bsumpter

Anyone ever heard of this engine?

JohnBuckner

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Yes, 'Torps' where produced by K & B in the fiftys till sometime in the early sixties in a number of displacements and mostly contolline. It appears that the Perry carb on yours was added 'after market' but not sure.


John

GrnBrt

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John is right. I have a Torpedo .35 that my Sister gave me for my 15th B'day and still have it. The .35 was quite an engine for it's time and really hauled my planes around, especially the Voodoo!

bsumpter

Thanks for all the responses!

The "R" in the Torpedo name was worn off, and it really looked like "TOPPEDO" -- which is why I couldn't find any info on it.

So overall, is this motor worth hanging on to? Will it run properly with today's fuels?

GelCell

it should run ok if its not gummed up or worn out. =)
should be a fine lil motor

EASYTIGER

My Feedback: (119)

Your sister gave you an engine? Great sister, lucky you.

The torp 40 is a good engine, if you can make a muffler fit(try a K&B first), there is no reason why you cannot run it.
One thing, though...it was made to run on castor oil fuel, and it will NOT do well on most synthetic oils.
Taff's Fuels, owned by Dave Patrick, sells a special brew made just for these oldies.
If you just bought some fuel locally that was made with castor, or maybe just added some castor to regular fuel, you should be fine, too.
But it was not made to run with all synthetic oil, and if synthetic was a perfect substitute for castor, we would not see ANY castor oil at all anymore, I guess!

EASYTIGER

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One more thing...don't disassemble and clean the engine just yet. If it is a non-ringed engine, sometimes the only thing that is giving a worn piston compression is the caked-on castor oil buildup. Just free it up enough to turn over. I have cleaned engines, thinking I was doing a good thing, and found them unrunnable afterwards....no compression left. This does not apply to ringed engines, though.

Billy Hell

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I run a Torpedo .40 on a funfly. It really hauls the plane around. My father-in-law bought it on ebay and passed it on to me. I new it was old but not that old!

EASYTIGER

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Nice one! What muffler is that?
What fuel are you using?

Billy Hell

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The muffler is also an ebay special. I don't know how he finds this stuff. It took a little jb weld to keep it in one piece (the muffler) but it works well with the torpedo. That things idles well too. It would be perfect for a Fazer.
I'm running the pink stuff at 15%. I didn't know about it not liking synthetic. So far I have had no problems and it was in my trainer and now in the duck. I want to put a 12x4 prop on it see what it will do.
If you look at the carb I think this was a sixties model.

EASYTIGER

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He may have got it from ME on ebay!
As far as the fuel goes, well, if it's WORKING, leave it be! Some fuel has castor, some is all synthetic. Dunno about your pink stuff. And different engines react very differently to different fuel. Some could care less, and others won't run at all, or just won't run for very long.
I've toasted an engine or two finding this out the hard way.

JohnBuckner

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Hard to tell from the picture Billy but the carb on yours looks to be the much later K & B carb. If it has fins on the front and back of the carb body that is the one developed for the sportster series and probably also not original.

The problem with the early throttled engines was poor idle for a number of reasons chief among them was then lack of exhaust backpressure. Mufflers were not commonly used so no exhaust pressure was available to move fuel which necessitated small venturis to pull fuel. also with less backpressure it was difficult to keep the heat up enough to maintain ignition. To this end many engines used exhaust flappers coupled to the throttle that would close off the exhaust at idle and this would maintain the heat so the glow could do its job. Another factor in the poor idling was the cross porting, as the fresh mixture came in from the transfer it ran up and over the piston crown deflector to form a loop but this also shot this fresh charge with partially atomized fuel right into the plug which tended to quench it at low speed. Glow bar plugs which acted as a shield were developed for this reason and was a big help.


Bill when we take one of these old engines and run with a muffler we get surprised by an excellent runner with out some of the early problems. It will pull that 12x4 if you don,t get aggressive on the needle and spike a little extra castor in the fuel than your are used to.

John

Billy Hell

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That is exactly what the carb looks like and I only use glow plugs with idle bars. Maybe this motor was someone's baby way back when. I wondered why there was no way to attach a muffler. The one is the picture has a metal strap that goes around the cylinder screws into the muffler (that is what that long screw is next to the pipe).

astropuppy

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bsumpter
Your Torpedo 40 has been made since the 60's. If you don't believe me drop Clarence Lee a note. He designed it. The one pictured on the Fun Fly airplane is the modern version. Both were the specified engine for early Quicke 500 racing. I believe you can still buy exhaust plugs and mufflers from Macs products.

Your engine is cross savaged utilizing a Dyes ring. If its gummed up throw the entire engine in a jar of laquer thinner for a couple days. Then gentley rocking (start turning) it over using a lot of whatever oil you have available. Because of the Dyes ring it will have very litte compression when dry. Use a K&B 1L glowplug and enjoy. People tend to forget the tolerances are loose on the older designs. I've owned at least a half dozen of these. They were very common in the 70's. It is not of the sportster series of K&B engines. They run fine on synthetic but castor helps the dyes ring seal.

