COVER STORY

BUILD
MI's
TORNADO!
By John Capotosto

I F YOUR youngster is getting too fast

for his foot-powered scooter, motor-
ize it—and then just try to keep him
away from it. We attached a small, two-
cycle engine to a $5 scooter and, in a
single afternoon, our son became the
most popular kid in the neighborhood.
Popular with other kids, that is. Adults
don't care that much for the roar.
Just a few tools and a minimum of
time are required to transform the
scooter. For simplicity, we used a right-
hand friction drive consisting of a three-
in. rubber-faced driving wheel rubbing
against the outer edge of the front tire.
This design may raise a few eyebrows
in engineering circles, but who cares?
It works fine and eliminates the chains,
sprockets, belts and pulleys which could
prove dangerous where small fry are
involved.
Controls are simple: a throttle to vary
the speed and a switch to cut the igni-
tion. Brakes and kick stand are stand-
ard equipment on most scooters, so no
additional work is involved here. Al-
most any small multi-purpose gasoline
engine 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-
shape bracket attaches to the body of
the engine and the Z-shape bracket
mounts on the scooter steering column.
A 5/16 " bolt serves as pivot, allowing
the engine assembly to swing vertically,
with the tension spring assuring contact
between driving and driven wheels. In-
stall the brackets and use lock washers
with all bolts.
A one-pint gasoline tank is mounted
on the rear of the steering column and
is held in place with two 1/4 " bolts. If
the plastic gas line supplied with the
tank doesn't reach the carburetor a
March, 1966
longer line may be purchased at any
hobby shop. The tank should be in ap-
proximate line with the carburetor. The
Z-shape bracket holds the engine at an
angle which would allow an imaginary
line to pass through the engine shaft
and the wheel axis.
Leads from the toggle switch mounted
on the handlebar are connected directly
to the low-tension switch on the engine
housing. This eliminates the need for
stooping over to shut off the engine. If
your engine has a high-tension cutout,
the task won't be quite this easy. You
will have to locate a low-tension wire,
101
Z-SHAPE bracket is attached to steering
column of the scooter; use lock washers.
COMPLETED installation shows position
of drive wheel in respect to driven wheel.
cut it and attach the leads to the toggle
switch.
The driving wheel is fashioned from
a three-in. pulley ringed with rubber
cut from an old V-belt. Cut the belting
so it fits with a neat joint, then secure
it in the groove of the pulley with con-
tact cement. Save the remainder of the
belt for making replacements—before
the metal edges of the pully are exposed.
Top speed of MI's two-wheel Tornado
is a safe 10 mph but this could be in-
102
WASHER and double nuts are to prevent
engine-bracket pivot from working loose.
CUTOUT switch is installed on handle bar;
throttle control is attached to the column.
creased for older children by using a
larger driving wheel.
Ohlsson & Rice's Model J-III engine
is 5-3/4". high, weighs 3-3/4 lbs. without
the tank and will run approximately an
hour on a pint of gasoline. The address
is Ohlsson & Rice, Inc., 3340 Emery St.,
Los Angeles, Calif. 90023.
One word of caution: this is a back-
yard, private-property scooter. If you
run it on a public street, you'll require
registration and a license plate. •
Mechanix Illustrated