The standard Mercury rod throws offer precious little room for a master/link or blade/fork con rod setup. Top guided .450" thick rods fit between .535" counter-weight cheeks. It's attractive to use a larger pivot pin for the master/link, and it allows retention of crank pin needle bearings, but precious width must be consumed by some form of pin retention (possibly C- or E-rings).
Because of the space limitation, I'm leaning toward separate .250" thick "knife blade" rods, eliminating the bearings in favor of more beef, even though offset loading will induce bending stress.
All said, rod design is not yet determined. A few prototype designs will be built over the weekend.
Thanks for your thoughts on the ignition as well. Good luck sorting out the Looper Beast!
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