Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

av8tor, sometimes I think you are a brother by different parents! I still have a new but quite old (70s) FOX 78 in the drawer. It has never been run other than by FOX at the factory. Yes I can imagine that would jerk a Twist 40 around quite well! How did you ever balance the plane with that hunk of iron in the nose?

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

I love that old Fox .78. It is not at all "finicky" like the Eagle 60 and 74 can be. (Which I also still have.) Easy one flip starts, and nice idle, response, and consistent running.

Actually, I think they designed the Twist for a heavy four stroke. Mine balanced with slightly heavy servos in the tail, battery towards the rear of the radio compartment, and a pilot, (which sits near the trailing edge of the wing.) Other than that, no added ballast/weight. It's a fun flyer for sure!

AV8TOR

Granpooba

My Feedback: (5)

I've heard the same from other sources !

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

That old 78 was the scale builders engine of choice for many years. Reasonable power at low cost. I owned most of those old FOX engines at one time or another. Back in those days, we were going through something like the Chinese engine gas invasion we're going through these days .... but in those days it was the Japanese and other foreign engines competing with US made engines. I was hell bent on using FOX and K&B engines but with horrible quality and outdated designs, the foreign competition won out and the rest is history. Other than Mecoa, there are few US glo engine mfgs. left in existence. Later FOX designs were questionable at best with revision after revision and there were still problems. He was such a hard headed individual, he just would not adapt to or adopt what other companys were doing with greater success. He got lucky every once in awhile and came out with a good design in between the duds. Oh well, its all history now but I still have a drawer full of old memories .... some great ..... some not so great.

Back on subject, something like the DLE 20 has far fewer problems than many of the engines of those days. Many people don't know how lucky we are these days to have the product choices we now enjoy.

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

I've always been a Fox fan, because I sometimes root for the underdog, and I don't know, I just like Fox engines. (I used to drag race AMC Javelins, AMX's, and Gremlins, so what does THAT tell you about me and "underdogs"?) I don't mind tinkering a bit to get them to work right. I even made a new head button for my Fox .74 to get it to run better. That's because I am stubborn. Duke Fox's downfall I believe was in trying to make his engines powerful while running FAI fuel. The price of nitro went way up and basically "pissed him off" and so he went on the warpath creating engines to run on very low, or no nitro. It didn't work out so well. Well, maybe I shouldn't say that. If you actually ran no nitro fuel and a good percentage of castor oil, the engines usually ran pretty good. But I was always hell bent on making them run on my standard 15% nitro fuel. The other problem he had was quality control, especially with his carbs. Add that to the fact that most of his engines needed a long break in period, and things were all "down hill" when compared to the "plug and play" OS engines. People didn't mind paying more for a turn key engine after fighting with a Fox engine, and/or having numerous dead sticks with one. I am ashamed to admit: My brother recently had a Fox .45 on a plane he wanted to learn to fly on. It had the usual Fox problems; ran great on the ground, but kept changing tune or quitting in the air. I just didn't have time to help him work it out, and he had a new OS 45 AX just laying around, so I mounted that up and told him to go "have at it". End of engine complaints right there. Oh well....

Meanwhile I've still got a Fox .25 on a control line plane, a Fox .45, .60, and .74 just waiting for something to do, and that flying Fox .78.

AV8TOR

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

I had a long go around with Duke over the alloy he used to make ringed pistons. It was a relatively high expansion and soft material and he insisted on fitting the pistons extremely tight in the bore. His philosophy being they would wear to fit (call that break in if you will). I told him to either fit them with greater skirt clearance or change to a lower expansion alloy like most of the other companies were doing at the time. He must have seen the error of his ways as later on, he did change alloys but like so many things he did, it was an effort that was too little and too late for the time.

