Is my .049 Venom Genuine?

Hi, Welcome!

It looks real to me. Like Jason said, check the piston weight. Is there a number on the cylinder? If so, what is it? Everything looks real, from the driveplate to the crankshaft.

Sorry bro. It's as fake as Pamala Anderson's breasts. You better send it to me for proper disposal

Nice one Joe

Welcome on board Tim
Of course if you'd like to do the decent thing and send it
To Gods own country, we'll be happy to melt it down
And make it into a Spitfire to help with the war effort.

Could you make a picture from the inside of the piston please?

twitch:

Methinks you have too much time on your hands.

Worry about the world situation.

What?? Pamelas breasts aren't real??? NoooooooooOOOOOOO!!!!

Cylinder has a number 4 as shown in the photo. I could push the piston to about flush with the top but would go no further (I didn't feel comfortable forcing it any further). Sorry I don't have a scale with that kind of precision to weigh the piston.

What do you think, am I still good?

(Thanks for the welcome - I just found this forum and will be spending quite a bit of time looking around here - very impressed so far!)

-Tim
Baltimore MD

Can't push the piston through=tapered=Good!
Sideways #4=Good, They are often found with a #3 or #4 and the #4 is usually stamped sideways
As far as I can see, the piston appears to have been lightened from the inside=Good!

This Venom is real!

I will place some pictures from my Venom this evening. It got the same number 4 on the piston exhaust port.

Jacob, you already saw the pictures from mine and confirmed its genuine, am i right?

Welcome Tim, glad to have you here!

Here are some details on the Venom.

Venom .049 (0.8 cm³)

Manufactured in 1996 (#140)

The Venom was the last and finest high performance engine development of the Bee type engines. It had been designed by Larry Renger for control line Mouse Racing events and featured some interesting details. Most of these features were based on modifications developed for Cox engines by Paul Gibeault.

The crankshaft with cutouts for better balancing comes from the 1996 Killer Bee. The lightweight piston has sub-induction and a reduced wall thickness which makes it somewhat fragile. When not run in properly, the piston top may come off and also the strength of the crankshaft is close to its limits. Therefore speed was limited to 22,000 r.p.m. on the ground. Additionally, a single narrow boost port was added to one side of each transfer channel of the cylinder to improve scavenging. A similar porting system had been used on the early Tee Dee. The venturi passing through the fuel tank has the same throat diameter as the Black Widow (2.08 mm, Babe Bee, Golden Bee: 1.54 mm). To literally top it off, a high compression glow head and a few head gaskets to play with the compression ratio were added.

Similar performance can be obtained by combining reworked Golden Bee and Tee Dee parts and it is astonishing that even in 2003, in the age of ABC and AAC piston and liners, these "old" steel piston/cylinder engines still hold AMA Class I mouse racing records.

The Venom has been manufactured in a run of 1000 engines only, which is unusually small for a Cox engine.

Note that some persons try to sell faked Venom engines. Be careful, especially when the engine comes without box and instructions and when the description does not explicitly state that it really is a Cox Venom engine.
coxxoc

Just ask Paul Gibeault about Venoms the Class 1 Mouse Race expert! He comes on here from time to time.

coxxoc

Welcome to the Forum Tim ! Way to come through the door----With a "Venom Debut" !!!!!!

Here`s a bit of interesting spec info for you Tim.

Engine = VENOM
exhaust port = Open
bypass booster = 1
sub-piston induction = Yes
piston weight = Light
taper grind = Yes
Head = High
valve type = Reed
crankshaft type = Comp.
tank type - Lg.,Metal
Miscellaneaous = CL Stunt Venting
purpose = Comp.

coxxoc

mr_cox wrote:I will place some pictures from my Venom this evening. It got the same number 4 on the piston exhaust port.

Jacob, you already saw the pictures from mine and confirmed its genuine, am i right?

Welcome Tim, glad to have you here!

Yes I did see yours! You have some really good up close pictures that show the details.

Thanks for all the comments guys. I've learned a ton and I truly appreciate all your inputs.

I kinda like this place. I think I'll pull up a chair and stick around awhile!

-Tim

As promised: here are the pictures (one day later)

I got my engine about 2 years ago and disassembled it because I did worry about my #4 stamped on the cylinder. The cylinder itself has the right porting for a Venom. However I contacted Dr. Martin Hepperle about it and he did not see the #4 before on the venoms, stamped on the exhaust ports. Because of this he held a survey at the .049 collectors group. It appeared that more people have the #4 cylinder on genuine venoms (bought new in shop at the release) so it seemed to be right. Paul Gibeault got four (!!!!!) Venoms and two of them got the #4 stamped on the exhaust port. One of those engines was a prototype.

Here are the pictures: It also collected the dust you should expect after 15 years.

Yep looks familiar, thanks for the confirmation!

A crazy thought crossed my mind viewing the crankcase back photo. If it were mine I’d lap out the burrs from the pulled threads at the screw holes. But from a collector’s viewpoint would that be ….?
Al

I tap mine about 3 times as deep as the original holes. No more crankcase leaks, ever. Gotta use a 2-56 bottoming tap. I don't know why Cox drilled nice deep holes but only tapped them for about 4 turns.

Big Al wrote:A crazy thought crossed my mind viewing the crankcase back photo. If it were mine I’d lap out the burrs from the pulled threads at the screw holes. But from a collector’s viewpoint would that be ….?
Al

Maybe use a very, very small countersink to remove the burrs, instead of usual sandpaper/flat surface, which would take off the finish?

Disassembling the engine was already hard enough for a collector like me.

I'm pretty sure I would never molest a real genuine Venom with the interest and cash they seem to generate.
Just for fun I assembled a Venom clone using one of Hypercolor Anodizing cases and lightened piston in a new #4 cylinder. I put it next to my friend's genuine Venom and except for a tat more SPI you could not tell them apart!!
I actually mounted a prop on mine while we had them together so we could easily tell them apart..
I know I could clone one that would look and perform almost identical to a real Venom and still have the great feeling of having an original on the shelf....
Steve..

mr_cox wrote:Disassembling the engine was already hard enough for a collector like me.

Sniped up this Venom last week, I was not sure if it was genuine, no box or papers. Talking to the seller he said it was new and real so I took the plunge.
Looks real so far, going to break it down later to make sure. I'd give 50$ for a box. My first Venom, feel like a virgin.

Good luck finding a Venom insert for the box. Tom aka engine049 had genuine Venom instructions a while back on ebay. Might check with him to see if he has any yet.

I see the crank spacers so it looks promising it is genuine.