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I am selling a Evinrude PRO "F" racing engine. It was made from a Big Four 60 c.i. engine adapted to a Mercury "D" quicksilver lower unit. These were originally made by Hubbell as a Free-For-All engine. They were very fast but with this all the torque the units never really held up. There is some history to this engine as to the original owners. It was at the Pro Nationals in Depue, in the 1960's. The engine is complete as raced. It is offered "as is". I have made no attempt to start it. It is very heavy so pick up would be recommended. I don't know if there is any interest in this "old iron" but feel free to contact me. Bob vindiver@yahoo.com.
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bob,
looking at those pictures brings back memories of bobby thornton in region 4 and his old iron. one time one started off in reverse. another one he couldn't stop enen with the plug wires off. he threw water in the carb to stop it. i also sent you a pm.
frank novotny
52-E
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Bob Thornton took PRs as far as they would go with loop-scavenge Yamaha dirt-bike cylinders and tuned exhaust. Of course his old iron was not competitive w/ 4-cyl Koenigs in the late 1970s, but he was surprisingly fast and could beat you if you failed to pay attention, and he got a good start.
I owe him my life at a Mother's Day regatta at Denton Maryland, where my engine stalled right in front of him, and he pulled a spectacular maneuver to keep from running me over.
I'll post a pic of that event in an ensuing post, one that'll llet me include the photo.
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That's me out front in my red-white-&-blue 250 O'Connor hydro, Bob's first-ever pickle-fork boat, & my 3rd O'Connor in a row, but b4 he got the chine angles right so that his boats would turn without spitting out the driver. It was at Denton, MD, probably 1980-81. Gary Augustine's 350 overtaking in E-12 on the outside. Note how Bob Thornton with his PR is raring back and to the right in his cockpit to avoid hitting me by steering to the right.
Someone in the pits shot this pic w/ my own camera, and I was surprised to see the image when I processed the film. I enlarged the print to 11x14 years ago and just dug it out this evening to re-photographic for this presentation.
I later destroyed this boat by stuffing it thru a big wave at a regatta I put on at Lake Norman, north of Charlotte.
Bob repaired the boat almost for free, as was his practice, declaring "That's the worst case of hydraulicing a boat that I ever saw!" He might as well have saved himself the trouble. It was a bad boat, too heavy because of the plywood I took him to make it. Also the bad chines, 45-degrees on the sponsons, but only 35-degrees on the back chines, always a spinout waiting to happen. I apprised him some years later that he had the chine angles backward compared with "successful" boats like Marchettis, and -- of course -- he never acknowledged my input. For one thing he hated Nick Marchetti and everything Nick did. The other thing is that he was the consummate stubborn Boston Irishman, never able to acknowledge a mistake. I miss him.
I never again raced the boat after Bob fixed it, traded it to Scott Smith, Riggs's son for a 44 Merc electric-start fishing engine instead.
Bob began building competitive boats with the chine angles I suggested, and apparently his son is now also doing so: good boats!Comment
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great picture. nice shot of the lilly pads outside of the one pin turn. if you go wide you shoot up lillys. bob sure did pull back on the reins.
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The Vacturi carb on that 4-60 looks to be a float-less 'over-flow' type, ie; no float .
I have seen many Vacturis on Johnsons and Speeditwins, but none converted to floatless.
The Carter 6N was a good carb 'float-less', and a Mikuni I had on a Y102mod ran well this way too
So was it common on 4-60s , or a Hubbell thing ?
It takes a fuel pump to work it, of course.Brian Hendrick, #66 F
"the harder we try, the worser it gets"
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Yes a float less Vactory. The crank pressure pressurized the tank forcing the fuel to the carb. The over flow would transfer back to the tank. Check valves were needed to control the fuel pressure. This was used by Bill Fales before he switched to Mercury's and loopers. It is kind of like the principal of the Konig's with the float acting like the check valve. A very simple system that worked. -
-yes, a complex fuel system, ie; overflow carb with a pressure tank.
The float bowl is also under pressure,
since the return is to a pressure tank.
Much simpler with a fuel pump, but hard to find one [then]
that would flow that much fuel.
Probably why we never [seldom?] saw overflows on Konigs .
When one thinks of 30" x2, alternately beating on those 1:1s,
or worse, one-under gears,
its no wonder they did not hold up.
Would the Eldridge unit been better?
We now know , that machining the drive shaft down
to become a torgue tube saves the gears .
I should really STOP thinking about this motor !
As a teen those Hubbell catalogs would enthrall me...... -
Bud Wiget was running floatless Vacturis on his hex-head Evinrude C-engine and Johnson opposed engines b4 he switched to Inboards. I first met Bud in JAN 1966, and he was already running 150 Inboard by then. I have a floatless 32mm Konig B carb that he made for me. We used the '50s-vintage big Johnrude fuel pumps with the glass filter bowls, which pumped plenty.
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Brian, it actually is a simple fuel system. It will work with a gravity feed tank which I have with the engine but never run this way. Just put the float back in the bowl. Bill Fales ran this engine this way and worked very well. Yes, an Eldridge unit would have been better. Even thought it had Merc "D" gears in it it had ball bearings aligning the shafts, both prop and pinion, not like the Merc's that had only one small bearing on the top of the pinion shaft and the rest small rollers. . I am not sure when the first Eldridge units available.Comment
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Yea, I know, posted the picture and nothing shows up.Comment
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