Hi all,

I got a great deal on a complete Avistar setup. I'm planning on putting my OS .52 4-stroke in it, but it comes with a Fox engine of some sort... I assume a .40.

This plane and engine have been sitting, completely unused for about 8 years. I would love to get this thing running again and use it (who wouldn't?), but I don't want to screw it up, either.

I believe sometimes engines will still run even after sitting for 8 years, and that may be the case with this one (I don't have it yet... I'm picking it up on Saturday). However, what should I be careful of?

Obviously if it won't turn over, there are some serious issues. But if it does turn over freely, what precautions should I take and what should I do before trying to start it up?

Thanks!

Brandon

A lot depends on the type of engine, ball bearing or sleeve bushings? Also ring, or lapped piston, or ABC? Also is it locked up due to rust or congealed castor? I say get it, look it over, and then report back to RCU for hints and tips to get her running. Maybe just soaking or heating or ????????

Good luck.

Regards,

richard

Squirt some fuel in it and see if you can turn it over?

if the engine is locked up and not rusted up on you, remove the engine from the plane, then remove the glow plug and the backplate. Then oil it up using fresh glow fuel or WD-40. Then use a hairdryer or a oven heated to 200 degrees. Get it warmed up good, say 10-15 minutes in the oven. Then using a pair of gloves to hold it, put on a prop and it ought to free up nicely.
Then finish flushing it out with WD-40 or glow fuel some more. You should be in business then.
The heat treatment works for the carb too.

I had recently done that same thing to a old Fox 45 engine that was basically new, it just sat in a box for a jillion years.
I cleaned it up and bench ran for a while since it was new, and now it is on a SPAD3D plane.
The engine runs just fine in any case.

Its a Fox so probably lots of castor.  First find out if its a ball bearing or bushing engine.  If bushing engine just clean up the case, put some fuel in it and fire it up.  If its ball bearing soak it in fuel over night, being sure the crankcase is full of fuel.  Drain it and clean up as much varnish on the surface as you can.  The reason is that the congealed castor can cause the balls to stick to the cage or one of the races, which will result in them sliding till the castor oil warms up.  This may cause damage to the ball bearings.  After this is done and the ball bearings feel good, not lumpy (congealed oil) or worse gritty (rust or dirt), then fire it up.

Awesome!

Thank you guys for the tips. I will get it on Saturday and see what condition its in. I've got a feeling its probably at least 10 to 15 years old. We'll see how it is.

Brandon

The longest I've had an engine stored for without any special precautions, is about 25 years. It was a Veco 19 and once all the old castor was removed it now runs strong again...

The FOX 45 engine I depicted is a early version big crankcase version and it is vintage 1980's time period. So it was NIB all that time.
Over 20 years old. But FOX test runs all their engines, so it had locked up from the castor oil that FOX uses in their fuel.

I have a Fox .35 from 1953 or 54 that has not run since then. It still turns over a little stiff from the castor and no nitro fuel I mixed up back in the day. MKaybe I will get it out and run it on my homebrew FAI fuel. If I can find an idle bar plug for it. Anyone remember if it was a short or long plug? What prop? maybe a 9/6 wood Super M
Regards, Richard

A 9x6 or 10x6 will work.
A long plug will do, you don't really need a idle bar glow plug with the controline versions. But it won't hurt anything either.

I think the 10-5 or 10-6 was a popular prop for CL stunt with Fox stunt .35's.

So... I picked it up today! Its a Fox .45. The manual has the date of 1987. It very freely and smoothly turns over and has a fair amount of compression. The first guy who owned this took absolute meticulous care of it. I have every single manual for everything I got! I got a killer deal, too... a complete setup for $125! I will skip the details for now.

Anyway, what about this "Quickie .45"? Should I just do a fuel flush and put a fresh glow plug in?

Brandon

Jus t do a fuel flush

The glow plug may still be good

Sweet! Will do.

How should I do the fuel flush? Just put some fuel in the tank, cover the carb, and turn it over several times? Maybe put a starter on it?

Brandon

Take the glow plug out

pour some fuel in the venturi

play around with the engine some to try to get the fuel everywhere and then try to get the fuel out of the engine

Re[lace the glow plug

See how engine feels - If it feels good, try to start it.

Awesome.

Thanks!

Brandon

It'll start[8D]

I think it is better to take the backplate off when flushing an engine. That way you get the stuff out it without having to turn the engine over. It will also give you a view of the rear bearing (if the crank allows you). The rear gasket will often need replacement then but new ones are easily made from gasket material.

Prime the hell out of the engine by blowing through the exhaust side of your tank.... pull the plug and run it for a few seconds with your starter..... all the fuel will gush out of the top, exhaust and possibly the carb. Put the plug back in and go! Thats what I just did a few minutes ago for my 1.08 which was rusting on the crank because it sat with the carb open for 6 years. Ran like a champ on the first flip.

Store the engine when you're done NOSE DOWN so the front bearing stays lubed.<br type="_moz" />

I put some fuel through the glow-plug hole and turned it over a couple of times, poured out what tiny bit was left, put a new plug in it, primed it really good, put the glow starter on it, and after the fuel started flowing it fired right up! Took the plug starter off of it and it ran just fine! The low end screw is in a really awkward place and I will not be able to adjust it while its running (its right behind the muffler, so you can't get your fingers to it without hitting the prop), but it ran great! Even went up to full throttle and it hesitated for a second and then went wide open! Crap was flying all over my patio... lol.

Thanks for all the help guys!

Now that I know it runs, I'll probably be putting my 4-stroke on this plane, though, as it was a gift from my boss and I promised him I'd use it. I'll find a use for this little Fox .45, though...

Brandon

If the Fox runs good, don't mess with the low speed needle

Haha! Ok. That sounds like experience talking. Care to share more details?

Brandon

If you think the low end runs satifactory, do not mess with it. An old engine was probably set by someone years ago?

If you do adjust the low end, do it in very small steps and then wait and see what you have

Never forget your starting point so you can go back if you have to.

Gotcha.

This is a completely n00b question, but what is satisfactory? What is a needle adjustment when idling and what is a trim adjustment?

Brandon

Use the trim adjustment to change the idle engine speed

A classic situation of the idle running satisfactory would be that it idles for a st least 20 seconds with out loading up or leaning out and quitting. Then when you give the engine full throttle, it will accelerate without a lot of burbling commotion or quitting.