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Cox Engine of The Month
Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
Page 1 of 4
Page 1 of 4 • 1, 2, 3, 4
Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
http://www.coxmodels.com/fuel/index.html
I sent an email to them asking why they didn't follow the original fuel receipt. A few days went by and I received an email from Hobbico, they say due to the addition of synthetic oils, it has better lubricating properties. They also said if I feel uncomfortable, I could add caster oil.
I know you guys say 20% caster, but is synthetic just as good at a lower content? Is the New Super Fuel better or worse? How can that be proven?
I sent an email to them asking why they didn't follow the original fuel receipt. A few days went by and I received an email from Hobbico, they say due to the addition of synthetic oils, it has better lubricating properties. They also said if I feel uncomfortable, I could add caster oil.
I know you guys say 20% caster, but is synthetic just as good at a lower content? Is the New Super Fuel better or worse? How can that be proven?
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
I guess the only real way of knowing is to do a long term test. then compare wear results. I think some have been done in the past.
For me, I just trust those who have gone before me. My own experience shows Castor has healing properties for worn engines. Ball sockets are apparently the main issue with synthetics.
It's not hard to find Castor fuel, so for now I'll use what's still available. Seems to me if you market a product for a specific application then you would ensure that your consumer is satisfied.
Saying to just add castor is not a very good answer. Buying 2 products so you can use the one is just silly and not economical. Not to mention it also plays with the Nitro and methanol quantities.
For me, I just trust those who have gone before me. My own experience shows Castor has healing properties for worn engines. Ball sockets are apparently the main issue with synthetics.
It's not hard to find Castor fuel, so for now I'll use what's still available. Seems to me if you market a product for a specific application then you would ensure that your consumer is satisfied.
Saying to just add castor is not a very good answer. Buying 2 products so you can use the one is just silly and not economical. Not to mention it also plays with the Nitro and methanol quantities.
Cribbs74- Moderator
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Posts : 11907
Join date : 2011-10-24
Age : 50
Location : Tuttle, OK
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
Can't say this would be relevant to Cox engine fuel but we run Castrol Semi-Senthetic engine oil in our Ford 4.2 V-6 and with good results.
Is the prejudice against senthetic lubricats based on factual documentation or traditional thinking?
SD
Is the prejudice against senthetic lubricats based on factual documentation or traditional thinking?
SD
SuperDave- Rest In Peace
- Posts : 3552
Join date : 2011-08-13
Location : Washington (state)
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
I am against synthetics from experience. When I got my first Cox engine I ran it on Cool Power. This was before I knew of this forum or the requirements for Cox engines. The engine lasted a very short amount of time before it was clapped out. Zero compression and the ball and socket was showing serious amounts of play. I got my second engine and ran it on Omega fuel. It had a small amount of castor. The engine showed the same fate as the all synthetic Cool power fed engine. The ball and socket did fare better though.
The Omega had about 5% Castor. 17% total oil and it still mangled the engine.
RR
P.S. We now only run Sig Champion for Cox engines. We mix our own fuel for anything else. We have yet to have an engine wear out since the fuel switch about 2 years ago.
The Omega had about 5% Castor. 17% total oil and it still mangled the engine.
RR
P.S. We now only run Sig Champion for Cox engines. We mix our own fuel for anything else. We have yet to have an engine wear out since the fuel switch about 2 years ago.
Godsey3.0- Platinum Member
- Posts : 970
Join date : 2011-09-21
Age : 29
Location : Metamora, Indiana
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
I'm actually thinking about doing a test on a few engines to see what happens. How long would you say it took for the engine to wear out?
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
I ran a fuel very much like this one and the engine started showing signs of burning up after 30 minutes of runtime or so. It now needs a new piston and cylinder. I'm running SIG Champion 35.
duke.johnson- Diamond Member
- Posts : 1734
Join date : 2012-11-05
Age : 53
Location : Rochester, Washington
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
You'd have a hard time making it 50/50 oil, and still have the total oil content around 17-25%.
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RknRusty- Rest In Peace
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Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
Four Cycle water cooled auto engines and 2 cycle air cooled aircraft engines are completely different and I think the answer to Super Dave's question is mixed between tradition and sound technical reasoning.
