by dabraze » Wed May 19, 2010 3:17 pm
True, but judging by the crankcase that's NOT a Veco and it's not a .61. It's obviously a .40, with a rear disc intake. The Veco .61 (and .40 for that matter) may have been made without R/C carburetors but they would have been front rotor engines.
I DID say the last non-scheurle PYLON engine. It was supplanted by the 6.5 FR, which I believe might have been designated the SR II.
It would be helpful to see the other side but if it doesn't say Torpedo, which I assume it doesn't, since you referred to that, it might be an early pylon engine with a sandcast crankcase. It has the look of a K&B crankcase, but the sides are flat rather than being molded around the screw holes
By the same token, that could explain the non-standard looking venturi and needle. The needle, at least, looks a bit like a Super Tigre. It wasn't unusual to swap parts out during that time period. They could also be K&B, before they standardized them. The venturi and spraybar assembly look almost identical to the ones on my K&B .15 scheurle pylon engines.
Rather than a one-off prototype, I would guess that it's an early run, i.e. there were multiple engines made to see how it fared in competition. I believe the rules in those days required at least 500 engines be made for one to be legal in competition. I don't know that that was true for all classes as I never flew pylon, but I followed it closely.
The casting look a little too nice for me to think it is a knock-off.