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Some place at some time I think that I have shared this story before, so here it goes again.
1966 John McMullen (M-14) purchased the first 6 cylinder Quincy looper. He also purchased the 15' jones hydro for that new engine. At that time the only ignition available for the six cylinder was the battery ignition that we had been running on the deflector 6's. Merc had just released the breaker point version of the CDI ignition but it was really unknown in the racing circle. They struggled the whole season with that engine. It would start most times but not run on all 6 and was fouling plugs.
Fast forward to spring of 1967, I purchased the second Quincy 6. I purchased all the parts and assembled the engine with my internals from the deflector, with its reeds reworked for the Looper. Chris sent a note with the parts and said I have charged you for a new ignition system. It is not yet available, and I will forward to you upon receipt. This engine must use this new electronic ignition system.
Upon receipt and knowing the critical need for a 12 volt plus supply, and no charging system on the Looper. Running a total loss system.
I called Mercury and got hold of the tech people and asked about my concerns of voltage drop with the total loss system. Their response was, you can run up to a 30 volt supply without damage to the system.
So for me. I ran 24 volts on the system from the beginning. Engine ran really clean, no cracking and popping. I did some testing later, in an attempt to take out some weight and removed one battery. Ran, with 12 volts, but with noted popping and cracking, not clean and crisp as before. Reinstalled battery, to 24 volts, and ran clean as before without any other changes. At one time I even ran it with 24 volts on the capacitor / box, and 12 volts on the trigger circuit and also ran fine.
So with all that, Anyone who wants to run a Looper for just fun or show, do it justice and save yourself the grief of fowled plugs and hard starting.
Just a comparison of the fuel required for a Looper vs the deflector equivalent, the carbs looked the same but were different. They both were adjusted to about 1 1/4 turns open, however the Looper carb had a .060 fixed orifice drilled in the center post across from the needle opening as a fix jet.
Therefore the demand on the ignition system to fire this amount of fuel plus the higher cylinder pressure.
Originally Posted by R Austin
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