Bearcat #6 arrives home

[Super Sportster]

Well since it won't do what I wanted it to do, troll with a consistant idle yet, I've removed it for the time being. I have many carbs here to expermiment with so I'll see what I can come up with. I've now put #4 Homelite on which runs like a watch she'll run all day at 500 rpm. Top speed was down from the #2 Bearcat but after bringing it back home I discovered I wasn't getting full throttle as it would only turn 4000 rpm. That's been fixed so we'll see what it does next time out.

[Super Sportster]

Yes Joe, I can see you are enjoying the new smiles, I saw them too, figured you must have been tweaking the forum some more!

[Helmar]

Bill,
WOT was 5000, cruise was 3500 and @ 25mph it 2700rpm

Joe,
I'm asking it to run smoothly and consistantly at 600rpm.

Boy, I would sure be interested in knowing why this would cause it to Blow up
Maybe I had better go read Bills Website

Can you tell I am playing with the new Smilies

[Super Sportster]

Bill,
WOT was 5000, cruise was 3500 and @ 25mph it 2700rpm

Joe,
I'm asking it to run smoothly and consistantly at 600rpm.

[Helmar]

Dick, What are you asking it to do that Bill thinks it will Blow up soon

[Super Sportster]

Are you looking for a price? My first one was $100, it is a Bearcat with an early Homelite block. Engine was stuck. Second one had a couple leaking gaskets, was not well taken care of, looked like crap but ran out very well, came with a parts engine and was $450. Third one looks to have been taken care of, lower unit is blown, came with a parts engine. I traded a good 40hp Evinrude for these.

Price range for a 55 Bearcat

I was playing support vehicle for the Garage sale Commndo Queens. When I found a 55 Bearcat, it supposedly ran when his dad had it previously. He asked what I thought it worth. There was a voice that said offer a 100.00 dollars. I am not sure what it is worth, if it fires or does't fire. It looks like it has been taken care of, since its in the Eastern Washington area, hopefully very limited saltwater. Any Help

[Super Sportster]

2nd sea trials

Tim, yes I talked with Bill last Thursday, what Bill has written on his website is very true about these and we discussed things a little deeper. I am asking this engine to do something it won't do in it's present form. It can if altered, by that I either have to lose the carbs or jet these properly to work.

Todays trip on the lake was productive, the large oil leaks are gone, and the WOT speed was 34.3 mph with a cruising speed of 32 mph. Idle was running at 600 rpm inconsistently as before. I've also picked up a huge hesitation that was not there before. I removed the springs in the accelerator pump circuit like the manual for the 55 says to do. If there was a manual for the 85 I don't think they would suggest it.

I like this engine in general, it has it's quirks, it can be frustrating, it's unique.

[Tim McCrain]

Dick, have you talked to Bill Roberts? He may have some advice, or he may try to buy the '85, so you're covered either way.

[Helmar]

85HP Bearcat engine

Well, if you decide to sell it, I hope you offer it here first

[Super Sportster]

More oil leak repair

I had to walk away from it and think about what my next step was going to be. Do I just sell it and be done with or do I continue on. Had the hoists been here this weekend the 55 would have been hanging on the transom. So today I decided to go after another leak which was just getting bigger. The top plate under the flywheel was removed and to my surpise it opened up to the engine, not a typical arrangement. I keep telling myself it's British then all makes sense.............sort of. I replaced two gaskets under there and put it back together. Ran it for over an hour and it looks like it's oil tight again. Carbs are back to to factory specs, I may fire up the lathe later on and see if I can spin out some different jetting. Tomorrow I will take it out again, I'm thinking we'll run it in the Columbia. Changed out the prop to a larger pitch and have now installed a tach.

[Super Sportster]

Tim, that's the first thing I did when I brought it home. Carbs were dry and clean but I went through all the passages anyway.

I did the jet needle on both carbs and had it idling very nicely at 500rpm however I forgot that both circuits work together when you open the throttle. Restricting the idle circuit now appears to have leaned out the main jet.

[Tim McCrain]

Dick,
Did you clean / rebuild the carbs? In my experience similar problems (touchy adjustment, inability to set idle screws correctly) often result when teensy air passages are dirty or clogged.

[Super Sportster]

Carburetors 101

I "think" I have found the problem with these carbs. General rule of thumb for mixture screw adjustment is 1-1/2 turns out from seated. These are 1/2 turn from seated and there's not much adjustment from this 1/2 turn, it's very sensitive to adjustment here. The plugs are black, meaning it's running rich at idle. Researching idle circuits you can find out how they work, how to adjust the screw and that's about it. They have a slow speed jet metering the fuel. Thanks to the Weber carb site they explain what happens if the the jet is too small or too big. If it's too big the screw is turned in under the normal amount, too small the opposite. These must be too big according to them and the black plugs support this. You cannot purchase these in different sizes. I've removed the the top plug and made a new one, drilled a hole through the center and used a tapered jet needle from a motorcycle carb slide in this hole to reduce the size of this jet, being tapered it's adjustable. I now have two adjustments. Trying this on only one carb I adjusted my new jet so the mixture screw could be set at 1-1/2 turns. I now have about 3/4 of a turn of adjustment on the mixture screw and it seems to be idling much better. I've done this to the top carb only so far. I pulled the top and bottom spark plugs and there is a difference, the top was starting to clean up. On to the bottom carb!

Dick

[Super Sportster]

Gray? Me? :eek:

I've got the prop chart and a few props here, some are Michigan and some are Homelite. I didn't even look at the one on the engine, just put back what came off it. We use Independent Marine in St. Johns at work, Steve does them all from tugs to kickers.

I may go after a tach today, I really need one.

Had I been thinking, Ron my neighbor came out to fix his boat, I should have gave him the camera and had him shoot some video. Maybe next time!