Too many manufactures ALL demand a specific oil content and some proportion to be castor oil for a reason. They engineered to engine and know perfectly well the failure modes they see on warranty returns. I doubt any of them have a monetary interest in the production or sale of one oil over any other oil. Meaning I tend to believe the Enya, ASP, Fox, McCoy, Cox, Norvel, Magnum, and Rossi literature of all the engines I currently own... every one I listed requires some percentage of the total oil mix to be castor oil
OK that is my .02c
Too many manufactures ALL demand a specific oil content and some proportion to be castor oil for a reason. They engineered to engine and know perfectly well the failure modes they see on warranty returns. I doubt any of them have a monetary interest in the production or sale of one oil over any other oil. Meaning I tend to believe the Enya, ASP, Fox, McCoy, Cox, Norvel, Magnum, and Rossi literature of all the engines I currently own... every one I listed requires some percentage of the total oil mix to be castor oil
OK that is my .02c
fredvon4- Top Poster
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Posts : 4012
Join date : 2011-08-26
Age : 69
Location : Lampasas Texas
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
WingingIt74 wrote:I'm actually thinking about doing a test on a few engines to see what happens. How long would you say it took for the engine to wear out?
Do not even try full synt lube unless you explicitely want to ruin your engine. Cox engines have been designed for castor that leaves a thin varnish on wear parts that practically separates metal parts and while thus avoiding metal-to-metal contact and wear, will also seal occassional micro-scratces on the soft cylinder wall and will thus heal engine wear.
I have COX engines that have run 50+ hours (especially Tee Dee 010-s are undestructable) that show original compression. All I had to do was reset the balljoint 1 or 2 times...
As only a few vendors in Hungary sell fuel blended with castor (almost all brands carry synt oil only), I usually blend my mixture from its core ingredients (nitro is also not an easy buy here)
balogh- Top Poster
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Posts : 4956
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Location : Budapest Hungary
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
It is based on experience. Synthetic offers superior lubrication over the temperature range it is designed for. Water cooled engines, or even air-cooled engines with high pressure lubrication systems (so cooled oil is constantly being supplied to bearing surfices) will do great on synthetic.SuperDave wrote:Can't say this would be relevant to Cox engine fuel but we run Castrol Semi-Senthetic engine oil in our Ford 4.2 V-6 and with good results.
Is the prejudice against senthetic lubricats based on factual documentation or traditional thinking?
SD
When you exceed some critical temperature (varies with exact oil, and I don't know exactly what any of them are anyway) synthetic either evaporates (smoke) or breaks down into things that are not good lubricants. You go from great protection to no protection. Once lubrication is lost, the bearing heats up more, and damage is rapid and severe. One lean run on a Fox .35 running synthetic will ruin it.
Castor does not flash-off (smoke) or break down under extreme heat like synthetic or even petroleum based oils do. Instead it does the opposite of breaking down. The castor oil molecules actually start joining up (polymerization) which thickens the oil, keeping it in the bearing. Under extreme heat the polymerization goes to extremes and forms a varnish. If this happens in a cox cylinder, it hurts performance if the varnish gets too thick, but performance returns after the varnish is mechanically removed with steel wool or scotch bright.
Cox engines are rather peculiar in lacking a wrist pin. The required motion is done with a ball and socket joint, and the socket part of that bearing is the piston. Very few other engines do this. The piston gets very hot, and it will cook out any oil other than castor.
In addition to serving as a pivot, a wrist pin in more conventional also slows the heat flow from the piston to the upper rod bearing. I once modified a moped engine to move the wrist pin bushing from the rod to the piston skirt, (dual bushings) to get more bearing area, and also to allow the oiling holes to be on the bottom where the flywheels could sling oil at them. The experiment failed because (I think) putting the bearing in that location makes it run much hotter than forcing the heat to come in through the wrist pin. The solution to blowing out those moped rod bushings turned out to be running castor oil instead of the "better" synthetic.
Castor is sort of magic in this regard. A chemist could probably concoct a synthetic molecule that would do this, but refining castor beans is cheaper. Oh, and it smells like victory.
kevbo- Silver Member
- Posts : 91
Join date : 2013-03-05
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
Lapped iron/steel engines benefit from baked on varnish that castor forms. It makes for a wear layer. Synthetic lubricants remove that varnish. 50/50 seems a good balance of varnish building and varnish removal. On old lapped iron engines cleaning the varnish might make the engine so loose that it has no compression.
Phil
Phil
pkrankow- Top Poster
- Posts : 3025
Join date : 2012-10-02
Location : Ohio
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
Take a look at this fuel it looks very good I was going to try it but already purchased the sig 25% champion fuel witch works great by the way.
1 qt 25% NITRO HYPERFUEL FOR 1/2A .049 .020 .010 25% PURE CASTOR OIL
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-qt-25-NITRO-HYPERFUEL-FOR-1-2A-049-020-010-25-PURE-CASTOR-OIL-/251261786156?pt=US_Radio_Control_Control_Line&hash=item3a805e982c
1 qt 25% NITRO HYPERFUEL FOR 1/2A .049 .020 .010 25% PURE CASTOR OIL
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-qt-25-NITRO-HYPERFUEL-FOR-1-2A-049-020-010-25-PURE-CASTOR-OIL-/251261786156?pt=US_Radio_Control_Control_Line&hash=item3a805e982c
reptile- Gold Member
- Posts : 149
Join date : 2013-05-22
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
pkrankow wrote:Lapped iron/steel engines benefit from baked on varnish that castor forms. It makes for a wear layer. Synthetic lubricants remove that varnish. 50/50 seems a good balance of varnish building and varnish removal. On old lapped iron engines cleaning the varnish might make the engine so loose that it has no compression.
