Originally Posted by Truckracer

First, I'd have to ask if you are still driving the same car from 30 years ago? Owning and operating an old RC gas engine is kinda similar and will require a bit of patience and understanding and hopefully not a complete rebuild if seals and such have issues. With that, it sounds like you are missing the complete ignition module and you only have the timing ring and sensor in place on the engine. Even if you had the old module, it would probably require replacement or at minimum service to make it work properly. Most old ignitions give up and quit working properly around 20 years old or so as the capacitors and other critical components age out.

Now some advice: I'm an old guy too and understand completely where you are coming from with your quest to return to the hobby. I sense you want to relive your past experiences in the hobby flying airplanes and equipment from that era which I also understand. But my advice is look forward also because many modern products and airframes are much more enjoyable to fly than much of what we flew 30 years ago. It might just be time to let go of the past and move forward into this century. While we don't have quite the airframe selection we once had and some of the common materials to build with are lacking or gone, there are still many choices for airframes and equipment that are more modern. You might even get with a club and pick up parts and pieces from crashed ARF planes and create your own Frankenplanes using parts from different planes to create your own unique airplane. Many of today's flyers either don't build at all or don't know how to repair damaged ARFs so most of their damaged planes just go in the trash. These parts can many times be repaired easily and sometimes many parts of the airframe are not damaged at all. Sometimes just a new fuselage will get a plane back in the air. With your building skills, you can easily create a new fuselage or whatever is needed to complete an airframe. Couple that with current generation engines and radio equipment and you could have a ball flying on a shoestring budget. Just a thought .......