MAC Motors are the bomb

[Marty Davis]

Marty,

The breakin procedure (no cooling, lean on turns, rich on strightaway). Is it Ok for big motors also (80s, 90s etc). How many cycles you recommend.

Thanks,

JOSE

Jose:

ABSOLUTELY, that is the way that we broke ALL engines in.

Marty Davis

 

[Tom Foley]

Might I be so bold to ask what one did before third channel needles were available ? Instructing someone to go out and run their 500.00 motor without water the first time out is ridiculous in my opinion . Who cares if you achieve perfect seal in the first hour of engine life ?????????? I try to have motors ready before the day of the race . Whatever on this deal .

 

[F.Orlic]

Might I be so bold to ask what one did before third channel needles were available ? Instructing someone to go out and run their 500.00 motor without water the first time out is ridiculous in my opinion . Who cares if you achieve perfect seal in the first hour of engine life ?????????? I try to have motors ready before the day of the race . Whatever on this deal .

Cars guys brake them in without water so why not in boats???? I do it just a bit different than Marty.

Third channel makes it easier but can be done without it with no problem.

 

[Tom Foley]

Frank , please elaborate , I am trying to be open to new ideas from all I just have this thing with squeaky new motors with no water . I'm sure there are lots of ways to do it , but I am one of those guys that used to take my Yamaha RD 400 pistons and sand the skirts with 600 paper on the high spots a few times before holding it wide open for miles , even if it took two or three cylinder removals !! Open to all methods if they make sense .

 

[Preston_Hall]

You guys kill me!

Picco was a good fast motor. A few mistakes and some broke (I think mostly to improper use). Then no parts. Then most want to treat Picco as some kind of Chinese K&B knock off when months earlier it was a top contender.

CMB had issue here and there as well. Same trash talk. One day..Oh boy it is the best thing since sliced bread and then..................phooooy.

Now MAC, which CMB made, problems here and there, no parts and only promises of new engines....................you can't stroke fast enough.

 

[Tom Foley]

Piccos don't have needle bearing steel rods ( yet ) !!

 

[AndyBrown]

Piccos don't have needle bearing steel rods ( yet ) !!

The last few versions of the Picco 90 did have needle bearing rods, but they had problems.

The real problem with Picco is that they where never deeply involed in boat racing personally.

So, the first hand experience to the full requirements of a great boat engine was lacking.

 

[Tim_Duggan]

Andy,

I'd love to know your opinion on this, do you think that a lot of the crank / rod issues on some of the picco's was as a result of the case flexing?

Tim.

 

[Jack ODonnell]

Tim. Crank & rod problems on late Picco`s was not a crank case issue, a lot of the problems were from poor quality/control. Regard`s J. ODonnell

 

[Krusty 181]

Might I be so bold to ask what one did before third channel needles were available ? Instructing someone to go out and run their 500.00 motor without water the first time out is ridiculous in my opinion . Who cares if you achieve perfect seal in the first hour of engine life ?????????? I try to have motors ready before the day of the race . Whatever on this deal .

Cars guys brake them in without water so why not in boats???? I do it just a bit different than Marty.

Third channel makes it easier but can be done without it with no problem.

Dont the car guys have big aircooled finned heads ???

i read an article a while ago that basically stated that running a new engine too cool can cause too much wear, as it did not let the liner expand enough ,it was all about the "correct" temp that allowed to correct amount of expansion between liner and piston as they do not grow the same amount /rate

the BEST car engine i ever had was run it by letting it sit there and just idle , checking the head temp and using the mixture to adjust the temp , it was also cycled but you had to let it completely cool -stone cold

but this is a little bit different in a boat ...

others thoughts???

 

[AndyBrown]

Tim,

I agree with Jack. No case problems.

 

[Tim_Duggan]

Jack / Andy,

Thanks - was just something that had been playing on my mind for a while.

Tim.

 

[Don Ferrette]

Picco was a good fast motor. A few mistakes and some broke (I think mostly to improper use). Then no parts.

