Mc45D......was it real!!

[Ronald Cubel]

Thats a modified pencil sketch from the MCR parts list (stock manifold is under it). I started to build one of these a few years ago after I found the reed manifold it shows and when researching it I found nothing anywhere except stuff MCR supplied. I have all the mags from those years and found nothing. What closed the deal for me was you would have to modify the head shroud to install manifold and that made no sense to me. Also if you were to want to produce a dual carb 45 why not use the manifold off a 40 it fits without modification? ron

[steveohara]

If you look closely at the drawing the image shows the standard Mc45 manifold shape under the back carb in the original position and no manifold detail under the front carb. The drawing bears no resemblance to the appearance of the engine if fitted with the Reed dual carb manifold. A decent drawing of the Reed manifold would show the rear carb set further away from the head and that manifold does not have the bracing as shown in the drawing.
There is an explanation for why the 40 manifold would not be used.... the 45 came from the factory with "9 porting" and the partition between the top transfer area and the back side passage was cut away. With those changes to the block the 40 manifold would not work as there would be a no control function on the flywheel side carb and the motor would just pump air in and out through that carb.
Still waiting to see if anyone steps in and says... I bought one in 1964 or something similar. I won't hold my breath. I think the Mc45D and the Mc 102 were part of the same model line
Steve O'Hara

[Frank Payne]

Here's one of the little boogers! Third from the right in the middle. I thought it looked so good I built one. Standard bore block, correct Mac piston. Made the linkage just like it shows in the Mac IPL. I looked at the old IPL cover page from ebay and then looked at the IPL I have with Mac Racing logo and the line drawings look legit. I'm not saying for sure but it sure is a neat looking engine.

[Tom Smith]

supposedly the D designated dual carb to identify it from a standard Mc-45
IPL line drawings are not always 100% accurate and they were modified to suit different but similar models in some cases.

[steveohara]

For those of you that have the IPL for the "Mc45D", please take a close look and you'll see that the document has a copywrite date of 2000 and most pages have "www.mccullochracing.com" across the bottom. Al Gore had not yet invented the internet back in 1964 when the 45 was introduced so it is clear the document is not "original McCulloch material"
Some of the pages that have been modified have different fonts in some places when compared with other pages in the same document. Across the bottom of the first page they put the name and address of the "Vegas" gang.
Print it out and compare it with the Original McCulloch Corporation IPL for the real Mc45 and the differences will be very clear.
I guess the Mc45D is real if you believe McCulloch was still making kart engines in 2000
Steve O'Hara

[ted johnson]

Good catch on the copyright date, Steve! It's true that the illustrators for McCulloch didn't spend a huge amount of time on their IPL line drawings, but the Mc45D's line drawing is atrocious, even ignoring the "carb-in-space"! Look at the lettering quality on the shroud label on the Mc45 IPL, then compare it with the same areas of the Mc45D IPL. It's obvious that the latter is a cobbled up mess. TJ

[vince hughes]

OK, Im lie'n. Have an orig 90, and a couple 100s with 'Reed' on the intake. Sorry, I'll try to quit.
Back to 45D. I have both the orig IPL, and Haviland version, way different. I have had my Mac pubs list that lists the engine since before Wayne H landed. Therefore, I vote for real. If anybody walked in the door and wanted a couple hundred engines, Im sure Mac would oblige them, which probably makes the 'export only' argument. Dont even get me started on the Mc6 block deal on the wanted page.

[steveohara]

Vinnie...

I know you were just a toddler back then but do you remember ever seeing a new Mc45D at a shop, on a kart or in an ad?
Maybe it was something the company made for South Africa since that article about the custom built suspended chassis from South Africa seems to be the only printed reference to the model in any of the literature.
Here is another question for the old timers... does anyone have an magazine with an article that covers the intrduction of the Mc 30 and discusses the improvements or changes from the Mc 20???
Steve O'Hara

[Tom Smith]

Hi Steve, besides the intake manifold and reeds I know two of the differences are the Mc-30 third port is gully ported and the exhaust ports are squared. I've got a pair of them. Tom

[steveohara]

Tom,

So the 30 exhaust ports came squared as a factory upgrade? Did they do the whole port or only the top of the ports? About the "gulley" porting, was that intended to create more port area or was there something else they were trying to accomplish? It seems that with the intake manifold they added to the 30 they would not need or want more area in the piston port setup. I'm hoping to find an article that provides some of the factory reasoning for the changes. I have the articles for the subsequent models but nothing on the 20 to30 transition.
A couple other differences are the bore size and the width of the head shroud.
Thanks
Steve O'Hara