What a Workout!

Last week we were the "pace car" for a motivated Stand-Up-Paddleboarder. We were cruising around the harbor at our normal 3.5 mph and passed him at the south end of Balboa Island near the Balboa Yacht club.

I think he liked our speed so he sped up and stayed on our tail the entire way around the harbor. The cruise took us from Balboa Island past Mariners Mile up to the PCH bridge at and then back under the Lido bridge past Lido Isle and the shipyard back down the peninsula past the Newport Yacht Club around Bay Isle until I was exhausted watching him paddle and we docked back at home near the Fun Zone. What a workout!

Ready to leave the dock at the Newport Dunes

Who's driving this thing? I forgot to put down the speedo pickup.

I feel like I'm being followed.

Back home at the dock. A perfect first day of Summer!

Robert Paxton McCulloch

Anybody wanna go fast? McCulloch was a racer at heart and the Flying Scott was the last in the line of his go fast goodies. This is an excerpt from hemmings.com on Robert Paxton McCulloch:

In 1946, McCulloch moved his company to California, changed its name to McCulloch Motors, and changed its focus to lightweight two-cycle chainsaws. He did some development work for Kaiser-Frazer at the time, but didn't return to the automotive field until 1953, when he launched the VS57 supercharger, the result of those earlier patents. As with his earlier supercharger, the VS57 initially was produced in kit form for Fords, but soon was available for a wide range of cars and engines.

Kaiser became the first manufacturer to install the VS57 on its cars from the factory, starting with the 1954 Manhattan. Studebaker followed on the Golden Hawk and on the Packard Clipper in 1957, the same year Ford famously offered the supercharger as an option on the Thunderbird.

By then, McCulloch had set up a separate division within the company to produce the superchargers under the Paxton name. McCulloch also had developed two other superchargers: One, used on the Novi cars at Indianapolis, helped their V-8s produce 650hp. The other, the VR57, used a variable ratio and featured numerous improvements over the VS57, not the least of which was the use of engine oil to cool and lubricate the supercharger.

In 1958, McCulloch sold the Paxton division to Andy Granatelli, again changed the name of his company (to McCulloch Corporation), and changed focus once more--to outboard motors. To test those motors, he bought 26 acres at Lake Havasu in Arizona, where he eventually founded Lake Havasu City.

Paxton was again vaulted into the automotive limelight when Carroll Shelby teamed up with the company on a blown 1965 289 Shelby Mustang. The Paxton supercharger option was produced in limited quantities for the Shelby GT-350 Mustang, from 1966 to 1968. This set-up was also available as an over-the counter dealer installed option on standard small-block V8 Mustangs from 1965-‘72.

Watch out for the 75HP Head Gasket!

Previously UN-beknownst to me but the 60HP power head gasket and 75HP power head gasket are different. The Only difference is the location of the cooling hole that allows the water to circulate up into the motor. Imagine my surprise and chagrin when I fired up the Scott and the motor started overheating.

After a complete re-tear down, I found the culprit. Here is the the 75 HP gasket on my 60Hp base see the hole location in the gasket? The second pic shows the base.

 I ordered a new gasket and they were kind enough to verify I got the correct one this time!

Since I had the motor off I also changed the lower main seal. Mine had a chunk missing. (in the pic below right upper). Laings Outboards had one in stock that was a functional replacement.

The cap is held on with 4 bolts and is fitted into a machined area of the block. It has a small rubber ring to seal it. To remove the cap, remove the bolts and tap the cap to rotate it in the machined area. Then you will expose the bolt holes and you can use a dental pick to lift the cap a little bit at a time. I worked my way around 3 or 4 times lifting a fraction of an inch at a time. Once it's lifted a 1/4" you can gently pry it out.

The new main seal (in the pic above on the right lower) just presses into the cap. Then you can reassemble it and go boating!