Yes they were fast, I had a few that were very fast ............ as long as they stayed together. And it wasn't a few out there that broke, it was a good number of them. People started calling them bag motors 'cause you took the motor pieces home in a bag after they blew up at the pond. At a district race in Hagerstown a few years back between Steve Utz, Oscar Leech, Steve Sutton, Tony Masiello & myself seven or eight Picco's met their demise that weekend. Picco went thru some real quality control issues on the tail end of the marine motor run because their attention was focused elsewhere (car motors). Crank pins that broke off sending the rod thru the bottom of the case. Pistons that seized in the liner, an absolutely POS carb that would constantly hang up & rods that would snap. Now once you had the good crank, put in an RPM rod (that was re-worked to fit the bigger crank pin radius of the updated crank) & replaced the carb with an OS 9B (40A on the 45's) the motors rocked. I had a pair in my Roadrunner twin that were great once all the good parts were in them. Bad part is to get to that point you started with a $400 motor, added a $60 rod & an $90 carb, you had a $550 motor before it went to your favorite engine guru for mods at typically $100-$150 a motor. Guys like Joe Warren came up with fixes for some issues like the steel flywheel collets on the 45's but when he tried to get word to the manufacturer about the "fix" it fell on deaf ears. It was/is a fix for an issue there but nobody cared, the Picco marine line was already getting shown the back door by Junior. Now granted we in the U.S. probably push motors to the very edges of their existence more than most others but that's been the case for a long time. Want to see how tough your motor is, give it to a U.S. boater. Don't get me wrong, nothing against Picco here but IF they even wanted to come back & that is a HUGE if, I would not want to see another half hearted effort like it was at the end this last time. Commit fully to putting out a rock solid piece of equipment or don't do it at all as it will just do more harm than good. The sad part while the thought of another player in the marine market would be really great, I just don't see that happening from them...........

 

[Joe Warren]

Don the Picco`s did have a few clearence issues, Some boaters were able to find them, Sometimes you see Min/Max problems on picco`s But the alloys on the P/S and the case volumes & timing numbers were perfect.... AS in all Good racing engines they do require clearence & sometimes more than the mfg believe due to the percentages of Nitro we are running thru them. Picco was Aware Most purchased their engines with the purpose of RACING & COMPETITION, Seems today we are back to working hard on current engines avaib (CMB) to get them to run... CMB`s Require a Ton of work, Intakes are restrictive, carbs too small & they purposely leave the timing numbers low to min piston speed that would stick their pistons...... I`am personally tired of hearing from the mfg`s. The engine WE built was intented for FSV type Racing & Enduro, I will tell you up front when I buy your engine I plan to run 60/65 percent With the biggest prop & try to extract all of the Speed possible for Competition type Racing. WE have Made all of our Race laps with Picco`s engine, But They are Not stk & most have additional clearence. But Picco did have a lot of things figured out that were very Good.... Andy`s motor Deal..... Yet to be Seen.... when it becomes avabil you can bet it will be measured just like the rest...... Hope to see you in Atlanta in lane #1............... Look for BIG Announcement to come from the Hunstville Spring Race Host club for the TWIN -TOP GUN Shoot out.... You will Not want to Miss this one in May..... then it is onto the Nats in June @ Evansville & you can bet the Water will be flying.....

 

[Don Ferrette]

...... Hope to see you in Atlanta in lane #1...............

You know that's where I'll be Joe. Looking forward to seeing you, Jose, Mark & the rest there in April. Shot the breeze on the phone with Ralph last night for almost an hour, man I can't wait to get out & run a boat..........

 

[Wasted wages]

You guys kill me!

Picco was a good fast motor. A few mistakes and some broke (I think mostly to improper use). Then no parts. Then most want to treat Picco as some kind of Chinese K&B knock off when months earlier it was a top contender.

CMB had issue here and there as well. Same trash talk. One day..Oh boy it is the best thing since sliced bread and then..................phooooy.

Now MAC, which CMB made, problems here and there, no parts and only promises of new engines....................you can't stroke fast enough.

You guys kill me!

I'm with you on this one,,

Picco built a good motor ,,ran them for years and won many races with them. even placed 4th in .60 hydro

oval trials at the 1988 IMPBA internats with what was pretty much a stock motor.

Another motor I loved was the .67 needle bearing OPS. I could get those motors to scream !!-again pretty much stock.

It kills me to see/hear about all of these so-called engine "GURU"S " that take a manufactures engine,,

cut the hell out of it and then ***** when it fly's apart.

