Space Bug Ads in 1952 Issue Air Trails Magazines

I was wondering what these plugs were used for. I thought Conquest but the packaging is too old.

With the age of the packaging I would think the plugs may have been intended for the Thimble Drome Special 045. But, the part number is the same as the one in Kim's ad.  Jason, the header card doesn't appear to match the plugs because it says "Heads" and "Un-anodized Aluminum", while the packages say "Plug" and I would think they were steel.

Oldenginerod wrote:Do any of us know of a Space Bug using a 1/4" glow plug?  All the pictures in the ads show the use of a plug rather than glow head.  Not something I was aware of.

Re Kim's first ad............

Who knows, The Shadow Knows....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBnO9dw3n6A

I have seen a few SB and never one with a 321 plug and not even the adaptor for it at that time ?? Here are the ads i have saved up ..
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Eric what year are these advertisements from?

Balogh

First page upper right TD1 ad sez new for '53
second page has 1952 on bottom corner

The ads are from fall/winter '52, Thimble-Drome naturally marketed their new toys for the Christmas season.

Hopefully Mud will add to this as i'm not 100%, but i'm pretty sure Leroy always intended to use the glowhead. Compression on a small engine is critical, too much is as bad as too little and a glow plug/head is not going to be as consistent as a glowhead.
The early PR photos are that of a prototype Space Bug, actual retail product used the glowhead, so my guess was they rushed to get the ads out for Christmas season. The glow plugs were made for the Thimble-Drome cars and since they already had them, it would be natural to use them in development of the Space Bug.
The first version of the glowhead had too much compression and made the engine hard to start/needle, i believe these glowheads were later sold as the 'Hop-up' kit.

Mud had showed us the hop up kit but i don't remember the plug being in it , larger intake/backplate tank it think ? Her is something from last year .. https://www.coxengineforum.com/t10734-space-bug-questions-and-answers

Thanks to you all. I have a fuel can shown on the left with the tether racecar on it..so it is from that era of the 50-s.

Oldenginerod wrote:With the age of the packaging I would think the plugs may have been intended for the Thimble Drome Special 045. But, the part number is the same as the one in Kim's ad.  Jason, the header card doesn't appear to match the plugs because it says "Heads" and "Un-anodized Aluminum", while the packages say "Plug" and I would think they were steel.

I would say the packaging is the same as the .010 heads in the pic below. The staples are the same on the glow plugs as they are on the .010 heads. Cox must have used the same header card for all glow plugs. These have to be from the early 60’s based on the fact the TD .010 was released in the fall of 60.

getback wrote:Mud had showed us the hop up kit but i don't remember the plug being in it , larger intake/backplate tank it think ? Her is something from last year ..  https://www.coxengineforum.com/t10734-space-bug-questions-and-answers    

Here are pictures of my hop up kit. The box has just about had it but all the bits are there. The glow plug is deeper on the early high compression head that came in the kit. You can see the combustion chamber extended down below the threads vs a standard early head. The profile inside the head looks the same as a standard head.

Well Gosh there's a lot of if ,ands, and butts in there about the plug LOL I wonder why they say for racing it is best to use a well used plug, Any thoughts about that ?/ i have always used a fresh plug when trying to get the most from my engines (((( sad to say i have never ran a SB only the Jrs , i guess its the mounting thing ! ))) Any ya ran one good / bad experience .

Interesting hop up kit, was the tank modified also?

Good question, I think Mud said it was? I couldn't see any difference other than the intake?