On more than a few FOX ringed engines, being young and broke and with no machine tools, I fixed the piston problem by simply sanding off a few thousands from the skirt and they were good to go. No more seizing as the engine got up to temperature and they ran great. Regarding Duke's carburetors .... I actually liked most of them. As you say, they often required modifications to work correctly but once you understood how they work, the work wasn't difficult. I had to shake my head though in later years when he added an air bleed to solve a low speed mixture problem. Kinda like a band-aid on a cut artery sort of fix. Walbro carbs are simple to understand by comparison.

No AMC vehicles in my past ... pretty much all GM for my own use. Worked on friends Mopars and Fords and shook my head most of the time wondering why they did the things they did in some of those engines. GM had a few strange ones of their own.

Back to the DLE 20, I know we stray from subject but it is winter and I'm bored.

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

I never did care much for Fox engines. Carried a few at the shop that I worked at but never really sold any either. Back in the day my preference was Webra. Now my preference for gassers is currently DA. I have owned a DLE 55 and really was not all that happy with it. It just lacked the refinement that I have come to take for granted. I'm still open to buying a DLE 35RA but I want to get my hands on one before I buy one for myself.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

Overall, I've been extremely pleased with the DLE engines I've owned. They've been as reliable and trouble free as any engines I've owned and I've had a few. Yes there have been a few problems but nothing difficult to resolve and frankly, I've had far more problems with the DA engines I've owned. Every DA I have owned has had to go back to the factory at least once and there were a few problems I resolved on my own to save shipping. Not to knock DA in any way and as expected, any problems were taken care of quickly and completely.

When I look at some of the really fine glo engines, I might use the word refined but I'm not sure I would use that word to describe any gasser no matter who produced it. Its kinda like a diesel truck or locomotive engine .... they do the job they're made for but I'm not sure I would call them refined even though they probably are in their own sort of way.

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

I know exactly what you are saying. After all they really are what I would call an industrial engine. The DLE I had was reliable when adjusted correctly. In comparison to the DA 50 I had the DLE had a narrower window to needle adjustments. I found mine to really need a specific tune to not fluxuate rpm when inverted. The DA was less affected. They were both super easy to start. Overall the DLE required less tinkering to to be a fire and fly engine but in the end the DA ran with far less vibration. If it weren't for the high frequency vibration issue I had with the DLE I think I would place it above the DA. Kind of difficult to really like an engine when constantly repairing glue joints. I even had a wheel axle fatuege and fall of while flying at a full scale Airshow. I do however feel that the engine I had was the exception and not normal for DLE. My family and I are moving this weekend and I start a new job on Monday. It will be a few weeks until I can hook up with a friend in the new location who has a 35RA and I can give it a good look.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

Speed, your story about the DLE compared to the DA is exactly like mine, only reversed. In my case the DA 50 had the vibration, was harder to tune, etc. By contrast, the DLE 55 has been almost perfect since the first start. I bet I haven't tuned the needles 1/8 turn from that first day tuning session 5 years ago. Pretty much the same story for my other DLE engines. I own a DLE 35 but have not flown it yet. If it is anything like other 35s I have watched, I don't think I will be disappointed.

I have to say my DA 50 was a different animal (good) after its return from the DA hospital. They claimed they didn't do anything to the carb but it tuned completely different after it came back. Much better engine after that trip back to DA.

Good luck with the move and the new job. That can be a stressful time. Not that it is anybody's business but are you staying in the antenna industry?

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

Truck, thanks for the well wishes. No I will not be working with antennas. I will be remaining in the composites industry but will be working on space hardware. Another engine just caught my eye, RCGF 30cc twin.

jstanton

My Feedback: (14)

I am thinking about buying this VV 20cc gas engine for a Phoenix Ryan STA. Will the RECXL ignition handle a 6.6 life battery with out a rectifier?

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

Yes, rated to 8.4V.

jstanton

My Feedback: (14)

Great I am ordering one this afternoon. I already have two DLE-20's and both are great engines. I have heard good things about the VV 20cc engines and wanted to give one a try but the ignition had to be the new high voltage kind. That sold me on the VV 20cc now I cannot wait for it to get here.