I have won hundreds of heat races by holding back and waiting till all of the "PRO'S "

are either dead in the water or upside down and then finish my 6 laps with my basicly stock motors.

Being the fastest for 5.5 laps is impressive but it does not gain you any points.

And heat racing is a points game.

Point I'm making here is pretty much all of the engine manufatures make good engines out of the box,,,

It takes a real PRO to make it a P.O.S...

 

[Don Ferrette]

Picco built a good motor ,,ran them for years and won many races with them. even placed 4th in .60 hydro

oval trials at the 1988 IMPBA internats with what was pretty much a stock motor.

I have won hundreds of heat races by holding back and waiting till all of the "PRO'S "

are either dead in the water or upside down and then finish my 6 laps with my basicly stock motors.

"pretty much a stock motor" "basically stock motors"....... it's either stock or it's not. <_<

"I have won hundreds of heat races by holding back and " ...... hundreds??? <_<

Winning through attrition .... boy now doesn't that sound like fun.

 

[JS_Racing]

Piccos were great...we won the 1997 US-1 E-Hydro with a perfectly stock 67 EXR....ran really strong..heat raced in the mid 70's and ran in the low 80's for the SAW. Still have that motor in the 60 boat....once we get back to racing in a few years we will probably still run it as a backup motor....

The MACs however, are AWESOME from what I remember. We had a set of MAC 84's, again perfectly stock, in our T-90 sized Eagle SG and it ran 95.5 in open water and 93 at the SAW event. Very strong consistent motors....

The K-90 motors were amazing when they ran...but we never could get consistency from them....some heats they ran strong...others they didn't......

Steve

 

[Joe_Knesek]

Picco built a good motor ,,ran them for years and won many races with them. even placed 4th in .60 hydro

oval trials at the 1988 IMPBA internats with what was pretty much a stock motor.

I have won hundreds of heat races by holding back and waiting till all of the "PRO'S "

are either dead in the water or upside down and then finish my 6 laps with my basicly stock motors.

"pretty much a stock motor" "basically stock motors"....... it's either stock or it's not. <_<

"I have won hundreds of heat races by holding back and " ...... hundreds??? <_<

Winning through attrition .... boy now doesn't that sound like fun.

I agree Don. I have never owned a stock motor and rarely fall out of races. If you are waiting for boats to fall out to win by attrition, you are accepting failure and I would bet more times than not, you find yourself getting your butt handed to you.

 

[Wasted wages]

Picco built a good motor ,,ran them for years and won many races with them. even placed 4th in .60 hydro

oval trials at the 1988 IMPBA internats with what was pretty much a stock motor.

I have won hundreds of heat races by holding back and waiting till all of the "PRO'S "

are either dead in the water or upside down and then finish my 6 laps with my basicly stock motors.

"pretty much a stock motor" "basically stock motors"....... it's either stock or it's not. <_<

"I have won hundreds of heat races by holding back and " ...... hundreds??? <_<

Winning through attrition .... boy now doesn't that sound like fun.

Yup,,hundreds,,,let's do some math,,,40 trophies hang on my wall times 5 heats per trophy and that's just for the races I have placed in,,,been runnin' boats for about 20 years,,run 5-6 boats per event,,,I've won my fair share and believe me not all due to attrition,,,just smart racing.

That's why I love racing with the BIG DOG'S,,,they are usually the first ones upside down or dead in the water before mill time expires,,( then they sweat the rest of the race as thier boat has now become a "turn bouy")

I'll say it again,,heat racing is a numbers game and points are points,,

no matter how you get them,,and the only lap that counts is the last one.

"To finish first,,you must first finish"

And kudo's to the guy's that spend megabucks to go 100+ MPH,,,It's just not my cup of tea,,

I would much rather heat race and set my boats up that way,,I have other way's to satisfy my need for speed,,and it ain't toy boats,,

Stock motors,,

Some people may say that cleaning up the ports,,adjusting the head button etc,sticking in an aftermarket rod may make a motor non-stock,,,I don't think these small clean up procedures and a RPM rod gives you any more power,, just some reliaibility

I think along the lines of riasing the ports,,different head buttons,,shimming the sleve,,modifying the piston and sleve and crank,, blah,blah blah as making a motor non-"stock",,,so take it for what it's worth,,if the timing's are stock" I" would call the motor stock.