Old Power Plants
 

I have a McCoy Redhead .29 Racing Engine that dates back to the early to mid '50s. I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this motor as for as what to run it on and if ther are any replacement parts available. Any info would be helpfull.

I also have an old Johnson .29 thats from the late '50s but it need a new (head gasket)? i think. Does anyone have any info on this motor.

Once again, All info would be helpfull.

Thanks

RE: Old Power Plants
 

I don't know anything about the Johnson but I used to have one of those McCoy's (and wish I still had it :)). It's something of a collector's item nowadays especially if it hasn't been modified in any way. For spare parts about all you could do is watch Ebay where they turn up sometimes. Rings and bearings are no problem though. If you really want to run it then treat it nice and use a fuel with 20% castor. Then put it in a glass case and admire it :D.

RE: Old Power Plants
 

Both engines require fuel with Castor in it. They have mahite (spelling) iron pistons and are hand fitted. Thus they require a lot of good lubricant. Neither will be as powerful as today's engines which have improved porting, etc. As said, they are collectors items now days.

Cheers,

Chip

RE: Old Power Plants
 

You will need to cut your own gasket. I had some Johnson 35's, never took them apart. I don't know if the gasket is a compsition type or aluminum. My McCoy's had composition head gaskets.

You can buy the composition material at the auto parts or industrial supply store.

RE: Old Power Plants
 

Do the .29's wear out as rapidly as the other McCoys? Some folks say the .19's have a service life of an hour at best, but I probably never put more than a half hour on any of mine.

Lots of castor oil.

MJD

RE: Old Power Plants
 

I'ved owned a lot of McCoys in the 50's and 60's. I never had one to wear out and I used some of them a lot.

Yet I've seen many that others owned that were ruined. I consider lean running to be the cause!

With today's fuels and synthetic oils, there's not much hope. 25% Castor oil is a must in these engines if you want them to run forever.

RE: Old Power Plants
 

Could be.. I was pretty much regurgitating a summary of several comments I read on them. So if I run some decent castor based fuel, which I can make up easily, sounds like I shouldn't be as worried as I was about using them on old ukies or FF's. Good, because I have 3-4 old A-B or A-B-C FF kits that need old engines and I have three or four McCoys lying around, 19's and .35's.

MJD

RE: Old Power Plants
 

If they have decent compression now and you use common sense with your needle valve and fuel mixture, they will last a lifetime.

In the 50's there were not any synthetic oils around. Glow engines used castor oil and lots of it.

RE: Old Power Plants
 

The rear rotor 29 had a ringed piston although I believe there was one version just before they were discontinued that had a cast iron piston. SC make a replica which has an iron piston. The McCoy was very similar to the British ETA 29 and was mainly used in class B team racing while the Dooling 29 was king of speed.

RE: Old Power Plants
 

Yes, the very last rear rotor McCoy 29's were just lapped Meehanite iron pistons and leaded steel sleeves. They didn't run much different than the all silver McCoy stunt 29.

RE: Old Power Plants
 

Ditto. I've had a few lose a little compression after A LOT of flying (control line), but I've never had one egg out a connecting rod, or lose enough compression to make hand starting difficult. They just ran and ran and ran.

I had one Johnson engine, a .29. That rascal was clearly stronger than my McCoy .35 and .40 engines. It was also stronger than my K&B .35 Stallion (control line/free flight). The Johnson was definitely a cut above all the rest, except Fox. Oops, I almost forgot the K&B .19 Greenhead. That was a great engine too.

My favorite class C control line engine was the Fox .36X, but I loved all of my engines. No one had service equal to Fox.


Ed Cregger

RE: Old Power Plants
 

thanks for the info.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1953-McCoy-29-Re...item3efa7b5c59

This is like the one i have.  Its not new but i think it is still fresh.

RE: Old Power Plants
 

In the 50's and 60's I flew mainly Foxes in my control line models. Never had a problem. In the 60's I bought 2 McCoy .29 Red Head control line engines and within a few flights after break in both broke their conrods. I still have a McCopy .19 Red Head from that time that ran fine. The best McCoys were the .049's produced in the late 60's. I still have one in a Scientific Models' PT-19. Today I fly OS, Fox, Enya, and, lately, Magnum. I find that modern day engines are much more reliable and powerful than the 50-60's engines.

Bruce

RE: Old Power Plants
 

<div>In the 70sa few of use ranaround buying up old engines and we did a lot of</div><div>control line stunt flying followed up with a lot of control line COMBAT
and we had a lot of those engines and I don't rememberany going</div><div>bad. Now Mid Airs we had a few of those and I have a bag of shattered engines and I</div><div>have a bagwith the Johnson, McCoy Red &amp; Green head, Fox &amp; Torpedo engines.</div><div>And yes we always flip started them.

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RE: Old Power Plants
 

<div>Has anyone seen an old Gilbert .07 lately.</div><div></div><div> It was mounted on a Kite in the 60s

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RE: Old Power Plants
 

I have Three of the .11's. I once heard that Duke Fox manufactured these for the Gilbert company.