Re: Noob finds Cox engine in Grandpa's shed

Ken Cook Sun Oct 03, 2021 5:27 am

Taking apart a Cub can be risky. If the piston is stuck in the cylinder and you loosen the cylinder, it twists the rod and it doesn't take much to twist it or even break it. They came with two types of rods, a steel rod and a alloy rod. Either one was fragile. Yours has a aluminum backplate, older ones had magnesium and they corrode badly so if you remove it, you run the risk of it breaking in the process. There's also a very thin and fine brass shim under the base of the cylinder which can be damaged by even holding it. Charles Brebeck retired a year ago and he was selling off what was left for parts. The parts to my understanding went to the dumpster. Yes, the quality of a OK is quite prehistoric to a Cox but the OK's actually can run quite well. They're considerably louder than a Cox engine so don't equate the noise as a trade for power. The OK can handle high percentages of nitro. This also makes them even louder. There were so many variants of OK engines, it's important when searching for parts you know what you have. What used to be a dime a dozen are now being sought out collector items. I discarded them for 40 years and now that I have a purpose for them, they're difficult to source. They're extremely light and they're anemic which makes a great freeflight engine.

rebelrider.mike Wed Oct 13, 2021 3:35 pm

I went and saw Grandpa again this weekend. While we were working on the shed, I set up the Cox engine and got it running for a couple minutes. He got a kick out of seeing it run again after 45 years.

The shipment I ordered from Cox International came in the mail just before I left, but I haven't had a chance to mess with it yet. So the old engine is running with all it's original bits at the moment. I've placed another order for what I need to properly rebuild and repair all three engines.

Hopefully I'll be back in a couple weeks with some pictures, once they're all built back up and working.

MrGoodwreck Wed Oct 13, 2021 11:54 pm

Awesome!

I bet your gramps was pretty stoked.

rebelrider.mike Tue Nov 16, 2021 9:48 pm

He did!

So this all went on a shelf for a while, but recently I tried to make a video of rebuilding the engines. I know you all know how, but I figured it would be fun to put it on YouTube for noobs like me. Well, I've had technical issues three times now, and I'm out of engines to rebuild.

So I'm moving on to the next thing which is, I want to get one of them throttle controlled. I bought some more goodies from Cox International, including a throttle control jig that is supposed to use a servo motor. I don't have one of those, so I'll be coming up with my own mechanism. I'm thinking a spring loaded lever, or making it so it screws in and out. Which would be slower, but easier to fine tune and have it stay there.

I've also found a few airplane parts in Grandpas stuff. I may have mentioned that already, but I may try to clean them up and see what's left. I'm pretty sure parts are missing though. Maybe I can make or find some replacements.

Lukemiester Tue Nov 16, 2021 10:22 pm

it depends on how you set up the linkage if you're going with a lever- you can make it stiff so it wont lose its position easily and mount the pushrod relatively close to the hinge for slow movement
did you get the exhaust throttle or the needle-type throttle?

ChaseBanner Wed Nov 17, 2021 5:01 am

.[/quote]be aware once you start its hard to stop. nice cleaning job man

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