Picco P90

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John Seybold

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Joined
May 22, 2010
Messages
766
How well did the Picco P90's run? Reason I ask is because I have a new one and I was thinking about messing around with it in a rigger. I don't plan on racing the boat, just wondering if its worth messing around with or keep it as hobby art. It has to be around twenty years old.

Thanks for any info
 
That is the hydro 90 version steel induction disc should be a solid engine still . The competition 90 with the carbon fiber disc was the most unreliable as the disc would shatter very easily , steel shim would have been best for them but they were good when going properly. I have a blue head pumper new in box never seen fuel & 67 blue heads .
 
That is the hydro 90 version steel induction disc should be a solid engine still . The competition 90 with the carbon fiber disc was the most unreliable as the disc would shatter very easily , steel shim would have been best for them but they were good when going properly. I have a blue head pumper new in box never seen fuel & 67 blue heads .
is that Picco P90 Hydro (above) in stock (new-in-box) condition? Or did someone polish the head/water-jacket sections like that? The engines were very good
 
I still have some of these Picco Hydro motors laying around in various states of condition as ran hard and one rebuilt.

One of the problems I ran into was keeping the carb from shaking loose. I tried epoxy and sometimes that works too well if you want to take it apart at a later time which can prove impossible even with 350 degrees of heat. The best way I found to hold it together was to drill and tap a couple holes through the case and carb and install 440 bolts. If you want more advise let me know and I can send you pictures of the locations I drilled out. The 440 taps snap real easy.

The other possible problem is having the front engine case bolts coming loose and then the motor over revs and blows up the engine case and rod etc. This can be avoided by using red lock-tite and star lock washers. The carb side seems to stay together well with blue lock-tite or red for extra security.
 
Don't run the engine hard with the stock needle bearing rod, it will eat the crankpin. That is why they needed an RPM rod.There was somebody who had a bunch of RPM rods and H90 engines, but I don't remember who. Maybe he will pop up here!!!
 
I have 7 Hydro 90s that I run. I had all of them rebuilt by Brian Charney. The main problem with this motor was the front bearing was too small and prone to failure. I bought a huge lot of parts here on IW, the lot came with many modified bearing housings that all addressed the problem by allowing for a larger front bearing. What does Brian due to the motor, he will strip and rechrome the sleeve with hard chrome, it will be hand honed to fit your piston, you will get incredible compression and much longer life against wear, Brian has made steel bearing housings (I purchased one but it very pricey) the motor timed, some porting, custom head and head button. He will chrome the crank pin for extra charge. Drum rotor timed, if is a disk motor it will not last as long. Its not cheap but his engines have distinct sounds, throttle well and are explosive at launch.

My advice, run you motor but I would not put a lot of time on it between bearing changes, do it more than usual. Parts are out there but the motors have been out of production for a long time so good or new parts are going to be hard to find.

Good Luck, its really pretty all polished up.
 
I'm going to give these motors a try. Ken and Brad thanks for all the help through pm's. Ken, I'm still undecided if I'm going to have them modified or not by Brian. I know he can build me one heck of a motor, just not sure if its in the budget yet. If I decide to go ahead and give them a try stock, should I change the compression? Pipe length around 12 1/2"? What do I did to watch out of with the steel disk motor?

Dave thanks for the offer on the rods, I was told that this version of the motor has the steel rod and that it should hold up much better than other versions. I'll be in touch if I find out otherwise.

Thanks again everyone
 
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