COVER STORY BUILDMI's

TORNADO!By John Capotosto

IF YOUR youngster is getting too fastfor his foot-powered scooter, motor-

ize it—and then just try to keep himaway from it. We attached a small, two-cycle engine to a $5 scooter and, in asingle afternoon, our son became themost popular kid in the neighborhood.Popular with other kids, that is. Adultsdon't care that much for the roar.

Just a few tools and a minimum oftime are required to transform thescooter. For simplicity, we used a right-hand friction drive consisting of a three-in. rubber-faced driving wheel rubbingagainst the outer edge of the front tire.This design may raise a few eyebrowsin engineering circles, but who cares?It works fine and eliminates the chains,sprockets, belts and pulleys which couldprove dangerous where small fry areinvolved.

Controls are simple: a throttle to varythe speed and a switch to cut the igni-tion. Brakes and kick stand are stand-ard equipment on most scooters, so noadditional work is involved here. Al-most any small multi-purpose gasolineengine can be used to power the scooter.

The mounting shown is for an Ohls-son & Rice 1-hp Compact engine (Model

100 Mechanix Illustrated

J-III; price $55.86) with clutch. The U- longer line may be purchased at anyshape bracket attaches to the body of hobby shop. The tank should be in ap-the engine and the Z-shape bracket proximate line with the carburetor. Themounts on the scooter steering column. Z-shape bracket holds the engine at anA 5/16 " bolt serves as pivot, allowing angle which would allow an imaginarythe engine assembly to swing vertically, line to pass through the engine shaftwith the tension spring assuring contact and the wheel axis.between driving and driven wheels. In- Leads from the toggle switch mountedstall the brackets and use lock washers on the handlebar are connected directlywith all bolts. to the low-tension switch on the engine

A one-pint gasoline tank is mounted housing. This eliminates the need foron the rear of the steering column and stooping over to shut off the engine. Ifis held in place with two 1/4 " bolts. If your engine has a high-tension cutout,the plastic gas line supplied with the the task won't be quite this easy. Youtank doesn't reach the carburetor a will have to locate a low-tension wire,

March, 1966 101

Z-SHAPE bracket is attached to steeringcolumn of the scooter; use lock washers.

WASHER and double nuts are to preventengine-bracket pivot from working loose.

COMPLETED installation shows positionof drive wheel in respect to driven wheel.

CUTOUT switch is installed on handle bar;throttle control is attached to the column.

cut it and attach the leads to the toggleswitch.

The driving wheel is fashioned froma three-in. pulley ringed with rubbercut from an old V-belt. Cut the beltingso it fits with a neat joint, then secureit in the groove of the pulley with con-tact cement. Save the remainder of thebelt for making replacements—beforethe metal edges of the pully are exposed.

Top speed of MI's two-wheel Tornadois a safe 10 mph but this could be in-

creased for older children by using alarger driving wheel.

Ohlsson & Rice's Model J-III engineis 5-3/4". high, weighs 3-3/4 lbs. withoutthe tank and will run approximately anhour on a pint of gasoline. The addressis Ohlsson & Rice, Inc., 3340 Emery St.,Los Angeles, Calif. 90023.

One word of caution: this is a back-yard, private-property scooter. If yourun it on a public street, you'll requireregistration and a license plate. •

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