The M&M engines

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The M&M engines

Postby Frank Klenk » Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:06 pm

Here are some pics of Bruce's M&M 6 banger, along with the restored plane his father built. Chime in with details Bruce...

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Frank Klenk
 
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Postby chiefss » Fri Mar 08, 2013 5:32 pm

Hooray, I found it Frank. Dad built this plane in 1938 and planned on using a Forster 99 on it. After he was done it was obvious the 99 was too small. Dad who was 16 at the time worked for Frank Merz of M&M wheel company and was friends with Clayton Merry, the other M in the name. Clayton made M&M engines. He made this 6 cylinder engine for Dad's airplane. My grandfather, who was a Professor at the U of Washington, made the radio. The engine used 6 of the M&M modified piston valve 292's that were geared to a common crankshaft. The first attempt tried using a Master rod but it was a two cycle and there was no crankcase pressure to force the fuel into the cylinders, hence this model. It was one of a kind contrary to what you might read in other forums.

WWII was in the offing and the government shut down private use of radio and the plane was never flown. Knowing what we know today it wouldn't have worked anyway. The engine did run well and still does.

After the war Clayton Merry got into other business as did Frank Merz and M&M was no more. There were still many M&M engines around. The plane hung in our garage when I was growing up and the engine was on the wall in Dad's shop. We moved to California in 1963 and dad sold the engine for 25 dollars to a local hobby shop. I could have killed him. I was 16 at the time. He gave the airplane away.

In 1984 I was stationed in Bremerton, Washington and found the airplane. The owner gave it back. We also knew where the engine was. Ted Enticknap had purchased it many years before. He had come to our house in California looking for info on the engine. It was missing the intake manifold and carburettors which dad gave him. He also sold Ted a Syncro Ace and a Brownie.

I 2003 I was recovering from Cancer and we went to visit Ted. Told him dad got the airplane back and was refurbishing it. Ted Gave dad the engine. It took a few years but dad finally got it all back together. It is now in a museum in California.
chiefss
 
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^ cylinder M&M

Postby chiefss » Thu May 02, 2013 4:42 pm

Funny but no one ever wrote back on the forum Frank. Oh Well. Such is life.

Bruce
chiefss
 
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Re: The M&M engines

Postby chiefss » Fri Feb 14, 2014 11:37 pm

Still no comments. I guess collectors don't visit here anymore.
chiefss
 
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Re: The M&M engines

Postby Frank Klenk » Sun Mar 30, 2014 9:13 am

HI Bruce, 1275 views so guys are looking at this thread, they're just quiet.
Frank Klenk
 
Posts: 427
Joined: Sun Jan 05, 2003 7:03 pm
Location: Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada

Re: The M&M engines

Postby propwobble » Sun Jun 08, 2014 11:42 am

I'll bite. Rarest of the rare and great that you could post the pictures. I didn't know you knew Ted. He was quite guy. I remember he invited me to come see some of his engines and asked what I would like to see. Synchro Ace was on my list, probably the very one your dad sold him; it was a nice complete engine. Anyway when I arrived I found Studebakers scattered about and Ted in the garage fitting babit bearings on an old tractor with a bearing scraper. Ted was a hands on guy. He had just finished digging unwanted vegetation out of his big pond. In addition to being a hands on guy doing nice engine restorations he was a real historian with trememdous knowledge on everything model engine related. You should do a history of development of the M&M's.
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