OPS 45 Crank inspection

[Andy Brown]

Three slugs stock from the factory.

Billet carb with hard anodized aluminum barrel.

 

[Timbo Whalen]

Clean looking casting and machining. 

 

[Terry Keeley]

OPS always did nice work, now with your help I'm sure they'll be making competitive motors again! 

 

[Andy Brown]

The balance on the crank seems good.

So far I have run nearly a gallon through the OPS 45.

  The engine is bolted to the mount with aluminum 6-32 screws. Have not had one break.

 

[Terry Keeley]

Did they upgrade the brass flywheel collet to steel?  

IIRC the brass one would mush out causing the flywheel to loosen which in turn made a mess...

 

[Joe Wiebelhaus]

That engine sure looks like a Picco 45.

 

[David Ashcroft]

David Bryant has a wealth of information on the Picco and ops differences,David and I discussed about this some time ago,David gave me Alot of info about the two engines but I will let him chime in ,I have a pic of cranks David sent for starters,

 

[David Bryant]

Yes, the new "2017" OPS .45 Marine crankcase is based on the "2011" Picco P45R crankcase mold, modified internally with updated components

 

[Andy Brown]

Did they upgrade the brass flywheel collet to steel?  

IIRC the brass one would mush out causing the flywheel to loosen which in turn made a mess...

Terry,  The flywheel collet is still brass, but is much larger than the Picco collet. I now have about 1.5 gallons through the OPS 45 and the face of the collet that fits against the bearing shows no wear.

 

[Terry Keeley]

Terry,  The flywheel collet is still brass, but is much larger than the Picco collet. I now have about 1.5 gallons through the OPS 45 and the face of the collet that fits against the bearing shows no wear.

Ya, the Picco collet was way too small, still I remember the brass collet on the OPS mushrooming over time.

Just a suggestion but you might want to ask them to make them out of some kind of steel for future runs, would be a definite upgrade with little extra cost on their end. 

 

[Andy Brown]

Ya, the Picco collet was way too small, still I remember the brass collet on the OPS mushrooming over time.

Just a suggestion but you might want to ask them to make them out of some kind of steel for future runs, would be a definite upgrade with little extra cost on their end. 

The old OPS crank was 7mm. The new larger 8mm crank may be a help.  We will see in time.