 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
MAC 10 Sachs Wankel To the best of my knowledge, there were only three companies ever to produce a Wankel powered outboard motor.
The Mac-10 Sachs Wankel outboard was available from the late 1960’s through the early 70’s. It was a joint German & Italian effort. Fichtel & Sachs in Germany provided the power; a 160 cm3, single rotor, air cooled engine developing between 8 hp and 10.5 hp (The horsepower varies depending on what F&S manual you look at). An Italian organization believed to be named Moto Attrezzi Co. (hence MAC) made the the leg, cowl and other parts and also marketed the motors. Sachs designed the engine to be used as power for rototillers, pumps, generators, lawnmowers, etc, etc.. much as B&S, Tecumseh, Kohler and others do in this country. Despite extensive testing, (and the best efforts of Sachs' sales & marketing departments), - it is not believed that these small Wankel motors were very popular. Larger displacement versions of the F&S rotary combustion engines were available in the USA and Canada on snowmobiles. There is very little information regarding the Italian company (Moto Attrezzi) that assembled and sold the motors – they did not even include their name or corporate information in the instruction manual! The Mac 10 has a simple Bing carb and a Bosch flywheel magneto – both are very similar to what was used on European mopeds and small motorcycles back in the 60’s & 70's. The magneto has a lighting coil and there is a plug on the front of the motor supplying 6 volts and 17 watts for your running lights. The MAC runs on 50:1 oil/gas mix and, since it is air-cooled, it is preferable to use a quality chain saw or motorcycle oil on this motor rather than TCW-3. (We run it at 40:1 for added protection) As a visitor to this website pointed out, even though you mix the gas an oil together for lubrication the rotor and seals, this motor is not a 2-stroke. Wankels are unique in that they have induction, compression, combustion and exhaust cycles but are also not 4-strokes since they do not reciprocate. A happy compromise would be to describe this motor as a 4-cycle burning pre-mixed fuel and oil for lubrication. The leg of the outboard is equipped with water cooling via forced water traveling up a tube aft of the propeller. (Obviously it only works in forwards) The motor has a standard F/N/R shift on the starboard side, pull start/recoil on the top front of the cover and a typical tiller & twist grip off the port/front side of the engine. Engine speed is achieved by twisting the tiller grip in the conventional manner but greater throttle is provided through the carburetor only, the magneto timing is fixed. The flywheel is finned to provide a forced down draft of air to cool off the powerhead. The motors are smooth, reasonably quiet (for an air cooled outboard) and sound like nothing else on the water! (Kind of a buzzing/whirring sound) On the down side; they are heavy, (almost 80lbs), IMHO of questionable styling, use a lot of fuel and are not very robust in overall design (Things can and do break off) It does not idle well and constantly "hunts" with a variance of about +/- 75 RPM. (Of course it was designed to move - not idle!) Based on personal experience, we would peg the Mac10 at about 7.5 to 8hp relative to any 50’s or 60’s 10hp Johnson or Evinrude. For whatever reason, a good number of references to Mac 10’s show up in posts on the snowmobile and tractor boards I have looked at. I have seen several for sale on ebay and know of about 20 members in the AOMCI that have one. Parts availability is tough; some can be gleaned from snowmobiles and motorbikes but everything else is very scarce. While not exactly an antique, the Mac 10’s are a fully functional outboard and a definite oddity!
Bendix
| British Seagull | Champion
| Chris Craft | Elgin
| Elto | Evinrude
| Flambeau | Johnson
| Lauson | Lockwood
Ash Mac10 Wankel | Martin
| Mercury | Misc.Motors
| Oliver | Pluvier
| Scott-Atwater | Tomos
| Volvo | Whirlwind(Soviet)
| Wizard |
||||||||
