Bearcat #6 arrives home

[Super Sportster]

Charging system works

Uncharted waters on this, it's completely different than the 55's. I guess this is a center tap alternator which I'm totally unfamiliar with but got a crash course in. There are two black boxes on the stbd side of the engine and I was missing one of them. They are a rectifier and a regulator. I was missing the regulator. Ed Zogg sent some instructions for some aftermaket replacement parts. The rectifier he used is similar to the Radio Shack Bridge Rectifier I've been using on the 55's, the regulator works the same as many of the late '60's and early '70's Honda motorcycles. I just happened to have some laying around. Following his instructions for wiring the rectifier and going to the Honda manual for the regulator this system works perfect. Regulator cuts in a 14.8 volts as it should.
I'm getting closer
Dick

[Super Sportster]

Ready to mount it

Yesterday and this morning was spent fabricating some parts. The lock for the tilt was missing so I made one. One of the rear cover mounts was also missing so I made one for that also. Looking at this engine it "looks" like from the pan down it's the same as the 55 and the Coventry Climax powerhead was adapted to fit. The rear "V" in the pan is there but the cover design in the rear is somewhat squared off so the cover really doesn't fit. I asked Bill about this and apparently they are all like this.

Was tuning more yesterday and had it idling at 400 rpm fairly smoothly, it ran that way till I shut it down. My concern is trolling. Ed Zogg says his will troll at 1 mph. It should be fine at the 600-650 rpm it's to be set at.

[Tim McCrain]

Nice fabrication. Did you by any chance come up with a replacement for the spring on the tilt lock? Mine was toasted after persuading the bolt out of the casting with a torch and I haven't yet figured out a good replacement.

Tim

[Super Sportster]

Thanks Tim, too bad it won't work though, the cover hits the raised part of the transom well before I reach the lock. So it looks like back to the drawing board. I'll have to make the wider part longer and move the lock slot up. I can use this one on one of the other engines. As far as the spring, The 55 has one which doesn't work so now that it's off I'll do some investigating on this. I've made springs before so I'll see what I can do.

Dick

[Tim McCrain]

Bummer about hitting the splash well, those 85's are huge ... If you figure out a good replacement for the lock spring I'll be your first customer!

Tim

[Super Sportster]

Sea trials tomorrow

So it's ready! Made the swap today and two hoists are better than one. It's a bolt on replacement. Had to change out the oil sender as my light wouldn't work.

Tim if I come up with something on the spring I'll let you know.

Dick

[Helmar]

So it's ready! Made the swap today and two hoists are better than one. It's a bolt on replacement. Had to change out the oil sender as my light wouldn't work.

Tim if I come up with something on the spring I'll let you know.

Dick

Way Cool !!!
I hope you can tell everyone the difference between the two engines in performance once you take it out (Soon I hope)

Need to put one of those propeller things on it though

Looks sweet and once you get next to one of those older smokers, got to rub it in

[Super Sportster]

Way Cool !!!
I hope you can tell everyone the difference between the two engines in performance once you take it out (Soon I hope)

Need to put one of those propeller things on it though

Looks sweet and once you get next to one of those older smokers, got to rub it in

My plan is taking it up to the lake in the morning so you should hear something about it tomorrow eve. Damn I knew I'd forgot something...........let's see where did I put the prop??:eek:

I want see how it will troll that's the part I like, when it trolls slower than the kickers. I'm sitting here looking at the 55 and how small it looks, it looks like a kicker now! So if the 85 works out I can cleanup this 55, probably paint it and getting it looking nice.

Dick

[Super Sportster]

Sea Trials

Sea Trials today and we made it back with limited problems. The engine runs fine but trolling was an issue. Those carbs are so sensitive to adjustment. I had to set them again to run smoothly and it would not seem to stay smooth. I finally had the idea it may be the cover so as I replaced the cover I noticed a change. Left it off and it ran great. Trolled at about 1.5 mph. I replaced the cover later and it seemed okay.