Phil
So would it be a good Idea to run any normal RC car 20 or 25 % nitro fuel once in a while through the cox motors to clean up all the varnish built up in them?
Not saying run a full tank maybe run like one min through them or 30 seconds or something to clean them out?
reptile- Gold Member
- Posts : 149
Join date : 2013-05-22
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
Yeah I saw that the other day. Not bad,perhaps a bit more oil than needed. I would try it except shipping will be twice the purchase price.
Ron
Ron
Cribbs74- Moderator
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Posts : 11907
Join date : 2011-10-24
Age : 50
Location : Tuttle, OK
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
Excellent explanation, Kevbo, and Phil too for tacking on an additional good comment.
Reptile, I don't think running a Cox on car fuel even once would be a good idea. It may clean out some varnish, but you don't want to clean any of it out of the ball socket. As Phil said, a 50/50 mix maintains a good balance to keep the cylinder varnished while not allowing it to build up to an excess. If you want to devarnish a Cox engine, just remove the cylinder and use some 0000 steel wool wrapped around a dowel and wet with solvent. And go easy so as not to take too much off or you may end up with no compression. And wash it thoroughly before re-installing.
Reptile, I don't think running a Cox on car fuel even once would be a good idea. It may clean out some varnish, but you don't want to clean any of it out of the ball socket. As Phil said, a 50/50 mix maintains a good balance to keep the cylinder varnished while not allowing it to build up to an excess. If you want to devarnish a Cox engine, just remove the cylinder and use some 0000 steel wool wrapped around a dowel and wet with solvent. And go easy so as not to take too much off or you may end up with no compression. And wash it thoroughly before re-installing.
_________________
Don't Panic!
...and never Ever think about how good you are at something...
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My Hot Rock & Blues Playlist
RknRusty- Rest In Peace
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Join date : 2011-08-10
Age : 68
Location : South Carolina, USA
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
reptile wrote:pkrankow wrote:Lapped iron/steel engines benefit from baked on varnish that castor forms. It makes for a wear layer. Synthetic lubricants remove that varnish. 50/50 seems a good balance of varnish building and varnish removal. On old lapped iron engines cleaning the varnish might make the engine so loose that it has no compression.
Phil
So would it be a good Idea to run any normal RC car 20 or 25 % nitro fuel once in a while through the cox motors to clean up all the varnish built up in them?
Not saying run a full tank maybe run like one min through them or 30 seconds or something to clean them out?
Cox engines are designed with castor oil in mind. They are lapped steel piston and cylinder.
Engines can also be cleaned easily. The outside can be cleaned with a toothbrush and a splash of fuel to remove quite a lot of varnish. If done regularly the outside will look nice for a long time. The inside can be cleaned with a bore brush, brass or nylon, when necessary, which is when RPM is sagging after the engine heats up. Castor varnish is sticky when hot.
When the engine is running properly it will not build up excess internal varnish very quickly.
Phil
pkrankow- Top Poster
- Posts : 3025
Join date : 2012-10-02
Location : Ohio
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
reptile wrote:Take a look at this fuel it looks very good I was going to try it but already purchased the sig 25% champion fuel witch works great by the way.
1 qt 25% NITRO HYPERFUEL FOR 1/2A .049 .020 .010 25% PURE CASTOR OIL
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-qt-25-NITRO-HYPERFUEL-FOR-1-2A-049-020-010-25-PURE-CASTOR-OIL-/251261786156?pt=US_Radio_Control_Control_Line&hash=item3a805e982c
It looks good, but to me, it's mystery fuel. No idea about the mixing methods or component quality or control. With shipping it's more than Sig. Since the loss of Mike McGraw's Glowplugboy fuel, I've come to terms with the idea that 50/50 is what we need for our 25% sport fuel. Reputable dealers like Rich's Brew and Powermaster have pure castor in the 15% and below variety too. And their QC is well known and proven.
_________________
Don't Panic!
...and never Ever think about how good you are at something...
while you're doing it!
My Hot Rock & Blues Playlist
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while you're doing it!
My Hot Rock & Blues Playlist
RknRusty- Rest In Peace
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Join date : 2011-08-10
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Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
Pretty good write up on fuel, he seems to like syn, castor mix.
http://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?topic=457.0
http://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?topic=457.0
crankbndr- Top Poster
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Location : Homestead FL
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
That's a good article. I just read it the other day and copied the text and saved it. I've saved a few of Randy's write ups.
