Grims OB report from K+B

[Grimracer]

Hi I waters OB dudes.. ;D

This is the information that I got from Randy at K+B during our visit to the Toledo show.

First to answer some questions from the other post.

1  Will any products go over seas? Yes.. It looks like this is not going to happen right away, never the less he said yes.

2  What are the plans for the OB motors? When will the motors (21) be available? Randy said that some of the motors would be shipping at the end of this month. They will start with the good old water cooled 35 and then to the gold SS. Next will be the new SX but he said that that motor is still a few months out.

3  What about the IB motors? Randy said that there plans include the IB motors bit that the OB are priority one.

4  Will the motors go to distributors? Yes.

5  Are the motors being shipped now from new tooling? Yes.. (Grims note: the machining was the best I have seen K+B do)

6  Laxmasters question about the 18 motor.. Im sorry lax as I did not get to this question. I will try to follow up on this for you.

Grims thoughts:

First I would like to say that Randy from K+B was quite nice to me (after I told him who I was).. I told him that I was a moderator for a forum and he rolled his eyes and said great.. “that was funny” Looks like we are not the only ones giving him crap.. (now im funny!!) lol.. Anyway Randy is way out of touch with the boaters. He had no idea that the OS was discontinued.. (not sure I believe that but OK).

Also he said that the reason that the motors are so long to ship is that K+B is a sub company of a company that makes air conditioner parts and that until the main business is done its work the motors are not at the top of the list.. (grim note: This I believe as model boating products are a tough business to make a go at). [ Lets face it my day job is not going to go away for some time. ] He also said that the tooling that K+B had (they still have some) was junk. The machine setups were not thought out well and that extra steps K+B was using was slowing things down for him. He said that he had to buy new machines and reprogram most of the steps to make the motors.

A example he gave me was that the old setups would CNC drill the holes in the top of the case for the head bolts and then they would remove the part and install it in another drill machine to drill the holes in the motor lugs. You be the judge..

Now what do I think? Well lets see. First it was nice to talk to K+B. Randy was happy to answer my questions. He did state that he was going as fast at the mother company would allow him to. He had the dirt under his fingernails to prove that he was making an effort and that there intent to build better K+B motors then in the past.

Will the motor really ship? If you ask me I say yes. The 7.5s are shipping now and I have seen the new machining and its nice. What would lying to us about the 21s future do for the company? What would be the benefit to them?

They might be completely wet about there timing (not sure) but I have a feeling that the motors will ship and I also believe that we will see them this summer.

BTW..the new SX is real nice. The red carb may or may not ship with the motor. Randy said that a decision has not been made on this. The new muffler looks good and the price is not bad..

QUESTIONS?

Grim

 

[Grimracer]

pic

BTY the price on the water cooled motor (NOT SX) is not correct, the bace was switched with the gold SS.

 

[Jerry Dunlap]

Mike,

Thanks for the report. I sure hope Randy can start getting K&B outboards out the door.

Jerry D.

 

[Jeff Torgalski]

Just to clarify Grim, the 8907 will come out first, followed by the 8935.

 

[Grimracer]

Jeff

Im rotten with numbers but if memory servers me right that is correct.

First to ship will be the 8907 water cooled motor. This should happen buy the end of this month or so..we will see

Next is the 8935 Air cooled SS (the gold motor) also dew at the same time as the 8907

Last will be the water cooled SX (cant remember the number) this motor will not be shipping for some time.. Could be a few months (read in to that how you will)

Hope this helps.

BTW Jeff got your e mail and i will be geting back to you.

Your bud Grim

 

[chunkt]

Great report Grimmy!

Has this parent company always owned K&B or is this relatively new ownership? If K&B is only being perpetuated by the Hobby enthusiasts within the company as apposed to being business (profit) driven, K&B has a long road to recovery.

That SX looks HOT!

chunk t

 

[waterbug]

Grim

Thanks for the time and effort on behalf of use outboarders .

I have cut all of my hair and beard off and shaved it with a razor and shaving cream . All in protest until I recieve my K&B 3.5 SS and 3.5 SX . I look like Mr Clean !!! ;D

TopFuel you thought I was ugly then you should see me know !!!! I'll see you at Gambro this week !!!! ;D

 

[duc]

Thanks Grim!!

