I purchased my first Cox Baby Bee engine in 1956 when l lived in the Bronx at 11 years old. It was bubble packed in a blue carton and paid $3.95 for it!! With the help of my dad, we ran it in my room in the apartment with a big Everady dry cell battery and mounted it on a chair in a vice mounted on a piece of wood. Boy was it loud! We used those small cox fuel containers with the screw on pumps. I remember that in the instructions cox mentioned that you could drill out the bottom of the tank to attach a larger fuel tank. It was normal for the piston to turn brown after time with running. Those were fun days!
I got my first Cox .049 at about 12 years old. It was Golden Bee like yours. I took it all apart and it took me about minute to figure out what made it work. Ran the hell out of it for a long time. I bought a 1/2a kit at a flea market a couple years ago for $5 and there was a BRAND NEW Golden Bee in the box with it!
Love 💘 these little engines! I had a few of these, when I was young. Very fussy little engines, as far as getting them started. Once started, and, broken in, they run forever!
Hi David.The piston top is copper plated coating to prevent corrosion,and its a steel piston,so all Cox engines look the same like that.The fuel tube is not so bad,as long it seals at the nippel,so it wount suck air. You got your self a pristine & nice Golden Bee!! The Golden Bee are pretty power full ,with 2 transfer ports.If you put a High compression head on it.,.Oh boy..it will scream and move a lot air for its size. Cox make a lot type of cylinders with several boost port arrangements. one,..two, and two with extra 2 boost ports. Indeed on Wikipedia is it well explained. It stays nice stuff.The factory had a temperature controlled machine room,so it can made those engines with amazing precision.You can take every new piston of a other new engine,and it will ALL WAYS fit perfect! Thumbs up...and be VERY care full with the membrane... ;-)
Bit aged this comment, but here goes! 1. The reed material on Cox reed valve material isn't copper, it is either phosphor bronze of a mid to hard temper, or it is beryllium copper. 2. All Cox ball and socket pistons have copper plated crowns, but it isn't for corrosion purposes. When the piston is made after machining the blanks are copper plated all over. Then the pistons would have been run through a centreless grinder to remove the copper just from the outer rubbing surface. Next the parts are placed in a molten bath of sodium cyanide salt at about 600 deg C. Then the parts are removed and quenched in cold water. The copper works as a "stop off" preventing the carbon from the cyanide hardening the socket area which has to remain ductile to roll over the conrod's small end ball. Only the piston sides are hard and were then precisely ground to finished size on a centreless grinder. Check up inside a Cox ball joint piston assembly and you will find that it is copper plated.
Those reeds can build up gunk on them and leak just a little. Sometimes they can be cleaned off and reused. Pretty cheap to replace. Nice copper reed valve. Consider relocating the pickup tube further down if you use it for RC use. It will pull more fuel that way. They put many of those pickups on the side since they were used in CL models.
I never had or saw a Cox that I couldn't start. They are one of the little engines that were the gateways that gave us the model airplane addiction. They were very reliable. A Cox would not let you down. If you can get your hands on one, get yourself a Cox .15. It is a hot little runner.
Spiffy. My favorite Cox engine. Got 4 of them currently. "Feels really old and dry rotted"- got a lot of that going on myself of late! That is the first thing you replace. Reed valve is fine, late ones are mylar plastic. The anodize color varies from a dark gold to a very light color depending on the strength of the anodizing solution they ran that batch of motors thru.
1:10.... That squeak/chirp is the reed valve inside the engine vibrating as it ingests air. ANY new engine with a dry reed WILL do that when it's dry. As soon as you fuel it up and run it, that WILL disappear.
Just a point of interest, how the pickup tube is positioned depends on what it is going to be used for. Off to the right for control line and down for free flight. I was holding my breath when you took out that reed. They bend easily.
I have a Golden Bee in similar (great) condition to yours David. I believe the fuel is critical to ensure long life of these engines. Do not use synthetic oil based fuel, it will drastically shorten the life of the bearing surfaces, particularly the crankpin/big end. Castor oil only recommended. 25%nitro/20%castor/55% methanol. Mix up your own if possible. They like plenty of nitro!
