80's K&B factory tour.

[Barrie Lever]

Check out this beautiful sample of a .67, it's just so beautiful ,it's never been run and it's been my shelf Queen for a few years now.
I originally purchased from a guy who said it was a salesman sample ? Not sure but I like it!!


View attachment 325308

Sat on a Rossi box !!

 

[Barrie Lever]

Actually Bill Wisniewski, K&B's engine designer, was a leading figure in model engine design. Read my article on the history of the nitro racing engine. K&B improved their engines up to the end. Their red head outboard and its inboard version were as good as you could get at the time, especially at a reasonable cost. They backed them with a great warranty even for racing damage. I personally got parts from Bobby Tom at the NAMBA Nationals. Their closing over 20 years ago destroyed economical nitro racing.

Lohring Miller

Lohring

Thanks for posting that info.

I know there were better engines sold than K&B but I thought that 'bang for buck' that they held their heads high.

I still have a couple of pylon engines in the cupboards.

 

[Terry Keeley]

I held the D hydro SAW record 100 years ago with a K&B 7.5 and Mike Nowicki was the third person in IMPBA over 100 mph with one.

 

[Jeff Lutz]

I held the D hydro SAW record 100 years ago with a K&B 7.5 and Mike Nowicki was the third person in IMPBA over 100 mph with one.

Terry, just to keep history straight, Mike couldn’t have been third. Andy Brown, Joe Ingrao and John Finch all did it the same weekend in that order around 1998 in Huntsville. I was told I was 4th when I did it in 2001. The .45 was arguably their best engine for sure though.

 

[Bill Gibson]

It’s such a shame that the biggest POS I’ve seen in both design and materials used was built right here in the USA. Jeff Lutz

Nah. If they were that bad, nobody would have purchased and raced so many of them......and won races with them.....i never broke a 3.5 or 7.5 and did well with the ones i raced, i was just a little conservative with the needles! Very hard to beat the price as well. While there were better built engines, you paid the price for them , and they broke as well! Calling them a POS is a bit strong i would think.

 

[LohringMiller]

I posted the whole series on the nitro engine. See https://www.intlwaters.com/threads/bearing-damage.86987/page-3#post-854833

Lohring Miller

 

[Jeff Lutz]

Nah. If they were that bad, nobody would have purchased and raced so many of them......and won races with them.....i never broke a 3.5 or 7.5 and did well with the ones i raced, i was just a little conservative with the needles! Very hard to beat the price as well. While there were better built engines, you paid the price for them , and they broke as well! Calling them a POS is a bit strong i would think.

K&B was great for the hobby at one time. No denying that. The .21’s and .45’s and outboards helped drive the hobby forward and was very good for boating for sure. Not because it was a fantastic engine though. Let alone the big blocks. I watched a local years ago blow a K&B .82 on the first day at the pond, just breaking it in. Ernie Lafleur thought it would be cool to try some in his John Deere twin (that was short lived).

 

[Terry Keeley]

Terry, just to keep history straight, Mike couldn’t have been third. Andy Brown, Joe Ingrao and John Finch all did it the same weekend in that order around 1998 in Huntsville. I was told I was 4th when I did it in 2001. The .45 was arguably their best engine for sure though.

I was the Records Director at the time and can tell you with 100% certainty Joe Ingrao was 1st, Andy second (both during the same weekend at Huntsville) and Mike was third that same year in Flint.

He did send me a text saying it was a Picco 45 and not a K&B tho...

 

[Jeff Lutz]

I was the Records Director at the time and can tell you with 100% certainty Joe Ingrao was 1st, Andy second (both during the same weekend at Huntsville) and Mike was third that same year in Flint.

He did send me a text saying it was a Picco 45 and not a K&B tho...

Yes, looking back Joe ran and touched 100 on a pass first. Then Andy ran 2 back to back passes over 100 and became the first to set a record over 100 mph. John Finch also did a lot of passes up there I believe in the 98-99 range but made one pass at 100.That was 1998. I believe Mike was 4th to run over 100 as he did it in 2000 and it was a little under 101 mph I believe? I thought it was a Picco also but it wasn’t worth debating. And actually, I was 3rd or 4th to break 105 when I did 106.888 around 2001.

 

[JS_Racing]

I was the Records Director at the time and can tell you with 100% certainty Joe Ingrao was 1st, Andy second (both during the same weekend at Huntsville) and Mike was third that same year in Flint.

He did send me a text saying it was a Picco 45 and not a K&B tho...

This is correct - I was there and video tapped Joe's first run over 100 and then Andy's subsequent 100mph runs. I still the old VCR tape somewhere. Now trying to watch a VCR tape these days another thing

 

[John Beardslee]

This is correct - I was there and video tapped Joe's first run over 100 and then Andy's subsequent 100mph runs. I still the old VCR tape somewhere. Now trying to watch a VCR tape these days another thing

Send them out and have them digitized to a DVD. I did some family 8mm film and will send VHS tapes out when we get back north, well worth the cost and they preserve much better.