mercury kg7 super 10 hurricane and cruiser

**eli** · 03-16-2010, 11:22 PM

looking for memorabila for these cool 1950/52 motors , stuff like broshures,manuals maybe some adds ,my email jasonhinz43@yahoo.com thanks

**mk30h** · 03-17-2010, 09:23 PM

A few ads.

**gofish7070** · 03-18-2010, 12:03 PM

Recently gave my son,the original sand cast KG-7 engine that the engineering dept. presented to ECK in the very late 1940's, Will have him take photos and post,,,,,,,this was done in miniature size to show Mr. K. and the marketing dept. what it would look like,,,,,,, Unlike the 1948 models this showed the handle on the back which allowed you to set the engine on its back where it would stay upright, previously the had to lay on their side,,,,, The engine was then given to my Father by ECK where it remained on his desk for over 3 decades, upon his retiremnt the little engine went to my desk,,,, where upon my retirment was given to my son as a memory of his grand-father,,,,,, Has always been one of literally the Families Jewels,,,,, To my knowledge their were only 2 of these small protypes ever made,,,,,,, Thanks for the interest,,,,,,,,

**53w** · 03-18-2010, 01:39 PM

I have an kg7h with factory 20H pads in the block. I was told these KG7H blocks were givin to special racers by Mercury to try to beat the Martin 200. This would of been while the 20H was still being developed.
The block looks just like a kg7 block from the outside, water jacket, and ports, but look down in the bores and wow! The engine was thought to have something wrong with it when i bought it. So the guy didn't charge me much for it because it pulled over hard.
53w

**Mark75H** · 03-18-2010, 03:21 PM

Have you checked the cc's with a burette? It would be interesting to see what it measures out to be. I would have doubts about it being made specifically to compete against Martins; I have never heard such information and can expand on it if you like.

**staylor** · 03-18-2010, 08:56 PM

...and they made very few of them. There was one running around our area back in the early '60s, but most good running KG7H rigs would have 2 mph on it. A 20H would walk right by it. The Martin could not take an over-rev like the Hurricanes and tended to lunch some costly parts if you revved too high. I had a Martin 100 for awhile. It was a nice running engine but I was warned by the local dealer not to run it so high that it would break the prop free. After looking inside at the delicate castings that supported the cam driven intake poppet valves I understood what he meant. If the valves floated you could easily ruin the casting. It did have a nice exhaust cut-out plate built into the lowere unit and held on by a couple of screws. With the plate off she'd make quite a racket. On the other hand, I can easily see Mr K issuing some special padded KG7 blocks to the racers to embarrass both the Martins and the even more hated Chris-Crafts and Champions- especially the Chris-Crafts since if I recall right Merc sued them for several patent infringements.
Doug

**Mark75H** · 03-18-2010, 09:12 PM

Those are the numbers I had always heard.

Rules and specs in Stock Outboard racing have always been pretty strict. KG7's, KG7Q's and KG7H's were limited to 22 cc's ... getting caught running illegal equipment would have put you on the beach and been a major embarrassment to the manufacturer. The bad press would be almost impossible to overcome.

On the other hand, there may have been incentive to make some motors that were exactly 22.001 cc's ... and ... Merc was starting to try to move in to the old alkie burning classes. A real factory padded KG7 would have more likely been intended to be competition for 1930's Johnson SR's ... the KG7's were no slackers there either.

Chris Craft completely infringed on Merc's fishing motor lower unit patents. They were almost direct copies ... Chris Craft had hired some of Merc's engineers ... they probably didn't know any other way to make them. The case was settled and one of the conditions was that Chris Craft would go out of the outboard business.

**53w** · 03-19-2010, 06:16 PM

Mercury did give out special motor to select people in early stock days. The ke4hd, ke7hd, and kg9hd were all special built engines that were not advailable to every one. Bob Switzer did run a kg9hd and won nationals with it and almost got thrown out in inspection when it got opened up. His personal engine broke during heats. Jack Maypole gave Bob and engine out of his trialer to use it was an HD engine. Jack had papers from merc saying it was a "stock engine". These HD engines are so rare that know one know what was special about them. Bob's kg9HD had 8 hole reed blocks when non-HD had only 4.
53w

**Mark75H** · 03-19-2010, 06:31 PM

The HD's are all listed separately in the rule books as approved motors with their own specs.
Its true that most people don't know much about the HD motors, but, the specs are known.

Look at line "N"

Merc says the KF7HD has more reeds than the KF7 ... not the KF9/KF9HD/KG9/KG9H ... there was
a KF9HD and a KG9H, but not a KG9HD. I think I can dig up a KF9 parts list if you want.

**53w** · 03-19-2010, 09:25 PM

Thanks for getting the model numbers correct!
I am almost 100% positive that Bob said the KF9-HD that he used had 8 hole reed blocks? That was why the inspector was going to throw him out? Did a kf9 when new have 4 hole reed blocks or 8?
Bob is the only one that I have ever talked to that has ever seen inside of a true HD engine maybe there was something else different?I'll have to call him and ask.
Do you have an older spec sheet, pre quicky? The HD's were raced on std units. This is before the quicky.
The KE4HD used a kf5 size gearcase on it. That all I know about the HD motors.
53w

**Mark75H** · 03-19-2010, 10:48 PM

Originally Posted by 53w

Do you have an older spec sheet, pre quicky? The HD's were raced on std units. This is before the quicky.

That is correct!

I don't have any 1949 spec sheets for stuff from the pre-Quicky era, but I may have some KF parts lists. I'll have to do some digging to find them.

**53w** · 03-24-2010, 09:38 PM

I think if you match up the years and what everyone else had at nationals the year the HD motors for A,B,D came out. You have KE4 in A, KE7 and KF7 in B, KF9 in D. All having fishing std lower units and 4 hole reed blocks.
A few select drivers get the unadvertized 8 hole reed block HD engines on special smaller sized fishing lower units? I know the ke4HD had a smaller unit on it, The B and D never seen one to look at?
Maybe the HD's had larger carbs also?
The HD engines where not in the inspection manual for nationals. The only thing they have is a piece of paper sent with the engines saying that they are legal to run. Most of the other drivers never even knew what one was or never even new what they got beat by. Inspector can't disclose a competitors engine with anyone. so it was kept kind of under the table of what a few guys were able to run that year. Buy the next season all of the HD parts were upgraded in to the next new KG models and were nolonger special?
Am I close?
53w

**Mark75H** · 03-24-2010, 10:00 PM

HD motors were in the inspection manuals and their approval had been noted in APBA's "Propeller" magazine sent to all members. These things are and always have been 100% required. The KE4HD did use a smaller case, but I don't know the detail about the others. The twins had more reeds, but I think AJ carbs were used on all. I'll see if I can find a carb size chart and see if the size is bigger. We know the carb numbers from the specs above.

The only sneeky thing was that there were only 25 of each made ... and not all were "sold" in the US.

Racers who were surprised by the special HD motors just weren't paying attention.