1960's Speedliner

[sam]

The only original factory color for the 298 30H's is orange, but there were almost 2,000 legal clone motors in any color. All the towers were off white.

[oldracer]

30H colors

The one I ran in the 60s, it was a '56, was Merc Green. Wish I still had it as it was a runner when proped out right.

[Beaverman]

Got a quick Mercury restoration questions for the experts here! I was wondering how you get the gloss look of the aluminum on a restored 30 or 55H I am talking about eh exposed unpainted rim about the lower portion of the motor and the carb cover plate.
Do you polish these surface before paint and then tape them off. Or do you apply tape to protect the paint while polishing the desired areas. Just looking for help so that I can do a proper resto.

Steve

[Guest]

Polishing

The bright work on the engines is basicly done by hand. The first step is to do the metal working required to remove damaged areas. This can be done with heavy sand paper or in extream cases a file. Once the surface is fininished to a point were the defects are no longer visible then the finishing process is started. Normally wet sand paper is utilized in finer and finer grades until the surface is finished with 2500 grade. To bring out the luster we use a product that can be bought at Lowes. This product is made by Diamond Brite and is identified as Truck Box Polish. We find that this polish really finishes of aluminum and gives it an unreal shine. This has been used on all the engine restorations we have done. After polishing the part can be masked off for painting. The final task is to get crisp lines between the painted surface and polised sections. After feathering the bright areas are again polished and you done. I have attached some photos of the latest mod engine were building. Doug Kay has done all the four cylinder engine for David and I. Hope you enjoy the photos. By the way Diamond Brite works great on Stainless Steel also.

Alan

[A/B Speedliner]

55H Driveshafts

We are getting closer to having the driveshafts ready for sale. We just need to have the splines cut and heat treating done. Hopefully will be ready in a month. Attached is a picture of the raw shaft.
David
Aeroliner Race Boats LLC

[Guest]

Mercury Parts

David and I have just acquired a huge inventory of Mercury outboard and I/O parts from a dealer that closed up shop in 1989 and stored his complete parts inventory in his garage. We now have more that 22,000 parts in stock and will be selling them to folks that are restoring or racing Mercury products. We will try to post some photos in the comming weeks but if you know your part number or care to look at the list of P/N we have we will be only to happy to send the 40 plus page listing by E mail. You can get our contact info from our website. www.aeroliner-boats.com. These parts plus the parts from my Mercury dealership gives us an inventory of more than 30,000. We are also reproducing Quicksilver lower unit parts and they can be seen on our website.

Thanks for looking,
Alan

[Guest]

TX444DK engine is complete

Doug Kay finished the TX444DK and test fired it. This weekend we should tank test the engine and put a little time on it if the weather holds up. The Harry Brinkman Ropp is being riged for the 444 and we hope to water test on the 11th of September.
Alan

[Guest]

TX444DK testing

Well we had a great weekend testing the TX444DK at Hillsdale Michigan last weekend. The Engine was rigged on the 2002 Ropp that I bought from Harry Brinkman. Overall the engine performend exceptionally well. I beleive that it turned around 9,000 RPM and drove the boat in the high 80's. We will post some videos soon and also RPM after we look at the data.

Alan

[sonoramike]

epic thread, so much info and so much history. really enjoyed all 17 pages, a hearty well done

[Guest]

17 pages

Thankyou for the kind words on the thread. David started it some time ago and we thank everyone that has contributed to it. Hopefully things have been learned from it and its always fun sharing information. We have been building the Speedliner M-510 since 1965 and still are building them. We also have a thread on Boat Racing Facts in Frorms under thechnical disscussion titled as Mercury Mark 40-H. Other information can be found on our web Site www.aeroliner-boats.com, Another fun web site is the Original Quincy Looper web site and some great information can be found there.

Alan

[Dave M]

Nice Ride

It was nice meeting y'all in Hillsdale. The rig does look as good in person as it does in the photos. That engine is definately a looker. I wish you guys could have hung around and raced it, but I understand. From start to finish of testing, you guys kept improving the speeds and handling, great job.

[oldracer]

40h

Hi Alan- Great looking engine and boat. Are you taking it to Mark Suter's meet? Won't be there this year, but hope to show to MI sometime next.
By the way, I hope you had a great day yesterday on your birthday.

[Guest]

Mark Sutters Fall AOMCI meet

Hi Al,
Hope all is going well with you. We will have the engine at Mark's but not the boat. I am also going to bring possibly 12 four cylinder engines to the meet. If I have room I will also bring my Merc 700 on a speedmaster. Thanks for the birthday wish.

Alan

[Guest]

Hillsdale a great site

Hello Dave,
Thanks for the kind words on the rig. I was a joy meeting all the folks there and next year you can count on us bringing the rig to race. We will try to make all the IOA races next season. Also I would like to join IOA. This boat was a little big for the TX444DK and so I'm thinking of building a smaller one. With some luck we will test Harry Brinkmans 75-H mod engine on the boat next year. That project should be finished over the winter. Next step is to get a larger propeller and jack it a bit more.We were also trucking around about 7 gallons of water at the end of the day.

Alan

[A/B Speedliner]

We have the video up on You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKPcMMD5Ma0

That is the link to the last couple of runs we made at Hillsdale, MI during test day. We were very pleased with the engine. The boat we used was a Ropp built in 2001 for Harry Brinkman but never had an engine on it until our test of the 44 CI four carb engine. The boat was designed for the 75H Mod Harry was building before he became to ill. We are procceding in completing that engine also. We will be building a small boat for this engine and will also be working in selecting the correct prop. Rick Welch help with the driving the IOA was nice enough to let us test on their course. Now sit back turn up the volume and enjoy.

David