I could only get a "top" (limited) speed of 30 mph, just 3 mph faster than the 55. I have no tach yet so I'm not going to run it WOT but I'm sure it will be needing a different prop and I didn't attempt to set the tilt. It flat gets with it out of hole and planes very quickly, 29 mph at half throttle. It runs great. Did I mention it's British and all things British leak? Some more minor oil leaks to track down. It looks like the fuel pump gasket.

Here's another video link. I wish my camera man would have spent a little more time on the engine instead of the GPS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSyWgp275aI

Dick

[Helmar]

The video was pretty cool.
Didn't realize you were getting so gray (like me
Good luck on finding other props as I know of no other prop that will interchange with them.

For the tach, any four cylinder tach will work.
The one I am using switches from 8,6, and down to 4 cylinder and works fine.

I am quite sure it will spin a larger prop with no issues.

Did you have prop chart for the 55 that shows some of the prop sizes ?
Even if you had the buggered prop, that outfit over in Clackamas on Hwy 224 can build up a prop to whatever you need.
That sucker should fly on that boat

[Super Sportster]

Gray? Me? :eek:

I've got the prop chart and a few props here, some are Michigan and some are Homelite. I didn't even look at the one on the engine, just put back what came off it. We use Independent Marine in St. Johns at work, Steve does them all from tugs to kickers.

I may go after a tach today, I really need one.

Had I been thinking, Ron my neighbor came out to fix his boat, I should have gave him the camera and had him shoot some video. Maybe next time!

[Super Sportster]

Carburetors 101

I "think" I have found the problem with these carbs. General rule of thumb for mixture screw adjustment is 1-1/2 turns out from seated. These are 1/2 turn from seated and there's not much adjustment from this 1/2 turn, it's very sensitive to adjustment here. The plugs are black, meaning it's running rich at idle. Researching idle circuits you can find out how they work, how to adjust the screw and that's about it. They have a slow speed jet metering the fuel. Thanks to the Weber carb site they explain what happens if the the jet is too small or too big. If it's too big the screw is turned in under the normal amount, too small the opposite. These must be too big according to them and the black plugs support this. You cannot purchase these in different sizes. I've removed the the top plug and made a new one, drilled a hole through the center and used a tapered jet needle from a motorcycle carb slide in this hole to reduce the size of this jet, being tapered it's adjustable. I now have two adjustments. Trying this on only one carb I adjusted my new jet so the mixture screw could be set at 1-1/2 turns. I now have about 3/4 of a turn of adjustment on the mixture screw and it seems to be idling much better. I've done this to the top carb only so far. I pulled the top and bottom spark plugs and there is a difference, the top was starting to clean up. On to the bottom carb!

Dick

[Tim McCrain]

Dick,
Did you clean / rebuild the carbs? In my experience similar problems (touchy adjustment, inability to set idle screws correctly) often result when teensy air passages are dirty or clogged.

[Super Sportster]

Tim, that's the first thing I did when I brought it home. Carbs were dry and clean but I went through all the passages anyway.

I did the jet needle on both carbs and had it idling very nicely at 500rpm however I forgot that both circuits work together when you open the throttle. Restricting the idle circuit now appears to have leaned out the main jet.

[Super Sportster]

More oil leak repair

I had to walk away from it and think about what my next step was going to be. Do I just sell it and be done with or do I continue on. Had the hoists been here this weekend the 55 would have been hanging on the transom. So today I decided to go after another leak which was just getting bigger. The top plate under the flywheel was removed and to my surpise it opened up to the engine, not a typical arrangement. I keep telling myself it's British then all makes sense.............sort of. I replaced two gaskets under there and put it back together. Ran it for over an hour and it looks like it's oil tight again. Carbs are back to to factory specs, I may fire up the lathe later on and see if I can spin out some different jetting. Tomorrow I will take it out again, I'm thinking we'll run it in the Columbia. Changed out the prop to a larger pitch and have now installed a tach.