History of the speedmaster drive?

[J.T.]

If my memory serves me correctly, the Bravo was released in 1986.

It's also probably interesting to note that Volvo released the DuoProp and Mercruiser released the Bravo III shortly thereafter....

I guess in the end Carl K. should have been more open minded....

Also around that time frame, OMC dropped the stringer
mount drive and introduced cobra drive

Funny things happen when patents expire.

[Dude! Sweet!]

I believe wiseman (sp?) "Clustergear" is responsible for the dry sump IIRC

Pat goes by "Shifter" on here.

[Geronimo36]

WTF is a SSM 1 & 2 drive?? And what do they look like?

Here's a few pics of a pair #2's someone recently had for sale.

I always thought it would be cool and would be a good upgrade if someone came up with a twin down-shaft lower unit for a Bravo style drive, just like they did on the #2.

[glassdave]

If my memory serves me correctly, the Bravo was released in 1986.

It's also probably interesting to note that Volvo released the DuoProp and Mercruiser released the Bravo III shortly thereafter....

I guess in the end Carl K. should have been more open minded....

Volvo 200 series - Bravo . . . . which came first
Volvo E Drive - Merc speedmaster . . . . which came first
Volvo DPX - Merc Blackhawk . . . .which came first
Volvo DuoProp - Merc Bravo III . . . . which came first
Volvo IPS - Merc Zues (or whatever it is) . . . . which came first

Not that theres any similarities between any of those products

[FastDonzi]

Pat goes by "Shifter" on here.

Thats the one I was thinking of THANKS......

[Dude! Sweet!]

Propshaft height was the main difference with some other slight differences.
http://www.blystone.com/Mercury%20Pa...acingdrive.pdf

Back in the day some of the boats with 3 engines would have #3's in the center engine and #4/5's on port/stbd.

Thanks!

[Dude! Sweet!]

Thats the one I was thinking of THANKS......

And if you guys ever get to drop by their shop, and they let you look around, it's well worth it. That place oozes with racing history that would make you flip your lid (McLaren F1, Indy, Chaparal Can Am, etc.). Those guys are the REAL DEAL!

[glassdave]

Between the SSM 3's 4's and 5's is it the case length that differentiates them?

[T2x]

Thanks, that kinda illustrates my point. So who developed those two upgrades anyway?



This is turning into a great thread. Good info even if it stray off the Speedmaster subject a bit.

The dry sump concept obviously came from Weismann funded by the Victory team. The 6 drive application of the concept (internal pump, etc) was developed by Mercury (Weismann reportedly did some consulting work but Fred K says they had little involvement in the ultimate engineering and technique).

The Swept Skeg is a tough one. Hering did some modified skegs on the early 6's. However Hering was originally a Mercury employee and learned much of his propeller blade and hydrodynamic concepts at Mercury racing, but prior to that he was champion OB hydro racer and probably brought a lot of tricks to Mercury as well...this certainly muddies the water IMHO.

T2x

[cosmic12]

My dad had an Evinrude boat when I was a kid. "Playboy" maybe? (Looked it up... Playmate. Exactly like the one in this photo.) I think he bought it straight off the floor at the Syracuse boat show. Cosmic, you didn't group up on Onondaga Hill did you?

I've heard Weismann was responsible for the drysump mod.

Bit of a Hi-jack sorry---- No I was between Baldwinsville and Cross Lake on the river and the one that was next door was almost like that one but was blueish grey deck and the windshield was closer to the bow no front deck at all. End of Hi-jack

[Rik]

The dry sump concept obviously came from Weismann funded by the Victory team. The 6 drive application of the concept (internal pump, etc) was developed by Mercury (Weismann reportedly did some consulting work but Fred K says they had little involvement in the ultimate engineering and technique).

The Swept Skeg is a tough one. Hering did some modified skegs on the early 6's. However Hering was originally a Mercury employee and learned much of his propeller blade and hydrodynamic concepts at Mercury racing, but prior to that he was champion OB hydro racer and probably brought a lot of tricks to Mercury as well...this certainly muddies the water IMHO.

T2x

Tom Gentry dry sumped the #4 years before anyone else had even thought of doing it. In fact he dry sumped everything he could in the power train years before others.

Team Victory ran the #6's with no oil in the drive units for qualifying then Pat dry sumped the drive.

Skeg. Jerry G. takes credit for that along with a lot more.

[Ratickle]

this certainly muddies the water IMHO.

T2x

We can't start having muddy water in Offshore Racing. Can We??????


Are the 3A assemblys able to hold the 5 foot if you wanted to raise X Dimension without redoing the transom?

[Geronimo36]

We can't start having muddy water in Offshore Racing. Can We??????


Are the 3A assemblys able to hold the 5 foot if you wanted to raise X Dimension without redoing the transom?

Not that I'm aware of. The #5 upper and lowers are completely different. The prop is 6 inches higher and the blades stick up above where the #3 cavitation plate would normally be.. The #5 upper is kinda like having the nose of a #3 sawed off!

Here are links to both drives;
III - http://www.blystone.com/Mercury%20Pa...acingdrive.pdf
V - http://www.blystone.com/Mercury%20Pa...acingdrive.pdf

[Dude! Sweet!]

Is the #4 like 3" up? Daredevil has one on his boat right? What's up with it?

[TMS1155]

OMC also had that two cycle drive where they laid a V4 outboard powerhead horizontally inside the boat and hung a sterndrive off the back. The whole thing passed through a big rubber bladder on the transom and when you trimmed it the entire assembly pivoted on the forward motor mounts. ( Later, after a few thousand leaks, I think they actually trimmed the sterndrive alone and at one point I believe they also had an option that rotated the sterndrive so it stuck up behind the boat with the nosecone facing the back seat passengers).It had the electric shift lower unit from the outboards and the only ones I ever saw were installed in boats manufactured by OMC ("The Evinrude boat" a pretty sort of gull wing hull and the "Johnson Boat" aka "The OMC Boat" which was a sort of trimaran/hydro design ala Custom Craft, which was nowhere near as fast as you might imagine).

Rube Goldberg apparently lived in Waukegan for a while.

I think the drives that rotated so it stuck up behind the boat were Dana drives, mostly used on houseboats

[Roger 1]

My dad had an Evinrude boat when I was a kid. "Playboy" maybe? (Looked it up... Playmate. Exactly like the one in this photo.) I think he bought it straight off the floor at the Syracuse boat show. Cosmic, you didn't group up on Onondaga Hill did you?

I've heard Weismann was responsible for the drysump mod.

A guy that lived up the Kankakee River from where I grew up had one exactly like that. Same color combo and everything.

[insanity]

Where are the trim cylinders on the #6 drives? Are the steering cylinders dual acting as steering AND trim cylinders or are the trim rams under the drive somewhere?

[glassdave]

Where are the trim cylinders on the #6 drives? Are the steering cylinders dual acting as steering AND trim cylinders or are the trim rams under the drive somewhere?

underneath the drive at the bottom of the gimbal.

[stecz20]

great thread.....

[glassdave]

What is the Merc #7 drive? I've seen it listed on their site.