Did they make any commments about parts for the old(er) engines by the way?

 

[GTR]

Hi Grim & guys

Gee that 3.5SX motor looks just like what I have been pushing for over 12months on here - maybe I should claim copyright on the motor idea. LOL

Glad to see that they are taking a responsible attitude to noise.

All I have to say is yee-haa. I would have been very unhappy if K&B had abandoned us.

GT ;D

 

[waterbug]

GT

From the comments and the looks of things, the long wait might be to our advantage with higher quality engines !!!! Usually that means more proformance [HP] and durability !!!!

 

[topfuel443]

Hey Butch, you forgot one thing, more money will probably go along with all of the new stuff from K&B. You cut all of your hair off huh?? I have a shaved head also but man you had a serious beard goin on there. Got the tunnel cleared last week, looks good, just order some stuff from grimmy, fuel cell kit and stumble bocks, and a cool tshirt. I havent heard of any UPS men getting killed recently so I guess that you have been able to contain yourself, even though youre still waiting on the stuff to get here. ~ Later ~ T/F

 

[_laxmasta2039]

sounds good,

i really like the look of the SX....it would be great if you could follow up on the .18 issue, i've tried but i don't carry much clout in the rc boating heirarchy, gotta do more than just own a couple boats i guess

maybe a dealer/designer/moderator/champion [narrow'd it down a bit, didn't i.] like yourself would be able to have their questions answered with more than a "we're not sure at the time, please understand that we're going through some difficulties and wil be up and running ASAP.

maybe if i email him under that name "Jerry Dunlap" or something like that!! ;D :

lol, JK Jerry.

Rebel Racing- insignifigant drops in the pond of rc boating!

 

[topfuel443]

maybe a dealer/designer/moderator/champion [narrow'd it down a bit, didn't i.] like yourself would be able to have their questions answered with more than a "we're not sure at the time, please understand that we're going through some difficulties and wil be up and running ASAP.

Rebel Racing- insignifigant drops in the pond of rc boating!

LMFAO.......funny stuff Joe ;D

~ James

 

[Ron Olson]

When they do become available, don't forget that you have friends in the States! Another way that it's nice to be a member here.

 

[waterbug]

James my beard was 8.5" long when I cut it !!!! My hair was only 2" . " BRUTUS " for sure !!!

How was the club race ?? it rained here . Did you get to run the K&B ?? I guess you heard about Gene's misfortune !!! :- :'(

 

[htbboats]

Do we know just what is different on the SX Motors?

 

[Grimracer]

Mark

Not many that we could see. Im thinking that the head has changed and thats about it. There may be more in store but i just could not tell and it was nuts at the booth. I think the bigest gains we will see is in trueness. I think that the motors will be better because of the clean machining. The new motor will likely store more heat if they continue with the dark color parts. That would be good.

grim

 

[XtremeRcBoats]

Good to see they are back again. Is the red carb on the sx the stock carb?

 

[Jerry Dunlap]

Interesting point about the red carb. In NAMBA, whatever carb come with the engine is the "Stock Carb."

However, I think in IMPBA Sport 20 Tunnel there is a limitation on how large the carb opening can be.

Randy seems to like to "spice up" the appearance of the motors and have a red anodized carb does that. I would suspect the red carb probably has the same carb opening as the gold carb.

If it does have a larger opening, I wouldn't be surprised to see many of us in NAMBA install the gold carb. With the execption of Lohring Miller, everyone in the Northwest replaced the large carb on the K&B 7.5 Pro with a smaller carb from K&B.

Jerry D.

 

[Ron Olson]

Jerry, I was comparing the carb bores when I was looking at them to see if it was a "new" red carb or the regular 7.5 version. It does look larger than the gold. I have seen a new 7.5 Semi-Pro engine that a friend got on eBay a while back that he has yet to fire up. The carb on that was too big also so he put a Red carb on that. His advice had come from Rod Geraghty (sp.?). I'm just wondering if the head is a Keeley rip-off like the SS in a water-cooled version.