_________________
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...and never Ever think about how good you are at something...
while you're doing it!
My Hot Rock & Blues Playlist
RknRusty- Rest In Peace
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Join date : 2011-08-10
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Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
All the Cox literature I've read has stated that 20% of the total fuel mix should be oil, and at least ½ of that oil should castor. Castor for all the reasons so far stated. I reckon 25% total oil is too much. If you can procure the stuff, mixing your own is the way to go. I make mine thus:-
8% Klotz synthetic
12% Klotz BeNol (degummed castor oil)
25% nitromethane
55% methanol
I run this stuff through ALL of my engines - keeps things simple. That includes various Coxes, OS.46, OS .32 OS .10, Leo .46, ASP .21, K&B .21 and an old, unidentified .25. All but a couple of those have been hammered for >15years now and they all run like new.
I buy my methanol and nitromethane from a specialist racing car supplies store in my nearest capital city (254 miles away) and the Klotz products from another store in the same capital city. They're quite happy to sell it to me, which quite surprised me, but I have to pick it up because it must be freighted as "dangerous goods", which costs an arm and a leg plus a few minor digits. It ends up costing me less than the pre-mixed stuff and I get just what I want. I would think that methanol and nitro would be readily available from similar stores in the US.
dinsdale- Account Deactivated by Owner
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Join date : 2012-02-22
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
Just clarify a couple of things:-
1. Degummed castor oil is the ONLY way to go imo.
2. Methanol is widely used in many high performance motor sports.
3. Nitromethane is widely used in drag racing.
Even where I am (in the unfashionable western end of a spiral arm of ...) there are a number of places supplying these ingredients.
As a complete aside, we used to have a restaurant called "Milliways" in Perth.
1. Degummed castor oil is the ONLY way to go imo.
2. Methanol is widely used in many high performance motor sports.
3. Nitromethane is widely used in drag racing.
Even where I am (in the unfashionable western end of a spiral arm of ...) there are a number of places supplying these ingredients.
As a complete aside, we used to have a restaurant called "Milliways" in Perth.
dinsdale- Account Deactivated by Owner
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Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
Okay, for us ding-dongs out here, that have measuring cups, could you convert the recipe to ounce-like volumes, so we (ME) have a better idea of how to mix, for ourselves?
It would make it just a little easier to get started.
Thanks so much!
It would make it just a little easier to get started.
Thanks so much!
GUS THE I.A.- Gold Member
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Join date : 2012-08-15
Location : Wichita, Kansas
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
To make a quart of 20% castor, 25% nitro
20% castor= 6.4 oz
25% nitro = 8 oz
55% meth =17.6 oz
32 oz
I think Glowplugboy made 18% castor, 25% nitro
18% castor 5.76 oz
25% nitro 8 oz
57% meth 18.24 oz
20% castor= 6.4 oz
25% nitro = 8 oz
55% meth =17.6 oz
32 oz
I think Glowplugboy made 18% castor, 25% nitro
18% castor 5.76 oz
25% nitro 8 oz
57% meth 18.24 oz
crankbndr- Top Poster
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Join date : 2011-12-10
Location : Homestead FL
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
Get yourself a metric measure and make life easy for yourself. For a litre of fuel 8% = 80ml, 12% = 120ml and so on. Even for difficult numbers:- 5.56% = 55.6ml, 12½% = 125ml. How can you go wrong? Join the developed world.GUS THE I.A. wrote:Okay, for us ding-dongs out here, that have measuring cups, could you convert the recipe to ounce-like volumes, so we (ME) have a better idea of how to mix, for ourselves?
It would make it just a little easier to get started.
Thanks so much!
dinsdale- Account Deactivated by Owner
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Join date : 2012-02-22
Re: Hobbico's "Cox Super Fuel"
Absofreakinlutely!dinsdale wrote:Get yourself a metric measure and make life easy for yourself. For a litre of fuel 8% = 80ml, 12% = 120ml and so on. Even for difficult numbers:- 5.56% = 55.6ml, 12½% = 125ml. How can you go wrong? Join the developed world.
I cannot fathom the stupid that drove the rejection of converting to the metric system back when it was up for discussion in the '70s. What... because we'll have to buy a whole 'nother tool set? Well, guess what! It's one of the things I love to grumble about. When I'm working on small things I always use metric dimensions unless it'll throw something off too badly. We're stuck with 8ths, 16ths, 32nds, 64ths... and to add insult, miles. Why is a mile not 5000 feet? A foot not 10 inches? We screw our own system up with inconsistencies like that, and so forth and so on...... [/rant]
_________________
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while you're doing it!
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