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View Full Version : Mercury Twister T-1



kim cleckler
02-13-2006, 01:19 PM
Not Together Item # 5666713908

MODERATOR COMMENT: No longer an active listing. Moved to Outboard and Racing History Forum because of historical information contained.

Mark75H
02-13-2006, 01:42 PM
original Twister, but probably not DASH 1

Dash 1 means second version in Merc terminology ... I think they are all blue

Mark75H
02-13-2006, 02:32 PM
I don't see any problem with the cowling or decals and I am 100% certain it is a TWISTER. All I question is the "-1" which in Merc terminology means second version. Red decals were on the original 1971 version of the Twister

Mark75H
02-13-2006, 05:12 PM
There is no "-1" associated with the first version shown in that image, just "Twister" I think all the literature on the Twister-1 shows a blue decaled motor

I think the angle on the cowl is just an artifact of the camera lens, not an angled cut, but I think you are right about the decals, eariler than 71.

I'm thinking we are on the same wavelength and don't know it :)

Let us know when you see it in person :)

largecar91
02-13-2006, 05:31 PM
It's gone now. Buy it now got it.

Mark75H
02-13-2006, 06:42 PM
I think the buy it now price was fair to both the buyer and seller :)

Bruster
02-13-2006, 08:11 PM
This brochure is from the first generation twister. It has the newer style empty centre red band on it. Those stickers are 1968/1969 issue. Notice the centre red filling on the stripe. Also, the small half only says "mer". This is definately an older cowling that was cut for this application. Also notice the slightly crooked cut of the small cowling.

The mid is also a later style mid with the bolt on side where the log attaches to the mid. I have seen this on both T1 and T motors so that is inconclusive.

At any rate, it was just purchased so when I get to see it in person I can tell.

I recently sold a very original Twister and that's how the wraps are made. They look home made-ish. I would bet $$ they are correct. The mid is also correct:D

Dave S
02-14-2006, 12:55 AM
You have the parts in hand so ya must know.:)

Bruster
02-14-2006, 05:13 PM
Im not disputing the mid. I have right this instant a Twister mid that is moulded one piece and one that has the bolt on side like that one. I have seen red twisters with the bolt on side though I have only seen the one piece one on the red stripe model.

Look at the picture I have here. This is of the CORRECT factory cover for my T1. It is cut and bent at the factory and the decals are applied in a way that it reads "merc" not "mer". When you cut a stock cover to fit, it removes the "c". Those stickers are too old for a Twister. They are from a BP era engine or just a stock 125-100.

That is a cut stock cover. Even if it were a real one that was restickered with older stickers, why would the stickers be put on to only read "mer"? It just makes no sense. The only reason they would read "mer" is if they were put on the cowling before it was cut and the "c" was cut off. Those are just stock cut covers my friends.

OK, OK, OK, you're right. Good eye. I like it when someone disputes something and backs it with facts. Here are some pictures, just for you!;)

Bruster
02-14-2006, 06:59 PM
Sorry guys wasn't trying to be an a** or anything I just thought they didnt look right.

Now look at the mid on that twister on the carlson. See how it has the side where the log attaches bolted on like the one kim sold? I have one at home that is one piece. There is no bolted on plate, its moulded in.

What do you guys think of that? I assumed it was from an early twister. When I go home next week ill get a pic. -Chris


Who said you were? :eek: I guess I still don't understand about the exhaust. Most of that twister on Gary's Carlson is pretty original.

Fish
02-14-2006, 10:03 PM
man, I wish I would have seen this earlier, looks like I missed another one. I know this is a dumb question, but does anyone know where a complete twister or t2 is for sale?

Mark75H
02-15-2006, 07:06 AM
Excellent information, Thank You! Chris

Raceman
02-22-2006, 11:44 PM
Sorry Chris, but I believe you've got your mid sections backwards. First let's define the engines and stickers for clarity.

Twister: 1st generation, red stripes
Twister1: 2nd generation, blue stripes

I have what may be one of the most original, if not THE MOST original Twister on the planet. It was bought for a pleasure boat, wet only 3 to 5 times with the owner being frustrated, then stored inside for about 25 years until I bought it from the original owner. He said it had less than 10hrs and his daughter corrected him to more like 2 or 3. There's not so much as a fluid drip stain on the powerhead. It has red stripes, dumps the water from a hose on the top of the log, and has the mid section with the adapter between the log and the housing.

I also have another Twister, which I bought from Noah/Eagle One (Piranah Marine at the time). It has red stripes, top dump from the log, and the mid with log adapter.

When I got the original Twister, the owner had a Twister 1 upgrade kit, still unopened in the original Mercury box. It had the log with the bottom dump.

