are castor stuck on the pistons. just like the ones that came out of the quincy z engines. which is better then the ones i got from a c looper i got off ebay. i had to soak and cook the pistons to free up the rings. used the gas grill for that one, wife said no to the oven.

frank

[Danny Thayer]

Frank.

Looking at this last picture, the filler block is an O’Brien. This is probably the last C motor that he built, just guessing it to be Jeff Young’s that he ran on a hydro until the early 90’s then he sold everything in the mid 90’s. This was a fast motor back then he give Terry Witham fits when they raced against each other back the day, Jeff was about 80lbs heavier than Terry at that time and ran right with him, that’s how strong this motor was. If you were to get it back to original with Merc pistons, a set of elbows and megaphones you will have a nice ride with it on your boat.

[fbref5269]

danny,

thanks for the info. question though..... why change back to merc pictons, the turners on there are cleaning up real nice. the rings freed up after 2 days of soaking. didn't have to cook them on the barbie to free them. i want to display/run it as a c service, but what mods to the block would i need to do to be a c mod? other than elbows, megs and a lower unit.

thanks for your input.

frank

[fbref5269]

hi all,

i popped the covers off the intake ports and here are some pictures. a lot of work was done on them. the crank is cleaning up real nice and all 4 pistons have freed up rings. as you can see from the cyl shot there is a little bit of castor in them. actually a bunch. the red stuff is the permatex that i scraped off.

frank

[Danny Thayer]

Frank,

Speaking for myself I would put the pistons back in it because you have a piece of history, now that Harry is no longer with us. He was one of the best mod motor builders their was. Mods to the block, from what I see in your pics the block is ready to go. If you can get the parts that I already mentioned a set of good carbs, a Keifkeifer (SP) mag and a C Merc lower unit with either 1 to 1 or 16 to 21 gears this motor will run strong. With the right prop it will come out of the corners hard and keep accelerating the entire length of the straightaway. Hope this helps and good luck with what ever you decide to do with it.

[fbref5269]

danny,

that sounds lke a plan. first i'll display it as a c service. i have several bayer towers i can put the powerhead on to run mod. i have several d quickie units with the propshaft turned down to the c prop shaft size. would that work? the crank has the larger bottom spline. i'l picking out a set of carters for the c service display, but have several stock carbs i picked up over the last year. i'll let you know if i need any parts.

when its together i'll post more pictures.

frank