EASYTIGER

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I don't think they have been marked "Torpedo" since the sixties, though the same engine marked "K&B" might still be around today....

dasflugmodele

Nice engine, K&B torpedo 40 with a perry Carb. Series 71 probably. I have six of these and run them on Byrons fuel and Sig 10 percent. They will wear out. .Most were not treated very well and lost compressin. I would not go beyond a 11-7 prop. Treat it right and you will have a good running engine for a long time.

RCAddiction

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I recently acquired this Torpedo 40. Muffler is a bit of a problem, even with clamp-on's. The linkage between the carb throttle arm and the exhaust baffle gets in the way of a clamp. By "exhaust baffle" I mean the rotating device in the exhaust that baffles/chokes the exhaust as the throttle closes.

1. Anybody know of a muffler that will fit this?
2. Do I really need to use that exhaust baffle?
3. MAC's sell a one-piece clamp-on muffler, available with a pair of plugs. Are the plugs to plug the holes left by removing this rotating exhaust baffle? Anything wrong with doing that?

The engine is in very nice shape, with the Perry carb, and I'm looking forward to running it. But I must have a muffy to fly in my area.

Thanks for any insight.

RCAddiction

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additional photo

EASYTIGER

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If you do have a muffler, you don't need the baffle. Lose it. And the plugs are there for the holes...

big max 1935

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That is a early Torpedo ,the later ones had K&B on side, this also has coupled exhaust baffle. The Perry carb is also same age as engine, later ones larger with different needle valve. J-tec used to make a ugly cast aluminum muffler that fit over holes in exhaust manifold. Later ones did away with large hole in prop like yours needs . DO NOT soak engine in thinner with out removing carb or all you will end up with is a black blob! These old gals will run OK on todays fuels with a little castor oil .Remove the rear cover & take a peek ,if not all rusty, replace the two "O" rings in carb & the one under it, then run it. If OK look for muffler then. >>big max 1935

RCAddiction

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Hey guys, thanks for the info and tips to avoid a black blob. Gee, I hate when that happens!

I actually have a cool-looking clamp-on Tatone Peacemaker that would fit fine.

Amazingly this engine is not gummed up at all, and turns over like a brand new engine out of the box with really nice compression. I pulled the rear cover and it looks also like it's barely been run. Very clean and no rust, just a little discolored castor. Even has a K&B plug in it that looks new-ish as well. I will probably soak the carb in fresh alcohol to get rid of any goo in the passages that might be there, but the barrel rotates smoothly and very easily.

Question
If I use the PeaceMaker muffler (or buy a Macs), remove the rotating baffle and plug the holes, is it advisable to use a pressure tap on the muffler for the tank? Or is that a no-no with this carb? What's the preferred way to run them?

big max 1935

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Billy Hell : The muffler on your .40 is a H.P. Quite Tone was sold by Hobby People in Los Angeles. In June of 1973 they were getting $2.99 for it on sale. The one I used to like was a Murphy Muffler it was really different, had a silicon rubber sleeve that let exhaust out. Messy!! >>>>>>>big max 1935

big max 1935

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Lee : You snuck up on me ! Glad your Torp is looking OK .You can run pressure or not. MY first ones didn`t have mufflers. You should check the carb "o" rings & see if they are soft, won`t idle good if leaking & also check for junk in area between rings. Don`t take much in small slot to effect idle. Should run a filter with a Perry .You set the idle mixture with the disk behind needle valve, some had a + on one side & a - on the other. If yours don`t let me know & I`ll look it up for you. You could also get a racing head for these, I think the ones with a P stamped on them were regular ones, don`t remember if other was stamped. This was my first engine up from my Enya 19 in my trainer(a Headmaster) I flew a Sterling Lancer with my Torpedos. In a fast plane they will wind mill dead stick!>>>>>>>>big max 1935

William Robison

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RCAddiction:

There was a bit of misinformation earlier in this thread, as the K&B engines of the series 61 were designed by Bill Wisniewski. I have three of the series 61 engines. Clarence Lee came into the mix (I think) around 1970, and with his arrival the "Torpedo" on the side was replaced with "K&B" in an oval. But the 40's were still the Wisniewski design.

I have three of the 40 engines. One is the Q-40 engine, model 8360, with the built-in Perry pump and the Perry "Pump" carb. The other two (4011 model) make my #1 Duellist scream. They are great engines.

The Wisniewski engines all have a removable front bearing housing, enabling the crankcase to be reversed.

The Wisniewski 40 engines are still in the K&B line, although the prop drive has been simplified.

The Lee engines have only the removable backplate, the crankcase can not be reversed.

Lee designed them while working with Veco, and they were first marketed under the Veco name. I have two of the Lee designed 0.61 engines, they are to go on the Super Duellist. Also great engines.

Back to the point. The K&B 40 engines are wonderful engines, and last forever given reasonable treatment.

K&B forever!
. Throwaway? Never!

Bill.

ChuckAuger

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I was just looking..I have a model 8011 FISE Torp 40 Series 70, a 8013 RISE Seies 70, and a RISE Series 69..

I always thought the Series (ie 69 or 70) was the year model..

Anybody want to venture a guess as to the vintage?

These are all NIB with decals, papers, bagged needle, etc.