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Welcome to the club Jerome – Yes a model 8008 – which became the Evinrude Big Four with a change in the stern brackets. We featured them in one of our Florida meets and I was told seven showed up. Dad worked it The Evinrude Experimental Engineering department when the first Big fours were built. Many changes were made to boost horse power for racing and the Racing 460 that resulted was the King of speed for many years. When WW2 broke out the armed surfaces wanted a portable fast assault boat to move troops to the beaches. The 460 was detuned for easy starting and dependability. The compression was lowered and the carburetor opening in the crankcase was necked down for smoother idling. A storm boat motor was supposed to put a squad of soldiers on the beach at 35 Miles Per Hour. It was attached to the boat with two rods that allowed the motor to be levered completely into the boat To raise the transom the keep water out, make the motor less of o target and make repares when necessary. As a 16 year old I ran Dad’s modified Big four on 14 foot Speedliner. It ran 50 MPH, It is one of my Favorite motors.
Early Big Four
Racing 460
Model 8008
My 8008 head and some 4-60 gaskets came from these guys a few years ago:
https://www.vintageoutboard.com/collections/johnson-evinrude-gaskets
The powerhead is still in pieces so I expect to cut any other gaskets I will be needing.
The new software seems the have almost unlimited room for improvement. The awesome volunteers who push us toward perfection have my sincere graditude.
Welcome to our enthusiastic group of old outboard collectors’ Jerome –
A little background information – My Dad, although majoring in business, was was mechanically inclined and very competitive. He started intercollegiate canoe racing and when Ole Evinrude came out with his revolutionary Elto,, Dad cut the back off his canoe and began racing outboards. He set several records with the Missouri Valley Racing Association (a mid-western competitor to the APBA) and was asked by Ole Evinrude to join Elto’s Experimental Engineering department in 1928. Dad always said “If you want to be successful, find something you really like to do and then find someone to pay you to do it.” He joined Elto and found himself working with an outboard family that included Jim Webb Jake Stern and Bruce Davis. Elto shortly joined OMC and he found himself also working with Engineers from Lockweed,, F.T. “Irgie” Irgens and Denny Watkins. So Dad sa in engineering when they stacked a pare of 30 cubic inch Speeditwins and davaleped the Big Four & Racing 460. Dad’s need for speed put him to work on the 460 and Speed bee. As racing quickly found weak spots, the 460 became the world champion of speed,
32 Big Four
Early 460
Later Big Four
Later 460
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