Car engine conversion mounts?

jaxracer · Jan 4, 2022

Is anyone currently making something like this? I know Fred at Lawless had some made up but last I heard they were out of stock. I’m thinking like the old Irwin outboard mounts that would flip a .45 CMB vertical for use on an outboard except 3.5 size. Would open up the engine selection for outboards big time if so.

Thanks in advance!

Geraghty · Jan 5, 2022

jaxracer said:
Is anyone currently making something like this? I know Fred at Lawless had some made up but last I heard they were out of stock. I’m thinking like the old Irwin outboard mounts that would flip a .45 CMB vertical for use on an outboard except 3.5 size. Would open up the engine selection for outboards big time if so.

Thanks in advance!

Geraghty · Jan 5, 2022

Have you called Fred????......

jaxracer · Jan 5, 2022

Geraghty said:
Have you called Fred????......

Yes, that’s the first place I started. As mentioned last I was told he didn’t have any more. When I messaged him end of September he said, “…have not had much call for them since and frankly have not been able to make any more due to a variety of reasons.” And that he would update me if he was able to make any more. Due to some of the difficulties he’s been having with his CNC machines and various other things, I wanted to see if anyone else has attempted a similar project or has an alternate solution.

I know some guys across the pond are running gear drive setups as well, does anyone know if any of those are available for purchase?

Manuel Xavier · Jan 5, 2022

If you mean this. P.M. sent.

Joern Markset · Jan 13, 2022

I have to say I`m a bit surpriced that no one in US has taken up on those geardrives.
It seems like you guys make everything else, so why not a gearbox for outboard. When you use a gearbox you will at the same time open up a huge variety of engines as they use a standard car engine without any internal mods needed.
So far I have refused to ship out the gearboxes as they have been made in small numbers (higher cost) and sold non profit to local racers.
It is not rocket science to make these gearboxes, just a small portion of accuracy is needed.
I`m not giving away any drawings, but I `m happy to share detailed pictures and description upon request.

Shane Bastick · Jan 13, 2022

Hi Jorn,
if you ever decide to sell your gearboxes overseas for a little bit more $$$, please let us know, I would buy one straight away

cheers

Shane

LawlessMan · Jan 13, 2022

The Geraghty-designed car motor mount is back in production. It has been quite a while since I made some, and it will take a couple weeks before there are any to sell, but definitely coming soon. I apologize to anyone who contacted me earlier, I have just been unable to get them going until now.
Thanks for the patience. Call or email me if you are thinking about getting one and I will start a list. First come, first served. I will be offering the adapter at $50.00 plus shipping, including the adapter for the car engine shaft. To be able to supply these as fairly as possible, it will be one to a customer until I get production ramped up. Sorry, I can only make so many at a time..

Joey Jones · Jan 13, 2022

I definitely do, Fred. Thanks for putting them back into production. What's your email address?

-Joey

Edit: Thanks for the e-mail,Fred.

Greg Rowe · Jan 13, 2022

Fred do you have any pictures of your set up?
Thanks
Greg

Joey Jones · Jan 13, 2022

Greg, check out the “food for thought” thread in the outboard forum here. I think Rod started the thread. Should be on the first page.

-Joey

Wasted wages · Jan 13, 2022

I know Ernie Lafleur built a mount that he mounted a CMB .21 to the lower.
I think it used a belt start and had tilt as well...
His tunnel was extremely fast and turned perfectly...
I don't know if he runs boats anymore or if he can be contacted, but he could be a source for
building mounts...

Joey Jones · Jan 13, 2022

I know Alan Elzer has been doing that for years as well. His D boat was fast the last time I ran with him. It seemed to work very well.

Kris Flynn · Jan 14, 2022

Joern Markset said:
I have to say I`m a bit surpriced that no one in US has taken up on those geardrives.
It seems like you guys make everything else, so why not a gearbox for outboard. When you use a gearbox you will at the same time open up a huge variety of engines as they use a standard car engine without any internal mods needed.
So far I have refused to ship out the gearboxes as they have been made in small numbers (higher cost) and sold non profit to local racers.
It is not rocket science to make these gearboxes, just a small portion of accuracy is needed.
I`m not giving away any drawings, but I `m happy to share detailed pictures and description upon request.

While the gearbox mount itself takes a little bit of machining...findong the gears and then making the shaft and modifying/adapting the gears is the painful part IMO... or maybe i just have too many projects and lost unterest hahaha

I would love to finish the project early this year to give it a test run.

Alan Elzer · Jan 14, 2022

Think Ernie only made the cmb 45 adapter, but housing was weak from machined so thin around windows for starter belts. But was a great idea for a new motor options at the time

Greg Rowe · Jan 14, 2022

I have one and it has cracked just like you said,but great machine work and idea

jaxracer · Jan 14, 2022

LawlessMan said:
The Geraghty-designed car motor mount is back in production. It has been quite a while since I made some, and it will take a couple weeks before there are any to sell, but definitely coming soon. I apologize to anyone who contacted me earlier, I have just been unable to get them going until now.
Thanks for the patience. Call or email me if you are thinking about getting one and I will start a list. First come, first served. I will be offering the adapter at $50.00 plus shipping, including the adapter for the car engine shaft. To be able to supply these as fairly as possible, it will be one to a customer until I get production ramped up. Sorry, I can only make so many at a time..

Hey Fred, thanks for ramping production back up on these. Add me to the list once you get some made.

Thanks!

LawlessMan · Jan 14, 2022

Just a little history. Jim Irwin came to me with an adapter idea in 1999 to use a CMB inboard motor on an outboard drive, and asked me to make some prototypes. It was premiered and profiled in Jerry Dunlap's report abouut the "Nitro 2000" Outboard adaptation of the Lawless 7.5 drive. in R/C Boat Modeler. I still have a copy of the issue. It not only required a belt for starting, the actual body of the drive was lengthened to Jim's specs. Only a few were ever made, the last couple went to Mike Crawford, I think. The idea seemed to fade into obscurity within a few years. My personal observattion at the introduction was that it would take 3 people to effectively start the boat. One to hold the transmitter, one to hold the boat, and one to pull on the starter to tension the bely. (Two if you have a stick-type transmitter). Barring that, I could not see any way two people, let alone one, could manage all three things. The tension on the belt would also subject the transom to a lot of stress, which could break or weaken it eventually. The design of the adapter was somewhat similar to the current Outlaw adapter, but a lot of things are different on the Outlaw. One very important update, if you will, is the ability to mount the Outlaw conversion on almost any drive (except Thunder Tiger) with no modification to the drive. The driver that is mounted on the motor was custom designed by Rod G. to adapt specifically to the car motor shaft, with the only modification to the motor being shortening the output shaft. The setup also uses stock length flexshafts with no special adapters or mods.