Junk Jigs

[kenny lawson]

this is about the old question someone asked in regards to McCullogh Corp. First of all, If they had all those facilities in L.A. why did they NOT keep up and upgrade the tooling for the manufacturing procces. They never did, and when they stopped manufacturing the engines, the jigs where so wore out, i can't imagine them holding any tolerences. So that tells me that up till the 93, they were garbage anyway, they never made new jigs for each model, they used the same ones from day one! I was told this in an e-mail conversation with Doug milliken years ago when i talked with him about his days in Vietnam. I never knew he was responsible for the 300 chainsaw model. I just thought id share that. Racerx

[Rob Voska]

Lots of stories but little facts as time has passed it has been lost. Thanks for sharing Kenny.

[REAR]

Not so sure anything in the manufacturing process was worn out. The actual engine design had served it purpose very well for over 40 years and it was being replaced by much newer design technologies from the Italians and the Japanese. Remember, McCulloch started out as a chainsaw engine so the design had to be compact and light, something the foreign motors were not so concerned with in their design. Keep in mind also that because of its small physical size restraint and its intended design a McCulloch lost a lot of integrity as material was removed through porting and added compression only made block fatigue worse.

The foreign engines also brought better port designs plus better ignitions along which a much easier engine to maintain and modify.

In retrospect the McCulloch served its purpose very well, they are light weight , low cost, and they had good performance.

R.E.A.R.

[Rob Voska]

At the 13 lb range with the short stroke and big bore they were well designed for the track designs of the time. While a Italian engine was in the high 20 - 32 lb range.

The points and condensers were a weak spot. The carb was a very poor decision and design for racing. Getting a rod and piston out were a headache compared to 4 bolts and lift the while top end off. Garage mechanics with a set of drill bits modifying them for alky without understanding what they were doing was a huge issue. Pinched fuel lines & a finger over the high speed dump tube were the trade of the day on line up laps. Spark plugs, raw fuel puking out the exhaust, belt starters trying to pull the crank out of the block........

But the smells, the sounds, the hard tires, the memories, the great fun times. I would have it no other way.....

[NeonVoyager]

Hey folks, McCulloch's designs had their time and place. Just consider how technologies have evolved since then. Their chainsaw model engines were groundbreaking in their day. Sure, they couldn't compete with today's tech, but let's not discredit them entirely. They served their purpose just fine for their era. Now we have more advanced and ergonomic designs, but the ingenuity and innovation of the past should still be respected.

[REAR]

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[Rob Voska]

Everything has had it's time and place. Life, society, manufacturing, racing are always advancing. Just think how that little chain saw engine brought joy, passion, study, modifications, pride, competitiveness to untold numbers of people all around the globe for so many years and still do today. Celebrating that time period is what REAR is about. The same could be said for so many other things that we simply take for granted in todays world.