EBay Good buy?

Perhaps other potential bidders were out a Christmas parties last night?

'Tis the season to be jolly, ya' know.

I'm with the guys...looks like you did good !

SuperDave wrote:Perhaps other potential bidders were out a Christmas parties last night?

'Tis the season to be jolly, ya' know.

Of course!, why didn't I think of that? Get your EBay bids in fast!

Lol we can postpone christmas if it means getting bargains on eBay.

And this post reminded me to get my muffler listed on ebay lol

These 3 engines arrived this morning, obviously held up by the Christmas rush! They are in remarkably good condition, they need external cleaning, but even the heads/plug work!
The plug conversion is obviously a "Do it yourself" job, but very well done.
One has a bit of plier damage to the lower fins, but they all turn over freely with loads of compression, just need a chance to try starting them now!

Very pleased with my bargain!

oh, i also got one!
today, i bought myself a space bug for 65$...the auction was in for a week now and had 90 views...no one bought it!
it also is in remarkable condition, just one of the cooling fins on the side of the glow head is bent down a little....
its a top rated seller and thats why i got a little suspicious...

here it is:

Nice one there beez!

Excellent, Beez, two of us are happy anyhow!

Just found an odd thing though, the Babe Bee with the converted head and muffler has a thinner prop bolt than normal, I tried a standard bolt and it doesn't fit! Did the thread/diameter change at any time with BBs? If the bolt was bigger than normal I'd suspect a re-tapped shaft, but smaller?

Wilf

Don't think it did change.
Maybe the engine had a crash and the prop drew broke off and cpuld. It be removed so the owner drilled it out and re tapped it to take a smaller screw.

it definitly didn't change. does it still fit a normal prop?
if not, you can just stick a piece of fuel tubing threogh the hole.

Maybe someone put another shaft in it or made their own.

nitroairplane wrote: Don't think it did change.
Maybe the engine had a crash and the prop drew broke off and cpuld. It be removed so the owner drilled it out and re tapped it to take a smaller screw.

That's possible I suppose, but in that case I would have expected a larger screw, if it WAS done it must have been a professional, because as far as I can tell it's dead concentric, and the screw isn't THAT much smaller than normal, just enough that a standard screw won't fit. Bit of a puzzlement!

Is there a chance that somebody could have stripped the threads an run it through a die for a smaller size?

fit90 wrote:Is there a chance that somebody could have stripped the threads an run it through a die for a smaller size?

Yes, but then you still have the mystery of smaller threads in the crankshaft!

nitroairplane wrote:Maybe someone put another shaft in it or made their own.

This is about the only thing I can think of, it's all a bit weird! I'll see if it runs first, then strip it down and have a look at the crank.

Oops, I had a mental image of the screw bieing stuck in the crank.

Thing with ebay you never know what has been done to engine. I agree sometimes you hit a home run other times not so good. I offered my Space Bug for $50.00 and nothing. It was an engine from Dale Kirn and very nice engine. I use TD's/ Holland Hornets/ Norvel's and no plans on early Cox's.
Dan

dankar04 wrote:Thing with ebay you never know what has been done to engine. I agree sometimes you hit a home run other times not so good. I offered my Space Bug for $50.00 and nothing. It was an engine from Dale Kirn and very nice engine. I use TD's/ Holland Hornets/ Norvel's and no plans on early Cox's.
Dan

No, it's pot luck on EBay, the only thing you can do is, like I do, check the item as best you can, then set yourself a limit AND DON'T GO OVER IT! The thing with a lot like the one I got was, what I paid for 3 engines was less than you'd normally pay for 1, so even if 2 of them ended up good only for parts, I'd still be ahead, on my strictly limited budget I have to search for real bargains!

Ivanhoe wrote:

nitroairplane wrote:Maybe someone put another shaft in it or made their own.

This is about the only thing I can think of, it's all a bit weird! I'll see if it runs first, then strip it down and have a look at the crank.

But really who would go through all that trouble it is
"just" a babe bee.
The answer is I would if I could.

Well, I have now had a chance to examine these engines more closely, I tried a quick startup on all of them first, 'cause you never know your luck! All 3 ran well on a prime, but none of then would keep going for more than a few seconds. Stripped all of them down and found out why! One seems to have the end of the needle broken off (hope it's not stuck in the spraybar, cause I've no idea how you'd get it out!) 2nd one proved to have no reed or reed retainer (This may have something to do with why it wouldn't keep going!) The 3rd one, the one with the glowplug converted head and the muffler, had no fuel pickup pipe.
All in all, nothing too dire, all will need overhaul kits, new gaskets etc. and I'll investigate the broken needle to see if it is stuck in there.
I think that I will break the one with the converted head up for spares, there is no way to remove the head because the conversion removed the spanner lugs, I had to use a well padded set of pipegrips to get the cylinder off.

Any advice about the broken needle, if the end IS stuck in the spraybar?

Wilf