I couldn't afford that fancy fuel when I was 14yo. But that mix sounds like it would really make the .049 sing. I remember older boys would have the Nitro in the fuel and have a 1.5cc engine to put it in. Those things used to scare me they were so fast and loud. It's ridiculous now to think that a 1.5cc engine would be anything to concern yourself about.
Kit...Ridgerunt,26 inch wing span, Golden Bee .049, 15% fuel, 2 channels Ailerons and elevator. Balanced APC 6x4 prop. 2 oz of fuel, full tank, 6-8 minute flights. Fully aerobatic. At the end of the flight climb, fuel done engine off, glide back to earth doing loops, rolls, wingovers, back to your feet. A TeeDee .049 and a onboard 2 oz.fuel tank , steps things up a bit.
What I have learned in my 40+ y in the hobby, if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it😂, the “squick” sound could be that it was designed with a “tapered sleeve” , like the larger later nitro motors, referred to as “ABC’s”, although I doubt it very much. This was done for compression, as these small motors don’t have rings for compression, this might have been the only way to compress the fuel / air mix near TDS. Maybe google will know, or some Baby Bee experts.
Be REAL careful using those Cox wrenches- don't remove the cylinder unless you have to- you can throw a burr into the ports if there is any resistance at all, hit it with a heat gun.
What memories, you have to be very careful with the paper 4 hole paper based gasket, don't even dare try to remove it unless you have a new one in hand.
That is defently a low run time Golden bee that is also fairly early too since it has the thin wall cylinder very nice indeed. That squeak is the reed it should run fine. The hard fuel pickup tube is common btw shouldn't not hurt its running performance. One thing don't leave that spring out of the pickup tube that is what you might call a capillary spring helps keep fuel in the line. If you want check out the Cox engine forum www.coxengineforum.com. It's loaded with information on cox engines. I'm a member there great people! :) A great fuel for cox engines is Sig champion 25% it has the correct amount of oil (Castor) to protect the ball and socket awsome video!
Ball and socket joint is critical on these engines which is what the castor protects. The hard fuel pickup tube is indeed common, and is okay as long as it doesn't leak or crack around the area where it goes on the back plate, then it causes you all sorts of trouble. I usually just trash can any that have hardened at all. The spring needs to be clean and free of gunk also.
Dave - do you have a video that shows how to remove the front part of the crankshaft of a Cox 049 ? I basically need to replace the crankshaft from one of my Cox 049 engines. Thank you for your time.
@@charlesbovalis6591 Don't forget to purchase the installation tool. It puts the prop back driver back on the shaft correctly without installing it crooked. I know, I tried to put them back on with out it, by just pushing on the crank on the back ( with a steel rod) and the driver on the front. All done in a vice and the prop driver was crooked by 3mm. So the prop wobbled.
hello, I have a few of these and they are in working condition. but I do not know what fuel they take. is it oil, gas or mix of both? can someone please help me out. thanks
Model engine fuel.... A mix of Nitromethane, methanol, and a lubricating oil. For these tiny Cox engines, you're going to want a fuel that has a total of at least 20% oil in the fuel, and at least half of that 20% being Castor oil. MANY of today's model fuels contain all synthetic lubricants, that aren't good for these Cox engines, BUT, you can simply go to your local drug store and purchase a bottle of Castor oil and add the right amount to your fuel to bring the oil content up to 20% and half of that being the Castor oil. Do the math, and don't over oil the fuel.
No dude! don't replace that fuel pick up tube! all the cox engines that have the tank on the back are all hard, its so it don't move around in the fuel tank when running. and also for getting all of the remaining fuel.
You do. That pick up tube was originally flexible, which is why the spring is in there to help keep it open and in one position. Once these are exposed to glow fuel, they don't last a real long time before they harden up.I was running these back in the 1960s and you have to replace them frequently.
Needs a drop of oil or fuel through the venturi hole in the back of the case. Putting it into the exhaust port won't get it under the reed valve, which IS the cause of the squeak.
I use a drop of 3 in 1 oil on my finger, then the "O' ring on my finger into the oil. Then install the "O" ring on the tank. It stays put when I do it that way when I put the tank and the back plate together.
