Marx Smoke Units

My 1666 was a wimpy smoker as well. I didn't take my smoke unit apart. I carefully pushed  some pink insulation down the stack with a tooth pick. That made a huge difference in the amount of smoke.

If your engine is equipped with a bellows as several of mine are, you might check there as it pushes the smoke out of the stack in rhythm as it is connected to the drive train.

The bellows is moving back and forth, was the first thing I checked...

Did try adding packing with a tooth pick, couldn't add much, I noticed the smoke out put decreased, so I must of blocked something and removed the packing...

Marty

I think it was CTT that had a good Marx 666 smoke unit article. I can find it if you want. I just had my 666 running and it gives my MTH M1a a run for it's money as far as amount of smoke.

The element is in the stack so if you add too much packing around the element, it will block the air flow.

Steve

First of all I want to thank everyone for their input...Here is what I have done...I got into the 1666 and removed the shell and removed the smoke unit housing by un-bending the two tabs that hold it in place.  Marx made these so no kid could work on them, there are about seven places where the two halves are staked together.  Opened up the housing after removing the bellows flapper.  Now you can see how the air is channeled through a small area running up the length of the stack to the top, the cap then channels the air into the chamber and pushes any smoke out of the stack.  I put a little angel hair in the form of a rope around the element, figured this way it could hold a little more fluid.  Fitted the two halves back together and attached 4 4-40 screws with nuts, success, no air leaks.  Put all pieces back together.  On the bench there is a good amount of smoke but on the layout with the train moving, it is somewhat hard to notice the smoke output.  Question:  Does it smoke, yes...Could the unit been designed better, yes.  Don't see anyway to make it better so will just live with it...

Marty

IIRC, the CTT article stated the problem was the two halves get loose. The writer tightened them up w/o doing what you did. might have added a little more insulation to hold more fluid. I had my 666 running yesterday, and it smokes almost as much as my MTH Mountain.

tinkering, tinkering and more tinkering! all great fixes listed here.

thats what its all about great help, fun tinkering and a wonderful

hobby.

run em fast and furious!!

I believe the Marx repair manual by Castilo recommends adding a high temp auto gasket sealer at the joints when reassembling the unit.

Steve

"permatex" available at Advanced Auto.