Renegade

My Feedback: (1)

It has a Ringed Piston, the carb is straight up and mounts to a flat flange, held in place by screws from the bottom up.
I've tried searching MECOA but didn't find anything close.
The back cover is unique in that it covers not just the lower case, but also goes up the rear of cylinder. Any help in identification would be appreciated. Thanks!

GREG DOE

It's probably a Fox. Duke built a few engines with that style rear cover, and he really liked flange mounted carburetors.

RCPAUL

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It's a Fox for sure.

Renegade

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Thanks guys, I just typed "fox model engine" in search and whoa....there she is! What would we do with out nice people like you? Thanks again. Rene

JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

Interesting in that the needle valve and the throttle arm are on the same side with nothing on the other side. Did the needle valve rotate with the throttle barrel?

Renegade

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Yes, the needle valve does rotate with the throttle barrel. Note, there are linkage arms on both sides of the barrel. See pic #2 and #4, The barrel moves very tight. I'm soaking it with WD40 and PB blaster before I attempt to disassemble. Seems like some of pictures I saw on Fox site there may be "o" rings in there.

JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

Ahh, so.. Missed the one on the right side. By the way, WD40 is not a good lubricant. It is a water displacement fluid. That is what the "WD" stands for. We used to use it a lot after pressure washing an automobile engine to spray inside the distributor cap when the engine would not start. It would start immediately after displacing the water with the WD40. The PB Blaster may help as it is a penetrating fluid, and adding some light oil to the mix will also help, Good luck to you. I enjoy fooling with old RC engines..

jester_s1

Fox had some weird ways of doing things. Manufacturing costs to make that flange mounted carb and that crazy backplate must have been through the roof. No wonder the engines couldn't compete once the Japanese got involved, even as good as they were. I really would have loved to see what the company could have accomplished if there had been a willingness to rethink some of those designs to make them cheaper to produce. Fox was the best engine you could get 40 years ago (so I'm told), so it's entirely possible they still could be had they been willing to change.

On the topic of what to do with that one, I've found that soaking old engines in fuel works pretty well for loosening everything up. It will take a few days, but it will work.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

How about one new in box. This is the FOX 40 that is going into my new Up-Roar. A buddy gave it to me a couple years ago and I have just kept it until I had a nice enough little plane for it. They even came with a special spinner and back plate or you can use the machined thrust washer and nut. Very well made engines and a marvel to behold. They were still made in the 80s but death killed the engine, not the Japanese. Mr. Fox finally reached his expiration date.

GREG DOE

Jester_s1, Duke Fox was a lifetime supporter of everything "controline". The flanged crankcase was done to permit either a RC type
carburetor, or a controline straight venturi to be used on the case. It's true that a traditional crankcase, with a round hole, would also except either type carburetor, but Duke Fox had his way of doing things. During his life he did a lot to promote modeling, outside of being an engine manufacturer. He rebuilt many engines at at the Nats, and other contests, and did it for free. He was especially generous to younger modelers.

GREG DOE

Gary Beard, The engine you pictured is clearly different from Renegade's The boost port bulge has a different shape, and the carburetor configuration is very different. Because there are no markings on Renegades engine I suspect it might be a proto-type, and not a production model. That's only a guess on my part. Engine manufacturers have been known to make a few trial engines, and put them in the hands of selected group of modelers for test purposeses, and feed back.

jester_s1

I agree Greg, Duke Fox was a great asset to aeromodeling. I merely meant that I'd like to have seen what would happen if a more mass production savvy designer could have tweaked his designs to make them cheaper to produce without sacrificing the quality.

As for his death being the end of the company, I disagree in the long view of things. Certainly losing him meant that the great engineer and the heart of the company was gone, but OS and YS were already gaining market share against the American companies anyway. As you said, Mr. Fox was thinking about control line right up to the end during a time when it was obvious the main part of the aeromodeling market wasn't. To me Fox's corporate history is a classic case of sitting back on past successes refusing to keep innovating and developing products to stay on top. Had he lived longer, he would have probably saw his company go into serious decline anyway as cheaper and more advanced engines pushed his aside.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Mine was one of the last ones to come out so it is a later model. I have a lot of photos of different angles but due to them showing up as thumb nails I can't see the ones I would like to post. The carb is mounted differently like the MDS or SK engines with the single hex head. When I first saw the photo of the OPs engine I thought proto type right away.
I never used the FOX engines even in control line, no special reason, I was just using Veco and McCoy. This engine was given to me several years ago by an older friend that never used it. When I started building my Up-Roar I pulled it out and started going over it and discovered it has never been fired up or broken in. I was amazed at all the had work involved in it.
I still have the instructions and signed letter that came with it but I just went out to the shop and it wasn't in the box. I'm in the middle of covering my plane and my shop is a disaster area so I gave up looking but I know the date was in the late 80s.
I will be breaking this engine in soon, like in the next few weeks and will probably post about it in Ricks Up-Roar thread. Cliff, daddyo57 is sending me a good prop selection for it too. This is the smallest engine I have used in a lot of years so I don't have a big selection of props for it yet.
Really a cool little engine and I'm thrilled it isn't a run of the mill OS, as long as it works well anyway.

GREG DOE

Jester_s1. I'm sure there is a lot of truth in your statement that Fox was a classic case of sitting back on past success, but it should be noted that over the years they made other products besides model airplane engines. They even made an engine for bicycles.
Gary. As a precaution I would recommend that you disassemble, and clean your Fox. It's probably fine, but over the years Fox had a reputation for not building the cleanest engines. Years ago they left a lot of machining trash in them. Good luck. Greg

Ed_Moorman

My Feedback: (1)

That Fox engine has an early Fox carb. It has a butterfly in the center of the carb. The fuel enters from the front. Note the fuel nipple on the front of the carb.

This carb adjusts differently from other carbs. You set the low end first before the top end. The top end rpm is affected by both the low end needle and the high speed needle. The high speed needle is very sensitive.

You may want to buy a later model Fox carb that will be easier to adjust.

Another item; Fox engines of that era were designed to be set slightly rich on the ground. Leaning them out will cause them to go over lean, heat up and die in flight.

I recommend you sent it into Fox and see what they can do for you.