Glow plugs ? best for air

If your engines utilize a baffled piston (crossflow), you still need the idle bar.

If the engines are schneurle ported, Anything from a Tower two-stroke plug (non idle bar) on upwards in money will work. It isn't critical.

I generally use McCoy idle bar less plugs for my two-strokes.

Ed Cregger

Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great (and sometimes not so great) words of knowledge:

If your engines have the baffle on the piston you will need the idle bar plugs. If no baffle, most any 2 stroke plug will work. My favorite (for general sport flying) is the OS #8 plug. This is a medium heat range plug. If you find you need a hotter plug you can try the OS A-3.

Ted, you can't beat the McCoy plugs. They may be hard to find as Hobby Shops are really out to sell the high priced spread.

The McCoy 59 is the medium plug and will work fine in your KB 40. It works well in everything else. The McCoy 9 is still the racing choice. If you can find it, the McCoy 50 is an idle bar medium-hot range plug that is my 1st choice however I use the 59 mostly because it is available. Maybe it's because I bought a 100 of them some 8 years ago and they are still AVAILABLE !! (;-))<

I run some OOLLLDDD engines and some fairly new ones. Except for all out speed (pylon) the porting doesn't seem to matter much. They all run Idle-Bar or not, yet as Ed says, the reverse scavenge types may perform better with idle bar, especially if associated with an air-bleed carb.

Welcome back and good luck.

HC

Thanks all for the input. I have, and will not have any engines with a baffled piston, so looks like no idle bar plugs needed.

Actually, I may switch everything to 4 stroke anyway. love the sound and lack of noise. I have enough hearing loss from the boat motors, guns, etc !!!

If your engines utilize a baffled piston (crossflow), you still need the idle bar.

If the engines are schneurle ported, Anything from a Tower two-stroke plug (non idle bar) on upwards in money will work. It isn't critical.

I generally use McCoy idle bar less plugs for my two-strokes.

Ed Cregger

I have always used K&B 1L plugs. They seem to run in just about any engine. Maybe not always the best, but reliable.

I know it sounds strange to some, but I actually start out using what the manufacturer suggests! Enya in Enyas, OS plugs in OS engines, etc. Then when I have problems, I either go to a Fox Miracle Plug or the old KB-1L'

When I was a younger-un (g), All of my model stuff was salvaged from trashcans or bartered for. There was no choice available. I did learn quite a bit about glow plugs from all of this, believe it or not. No, not really technical stuff, but I did learn how to "make do".

When I could finally afford to buy brand name, brand new stuff, it had already affected my perspective of what was a good value and what was not. Most of you have had similar experiences, I'm sure.

To me, and this is only my opinion, the OS Type-F and the Enya #3 are about the only brand name glow plugs that I will buy. Yes, Fox and K&B are brand names, but they are not at the top of the ladder as far as I'm concerned. I buy the latter two brands along with other budget brands with equal discrimination.

If I'm running a two-stroke, most of the time I reach for a McCoy plug, or one of its derivitives, first. Why? Because these usually do the job adequately without costing an arm and a leg. K&B 1-L's are also popular with me, though not as popular as the aforementioned types. Why? They cost more with no discernible difference in importance. That's just my experience. YMMV.

I no longer run tuned pipes, so I no longer have need for Rossi glow plugs. Big Smile.

I'd like to pick up a few Fox Miracle Plugs and give them another chance. My first impression of the only single Fox Miracle Plug I have owned wasn't very good. I could have had a bad one, who knows. In fact, I did have a bad one, now that I think of it.

Ed Cregger

The miracle plugs work real well in ringed engines or others with relatively low compression. I've got a K&B 40 from the 70's with a Perry carb that runs like a clock with the Miracle plug and dies at idle with every other plug I've tried. I've built up a good selection to choose from. When the needle just isn't working out the kinks I go for the plug immediately after pulling the needles and making sure all is clean.

I find the Miricle plug way too hot for anything other than four strokes. If you find it works best for you, fine. I prefer the better performance and fuel economy of the two stroke plugs. Not to mention of the smoke from the too rich mixture needed when the plug is too hot.