Received this Orwick 64 in the mail yesterday, and after checking it out I mounted it on my test stand for a run or two. This is my first Orwick and happens to be a very good one, well broken in but all the bearings are tight and it has great compression. It is missing a little paint around the engine bolts, but otherwise looks very good. I was surprised to see that the intake tube is only .270" as my Anderson Spitfires are much larger than that. I always have to block off part of the intake on the Spitfires to work well in C/L planes. I think the Orwick will be just fine as is. Somewhere I read that there were both 7&9 fin models. This one happens to be a 7 fin job. Does anybody know what the difference is? Was it a change in year models? Now I have to find something to put it in to fly.

Hi Don; This one is S/N 4483. On the test stand it starts and runs really well. But they always do on the test stand.  I ran it on both gasoline with castor, and 5% nitro fuel 28% castor, and it ran almost the same on both.  I don't think it has the original spraybar needle in it and it looks like it might be leaking a little at the holes where it goes through. What did they use to seal the spray bar going through a round ventura? The needle works just fine, but I haven't seen one like this on an Orwick before. I have used rubber gaskets made out of bicycle innertubes to seal them, and maybe I will try that on this one. I have had the same problem on Forsters and Ohlsson's with no flats on the intake tube.

Jim
The original Orwick spraybar was pressed in....   No leak....   
Jim

Jim-
I went digging into the net and found the issues of the MECA journal that has all the Orwick info in them. 9 articles in all. Have ordered these from MECA and will let you know when I get them. Should answer all the questions! Even the name of my contact in Midland.
Don

Thanks for all the info and replys on the Orwicks. Jim; I was pretty sure the needle/spray bar were not original and have since replaced them with a Super Tigre that I did a little rework on. That is working great and the engine starts and needles really well. Every time I get a new sparker I am like a kid with a new toy. Just love to run and fly them in various planes. I have a couple in old ff planes with radios, and four in C/L planes. Just to much fun.

Floyd; I saw one of the K&M Orwicks go on E-Bay awhile back. I think it was new and still in the wooden box. Brought a really high price, and was a beautiful engine. Also some of the earlier "73"s sold, and one went for over $750.00. I just would not be able to fly an engine that I paid that much for. There were also some "23"s and "29"s that went for around $300.00.

Hi Jim
Your needle valve assembly looks like an Atwood Super Champ assembly it's definitely not a genuine Orwick unit. I have the copy of the article from the Model Engine encyclopedia, Henry sub contracted the manufacture to Cunningham, in a nutshell, Henry wasn't happy with the modifications Cunningham made and there was a bust up. Cunningham then set up and produced his own similar version that had the beam mounts, while Henry took back manufacture. This was when the fin count changed.
I've copied the table and hope you will be able to read the details of the production changes and relevant minor changes to the head, needle valve assemblies, fin count and piston design.
Cheers John

I flew the Orwick in my Taurus today and it flew it very well. I took Floyd Carters advice and drilled out the motor bolt holes to accept 6-32 bolts and used the optional motor mounts with aircraft lock nuts. For those that don't know, the Taurus is a Brit design with a 68" span, 850sq." wing, at about 65oz.. It does have a fairly beefy front end but I did not have any problem with the mounts coming loose. I put 7 or 8 flights on it in pretty heavy wind and was very happy with the way the motor runs. I was running and old Top Flight 12-6 paddle blade prop and 5% glow fuel. With the timer set at just a little before TDC, and it ran in a very fast 4 stroke just breaking into a 2 in places. All in all I am very happy with it and will probably build something for it now. The old Taurus is about 12 years old now but is still a good test bed for engines. I have the motor mounts set up to take steel pads which are mounted to the mounts and drilled and tapped for the engine that I am running. So far I have had a Fox 59, and Anderson Spitfire, an Atwood 63, a Super Cyclone, and now the Orwick. The Anderson and the Orwick are the best.

Don.  I wonder if your documentation shows pictures of H. Orwick's  "shop" ?  I remember almost every detail of his garage-operation in L.A.  I only visited twice, around 1951 or so, but somehow remember it like yesterday.

Floyd in OR