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ORIGINAL: William Robison
Fox Lovers:
I'll admit it. My sameful secret. I used to fly Fox engines. They were the old four-bolted head 0.35 engines. Those of you who remember them probably also remember carrying a supply of head gaskets, and a Phillips screwdriver to change them.
Flip the prop a few times and hear a loud pop, change the head gasket and flip it some more. When you got it started it ran fine, with an excellent 4-2-4 break. But that head gasket...
The first one of that type I owned is the one I just picked up off eBay with a Series 75 Torp as well, for pocket change. But many of the older guys at the flying fields in the early 1950's used the old Fox, and none of them had problems with head gaskets, or at least none complained where I heard about it. By the time my paper route was big enough and profitable enough to buy NEW engines, the Fox had already moved to a six bolt head (mid-1952 was about when that change occurred, I think).
Then I discovered Johnny Brodbeck, and it was "Green Head" K&B for me.
The 1952 Torps were still made with natural-colored heads, and they LOOKED GOOD. The Foxes, most that I've seen, have almost always been rather ugly looking. I bought a used K&B 29 in 1951; that was my first glow engine. I bought a new one of the same model the following year. I saw the Fox in the display case. Compared to the K&B, it was very homely looking, but it DID have:
1. Trumpet flared intake
2. Six head screws
3. Smoother exterior than the so-called "Sandcast" predecessors
4. Name Fox, and displacement size raised disk on the bypass.
Those aspects defined the change from the prior model, and there were a few Fox engine heads made with a lot more screw holes, probably 10, so the same heads fit both the 4-bolt, and the 6- bolt cases. Watch the very interesting video tape about the entire family of Fox 35/36 engines; all the changes are shown with examples of each.
Granted, Ol' Duke did fix his problem when he finally went to the six-screw head, and did away with the paper gasket on the head. Too late. I stayed with K&B.
I did buy another Fox every once in a while, and I found that while the head gasket problem was corrected, another weak point showed up. And granted, they didn't break the rod, the new weakness was the crankshaft.
The attached picture is the bottom of the crankcase of one Fox I've kept, to remind me not to buy another.
I also didn't get around to owning a Rocket 35 until many years after it was replaced by the Blue Ribbon 35X. The second run of Rockets were the Foxes with a lower end looking like a Testors McCoy (as in the image mentioned). The first Fox that had consistent crank problems that I became aware of was the 1974 36X Combat Special {or "Mark II", or "Baldie"}. I owned several of those during 1975/1985 and used them in AMA Slow Combat, with 9" props. They would turn too many rpm's with an 8" prop and spit the front end of the shaft out, very much the way the first G21-35's had done in 1962 or so.
The first six-bolt "barn door" Fox engine had crank problems as well. One of the possible sources of the term "Mark III" used for that engine is that there were two early types of cranks with inferior hardening processing. Duke may have meant that the "I" & "II" type cranks were phased out. He never had used the terms Mark I and/or Mark II, himself, and never told me what the numbering was about for certain. I did ask him personally.
(in Edit: PS: I have a clear recollection of the earliest Fox 29/35 appearance from prior to 1952 (could've been 1953, but probably not that late), and the tremendous improvement represented by the later model, particularly the casting process, which made the Fox appearance somewhat less crude (particularly comparing Fox 35's, though still not as good-looking as the K&B products).
[8D]
Kiwi
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