Hi THEO !! New forum is looking good !!

I'm just surfing this evening and saw this note, checked out your forum and bookmarked it for future use. I have maintained your postings on my http://www.ChrisCraftCommander.com forum, and have since assembled a lot more MEL marine stuff, including some very cool scans of original literature I've purchased from ebay and found in other places along the way. I'll be happy to share any of it with you, and I'll be posting on your forum in the future.

Hope you and yours are doing well, thanks for hosting your MEL forum, I really don't know where else people will find info like this.

Regards, all the best from Nashville, Tennessee

Paul


Here is an example of info I'll be posting on your forum, it is about the 534 cubic inch version of the MEL motor, and wow, wouldn't that be a torque machine in a Lincoln!!!! If it can move a Hatteras yacht, it sure could move a Continental!



The 534 cubic inch MEL motor is the largest of the series, and it's the FoMoCo super duty truck motor of the era. I personally don't know all the details of this motor but I'm sharing what I have, and would appreciate any corrections that may be in error, as I want to be passing along good info. Here goes..............................................

The 534 Seamaster conversions were offered in many large gas powered cruisers, including Egg Harbor and Hatteras, just to name a few. Here is a little history on how the "Seamaster" name disappeared (the company was purchased by OSCO) !!

The SEAMASTER 534 engines are still out there in lots of boats, as I don't think they're very easily worn out. I suspect they'll last as long or longer than the wood hulls they were installed in. I think Chris Craft would install an owner specified motor in their boats if the owner required this at the time the order was placed. I know of One (1) Chris Craft Commander powered by a pair of 534 SEAMASTER's. It would be very interesting to know the circumstances as to how many of these were done, etc.


Here's the history on the OSCO connection:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The name OSCO is derived from the OSCAR SMITH COMPANY. Oscar Smith was the grandfather of Robertson F. Smith who actually started the company. History has it that Oscar loaned the seed money to Robertson, so Robertson named the company after him. The current owner, Tom Cooper, has worked for OSCO since 1965, and purchased the company in 1995.

In addition to the original marine engines, which were based on Model A Ford 4 and 8 cylinder engines, OSCO sold conversion kits, which provided the marine parts for a customer to convert his own engine obtained from a car or truck. During the 1970s a full range of conversion kits was offered, covering every commonly available American car block, and several industrial diesels.

During their developing years, OSCO was called upon to make production marine parts for many familiar marine engine companies such as Glastron, Johnson and Towers, Holman & Moody, American Diesel, Noreast Ford, Commander Marine, KAAMA, Universal Motors, ONAN, Kohler, KEM Equipment, GM Overseas Operations, and others. At the same time OSCO produced and offered for sale a marine engine line, gas and diesel, from 14 to 180 HP. OSCO Marine engines were used by Pacemaker, US Coast Guard, Wayfarer, Newporter, Pearson, Columbia, Chris Craft, in addition to thousands of individual re-power installations by boat owners.

While busy enough with the above production, OSCO also manufactured an extensive line of hydraulic powered fishing deck machinery such as crab and lobster trap haulers, net takers, capstans and almost anything fishing related that could be turned hydraulically.

In the late 1960s, OSCO purchased the SEAMASTER Marine Engine Co. and added to their existing product line a Seamaster "300" six cylinder gasoline engine, and two V8 gasoline models based on the 534 cu. In. Ford industrial engine. The most powerful Seamaster model boasted twin turbo chargers and inter-cooling way back in the early 1970s.

Due to difficulties in obtaining base engines, OSCO discontinued their engine product line in 1983 and began the production of after-market manifolds in earnest.

Switching from earlier conversion type manifolds to after-market style manifolds required virtually all-new tooling. From the mid 1980s OSCOs in-house pattern shop facility has built the required patterns, and working with only the best American foundries continues to produce large volumes of marine manifolds and risers that have become the quality standard of the industry for the broadest range of Original Equipment Engines.

In 1990, OSCO began marketing their product to the large volume marine distributors, and today is recognized as the leader in quality, 100% built in the USA, manifolds, risers and accessory parts. OSCO manifolds and parts are available throughout the boating world through distributors, local marinas, marine engine repair shops, and the Internet.