New Mercury Racing Diesel OptiMax Outboard

New, from Race Division... The 3.0 Litre Mercury Racing OptiMax V-6 Diesel outboard, rated at 175 horsepower, at the propshaft. This will eventually replace the existing 3.0 Litre Optimax JP model, that has been available & in use since the 90's. The Optimax JP currently burns JP5, JP8 or Kerosene Jet A fuel(s), which has a 40% fuel burn reduction over standard Ethanol gasoline, utilizing about 95% of the standard 3.0 Litre OptiMax engines existing build components. This new Diesel variants market, will open a whole new realm of performance possibilities for the avid fisherman. In the past, Mercury's largest sales sector with these engines, has been mostly U.S. & overseas governments.

I wonder how many components will be used from the standard 3.0... My guess would be, not many powerhead components will be used...

It says 95% of standard optimax components are retained. Im assuming the compression would have to be quite low for a diesel to use existing bottom end parts like crank, rods etc. Probably why it needs the assistance of spark plug and glow plug?

there were several up for auction a few months ago on government liquidators site. all were new 2007 models in the crate. I thought it was bs. but there is a lot of info about them when you google government diesel mercury outboards.

Scott Porta bought one for his 23 Seacraft. He hasn't run it yet but I will put a post up with the results.

Joe

Compression is probably not much higher then normal, it is spark ignited combistion

I am extremely interested, I had been trying to get a jp version, that seemed next to impossible.

What kind of press release talks about an engine but then says sorry you cant buy one?
I'll bet you cant have one because it doesnt meet emission regs?
Saying that South America and Asia dont yet have any rules

"Oh Boy" now our rivers and lakes can smell like our cities and truck stops ................ Yay!

whiners, just stop. compression, has to be higher, just a diesel thing. torque vs gas model of same displacement, should be much higher. a good reference is Mr Scott Porta. I will be waiting to review his findings. fun out

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Originally Posted by NICE PAIR

"Oh Boy" now our rivers and lakes can smell like our cities and truck stops ................ Yay!

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If you make fuel out of deep fryer you could be boating and getting hungry for McDonald lol

I got to see a jp opti it should have a ton of low end torque

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Originally Posted by Revolution141

It says 95% of standard optimax components are retained. Im assuming the compression would have to be quite low for a diesel to use existing bottom end parts like crank, rods etc. Probably why it needs the assistance of spark plug and glow plug?

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Well...All the "original" Orbital Engine/Optimax license technology was dual plugged anyway, controlled by the Mercury triple nickle processor. All this Opti 3.0 litre JP motor stuff is really old news, actually. When Mercury first introduced its first "production" 3 litre 225, back in 1994, the JP variant was already in the works & going through endurance at the Lake. By the time they introduced the "production" 3 litre 250, the next year, the JP motors were already being produced. You would'nt believe the level of low quality fuels that these engines were tested on, and still produced respectable numbers. Don Schweb and I promise to never say a word about them, lol.

A "display" Mercury 175hp Diesel was shown at SOFIC. It had a full cowl with shiny paint and pretty graphics with no mechanical diesel parts in view. This performance datasheet was published without a reproduction disclaimer and is available on the Mercury racing website http://www.mercuryracing.com/optimax...ting-for-duty/ which also states it is not EPA certified and therefore not available to civilians. Spark ignition heavy fuel engines are dirty by today's exhaust emissions standards and packaging a DPF in an outboard would be near impossible with the water proximity. I am sure Mercury now owns this market with sound engineering.
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The brp army engine can run diesel but from what guys tell me its only for emergency.
I guess a dedicated engine could do much better?
We are all still waiting a proper production diesel outboard.

Photos and more info here: http://www.screamandfly.com/content....rting-for-Duty

:) Greg

anyone see the new Renaults ( prototype) 2 cyl ( wet crankcase) turbo+supercharged 2 stroke diesel, 750cc same power weight as 1.5ltr gas 4 stroke.
I reckon for a outboard to be a success as a diesel it will need boosting IMHO

www.MercuryGovSales.com

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Originally Posted by Jerryrigged

A "display" Mercury 175hp Diesel was shown at SOFIC. It had a full cowl with shiny paint and pretty graphics with no mechanical diesel parts in view. This performance datasheet was published without a reproduction disclaimer and is available on the Mercury racing website http://www.mercuryracing.com/optimax...ting-for-duty/ which also states it is not EPA certified and therefore not available to civilians. Spark ignition heavy fuel engines are dirty by today's exhaust emissions standards and packaging a DPF in an outboard would be near impossible with the water proximity. I am sure Mercury now owns this market with sound engineering.
Attachment 320216

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Looking at the graph , maybe I'm wrong and can't see and I'm reading the graph wrong but that looks like under 140 prop at full throttle.

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Originally Posted by FMP

Looking at the graph , maybe I'm wrong and can't see and I'm reading the graph wrong but that looks like under 140 prop at full throttle.

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140 KW not horsepower.

Yup, that's better.

www.HardcoreMarine.com Hollywood, Florida...Happens to currently have a pair of new, in the box, 2007 200 h.p. OptiMax JP motors. No warranty. "Asking" $25,000.00 for the pair. Ask for Chris when you call.