Last year Instigator found me another Twister 1 which I bought. I believe this engine to be VERY ORIGINAL, and it even has the old MC1 Speedmaster which many people discarded back then in favor of the SSM which was smaller and faster. This engine has the smaller pattern type mid (no adapter) and the water dumped from the bottom of the log.

Raceman
02-23-2006, 12:21 AM
Here's a picture of my Twister 1. With the exception of the fact that somebody had a big propshaft put in the old MC1, I believe it to be unmolested. Notice the lack of the adapter between the log and the mid and the low water dump at the bottom of the log.

Raceman
02-23-2006, 12:26 AM
Here's a picture of my first Twister (red). It's the one that came from Noah and still has the old BP lower on it that somebody had put on it before he got it. Notice the adapter between the log and the mid.

Mark75H
02-23-2006, 08:00 AM
Norris, how many of your Twisters have the spark plug wires running around the log/silo like that one?

Can you change the red Twister image to a larger version?

willabee
02-23-2006, 09:37 AM
Raceman......

Your description of the Twister and TI is exactly how I remember it happening.

Raceman
02-23-2006, 09:59 AM
Norris, how many of your Twisters have the spark plug wires running around the log/silo like that one?

Can you change the red Twister image to a larger version?

Sam what I think happened on the plug wires is that somebody workin' on the engine bought a new set or whatever, then ran em down the wrong side. They're supposed to be on the starboard side on the Twisters.

As far as the red Twister image, what I need to do is shoot some pics from all angles of the original one and post em, rather than the one with the BP lower. The original motor had never had the gearcase off until I did it to put an impeller in it and is really a time capsule. I'd guess that it had never had the cowl opened from the day it was rigged until I got it either. I'll try to get some pictures.

Raceman
03-02-2006, 09:12 AM
If you don't believe me take the log off of your T1 with the one piece mid and you will probably have drilled holes and such because they didn't line up quite correctly.

Why would mercury go from a superior design to an inferior design?

I'm certain of the correlation I posted based on the engines I own and the ones I'm aware of:

My red motor had never had the top cowl off, the gearcase off, or the sparkplugs out until I bought it since the day it was rigged. I don't have the serial number handy, but believe it was an early engine because the original owner told me that the dealer temporarily rigged his new boat with a 1350 so he could go ahead and use it, because there was an availability problem with the "new engine".

I have this red engine, which again, I'm 100% positive of the originality of, as well as another red striped twister, both of which have the adapter. I don't know the history of the blue one that Gary found for me in Ohio, but it too appears very original including the old MC1 Speedmaster and it, being a Twister 1 (blue) has the bottom dump and the mid without the adapter for the log.

So that's 3 that I currently own that are in the order. I'm aware of one more here too, a top dump with the adapter, but I don't know the history. As far as I know, all the top dumps were red and all the Twister 1's that I've ever seen, including my new in the box upgrade kit are bottom dumps.

I don't necessarily agree that the adapter type is superior because I don't have any firsthand knowledge of failures. Since I wasn't interested in boat racing when they were run in large numbers I don't know if the breakage problem existed. If not, the change to the log bolted directly to the mid may have been just a simplicity/slightly lighter upgrade. In any case, there's no question whatsover that my red motor was delivered from Merc in it's present configuration and it seems doubtful that all these others would've had parts changes as major as that would be.

Mark75H
03-02-2006, 05:23 PM
From what I was told the one piece is a very early design, possibly in place before your red stripe was made (even though that red one was a very early example)...possibly it was a part used by the factory before the motors were made available to the public?
Unless it was Willabee that told you this, I wouldn't worry too much about the accuracy of it. Far too many old racers can't remember even the important details (much less something trival like this).

I'll throw another factor into the mix ... some of the Twister mid housings have above cav plate exhaust and some are closed to let the exhaust exit the Speedmaster's exhaust outlet below the cavitation plate. I think all the Twister-1 mids are open above the cav plate and but only some of the original Twisters. (I think the earliest ones are closed.)

Raceman
03-02-2006, 08:11 PM
I would like to know who else has a one piece besides you Norris. Do you have a one piece sitting around by any chance besides the one on that T1 of yours?


I do have one extra one piece mid that I got from Ole' Gator. I don't know if he knows the history of it. Since it's bare I don't know what it'd tell us unless Jim knows the origin for sure.

Bruster
03-02-2006, 09:42 PM
I do have one extra one piece mid that I got from Ole' Gator. I don't know if he knows the history of it. Since it's bare I don't know what it'd tell us unless Jim knows the origin for sure.

I think that one came from one of my Twister I motors, that had a stacker kit on it.:D

Raceman
03-02-2006, 10:07 PM
What does your T1 conversion kit have in it? Did it come with a 1 piece adaptor?

It is every piece of a powerhead, completely disassembled EXCEPT connecting rods.:confused: :confused: :confused: It had the top and bottom cowl, exhaust log, gaskets, switchbox and a ton of small parts. There is NO adapter, only a log and plates.

Raceman
03-03-2006, 07:06 AM
Hmm, thats no good. Oh well what can ya do. Why did the kit come with a switchbox? I am pretty sure the twisters just ran stock boxes...

Do you think the 1500XS's ran stock boxes also?

Jeff_G
03-03-2006, 08:47 AM
RM, the xs and stock boxes had different part numbers. The XS supposedly had no RPM limit and the stock box supposedly did. But the truth is I could never see a difference, never hit a rev limiter. I could run the motor on a stock box over 8,000 and the motor would let go long before any limiter kicked in! No one I had ever talked to could tell me what kind of limiter or what the limit was. So my opinion is use either one.

willabee
03-07-2006, 01:42 PM
hey here is a pic of bridges second twister....maybe he knows if its original
Inline, does that engine have a rectangular exhaust relief in the base of the rear of the dsh.......Raceman, does the TI in the picture you posted have that exhaust relief?.....I can't tell from the pictures

Raceman
03-07-2006, 10:18 PM
As far as the rectangular opening in the bottom of the mid, right above the gearcase adapter, I have 3 assembled engines PLUS the extra mid I got from Jim. They all have it.

Here's something I noticed for the first time tonight though: Again, of all the Twister/Twister 1 stuff I have, there's only the one engine that's unmolested that I'm totally confident of the originality of. Based on the former owner's description of the dealer lending him a 1350 for his new boat until the Twister was available, I've always thought it was an early Twister. It has a bottom water dump though. The first one I ever bought has a high dump on it, with a hose running down the back of the log. It leaves the log on the top rear with a straight fitting and the hose is a moulded one, turning 90º and hugging the rear of the log. I know NOTHING about the history of that motor, but will dig a serial number out on it if anybody can decipher it. The known original motor has the bottom dump, but it's a lot smaller than my Twister 1, and also smaller than the dump that came in the log of my upgrade kit. Both of these have what appears to be about a 1" copper 90º fitting from the bottom of the log toward the rear. The known original motor has the smaller 90º fitting moved much farther foward in the bottom of the log, and it has a single rib on it, much like an intake manifold or automotive water pump fitting that would accept a heater hose and clamp. So................ there are AT LEAST 3 different part number Twister/Twister1 logs not counting the cow bell which I've never seen.

Mark75H
03-08-2006, 07:17 AM
I've also seen the smaller log dump that you speak of on another local twister..has no cowlings though so can't tell vintage.
serial number might help :)

serial number information from Mark 20 H owners helped figure out that the last 1/4 of them had the new type large skeg. We knew about the skeg size change .... but howmany and when the change took place was determined by reviewing the serial numbers .... hundreds of them

Bruster
05-14-2006, 02:21 PM
Im not disputing the mid. I have right this instant a Twister mid that is moulded one piece and one that has the bolt on side like that one. I have seen red twisters with the bolt on side though I have only seen the one piece one on the red stripe model.

Look at the picture I have here. This is of the CORRECT factory cover for my T1. It is cut and bent at the factory and the decals are applied in a way that it reads "merc" not "mer". When you cut a stock cover to fit, it removes the "c". Those stickers are too old for a Twister. They are from a BP era engine or just a stock 125-100.

That is a cut stock cover. Even if it were a real one that was restickered with older stickers, why would the stickers be put on to only read "mer"? It just makes no sense. The only reason they would read "mer" is if they were put on the cowling before it was cut and the "c" was cut off. Those are just stock cut covers my friends.

I have pictures that show the "MER" from a Mercury display stacker motor, just like in the picture. The letters are white on red and have a slant to the left. I also have pictures of one of my Stacker motors and they are white text on red, but the wrap is a 1 piece, it is lettered "MER". The Twister motor had white letters on black background with a right hand slant to the text. Everything I have pictures that is white on red says "MER" everything I have pictures that is white on black says "MERC".....;)

bridges
05-16-2006, 08:32 AM
Someone asked for pics of the mid, here they are:

p.s.: All this T-1 talk got me fired up and I took mine down to the river this morning and ran it....ran like a dream. Took a pic as I was leaving the house. There is nothing like sunrise at 70mph and that deep twister roar!

Bruster
05-19-2006, 08:48 PM
Scott.....
Good to see someone actually runs 'em.;) Sounds like a pretty good way to start the day.:D Get any bugs on your teeth?

bridges
05-22-2006, 10:41 AM
Scott.....
Good to see someone actually runs 'em.;) Sounds like a pretty good way to start the day.:D Get any bugs on your teeth?

You mean there are people out there who have all these great motors and don't even run 'em? :eek: ;)

It's the BEST way to start the day...I was in a great mood all day after that. I went out again on Wednesday morning. Sure does turn the heads of the bass boaters who have absolutely no idea what they are seeing and hearing. :D