CNew

Great minds think alike. I’ve already been testing various caps off older cans. The one that fits best so far is off a can of Kroil but it has a spout in the top. This gives me some hope that a fairly standard 1” cap might work, especially off an older oil can similar to the picture you posted.

David, John, Thank you both for all the great advice and suggestions. It’ll be fun to go through this tool. I noticed another odd thing today which I’m not sure if original to he unit. It appears someone drilled and tapped a hole on the side of th gear box housing. There isn’t a screw head on the outside so I’m curious to see what this is for once I take he base plate off th gear box. There is something partially threaded in the hole but no idea what they did this for. Thank you for the links to the manual as well, that’ll be really helpful! Maybe if I can ever get some time I can have a buddy CAD up the vent bottle geometry and then it 3D printed with FD! T I chnology in ABS, ASA or PPSU material. Clint Sorry, some bad typos in the last message. That should have been “3D printed with FDM technology”...

One of the nipples looks like it’s barely hanging on. I’m guessing it will probably break off completely if I try to replace the fuel lines, which are hard as rocks. I think it was in good condition prior to shipping. In the photos when I bought it everything looked in the correct position and when it arrived the bottle and bracket had been jarred loose. The unit also got a pretty good dent on the edge of the tank during shipping. O’well...

Ahhh, makes sense - thanks!

I received my Little Wonder Trimmer this afternoon. It needs a fair amount of clean up work and probably a few parts replaced that are missing. I have a couple general questions: is the metal handle supposed to flex when you pick it up? There looks to be a rubber bushing on each end to allow it to wiggle but I would have expected it to be a rigid handle. Also, what is the little red plastic bottle that sits between the gas tank vent tubes? This one is cracked, will it still serve its purpose?

David, Wow, this is really helpful. I have the standard one that you show in your first picture. I hadn’t seen the extended filler neck, that’s interesting. Clint

Thanks John, There are definitely 3 nipples on the tank. After playing with it a bit I’m pretty sure I know which ones are vents and which one is the fuel inlet. The fuel inlet was pretty clogged up but I think I got it sort of cleared up now. I’m anxious to use this tank but I’m still on the hunt for a gas gap. Clint

Thanks John, that sounds like a great tip for the fuel line - I’ll definitely try it! Also good to know what to expect as I open the gear box... it makes sense oil would be used in the larger auger boxes.

I’m interested in TAS Motor P-5 or P-7 Engines or tools like drills and chainsaws that used these engines. Looking for engines, parts, tools or any technical manuals or advertisements.

H Killackey, What did you do to get your TAS P-5 so clean and shiny? Did you polish it or have it soda blasted? It looks incredible! Clint

I agree, very strange attempt at a repair. The really strange thing is there seems to be no reason to come up with this approach at all. I’m guessing they lost the little hook screw that holds the air cleaner housing and then decided to weld and thread instead of just making a new hook. The holes are huge and the tiny piece of foam that I pulled out wasn’t doing anything either. I’m definitely on the lookout for donor engines just for that purpose. I’d really like to get this auger up and running again. In order to pull the engine off it looks like I have to open up the gear box to get to the mounting screws. Having never opened one of these I’m wondering if it has oil or grease inside. Seems I’ve read somewhere that some gear boxes used Lubriplate as the grease but that may have been a chainsaw.

Finally got the coil wiring fixed, the kill switch installed and the recoil back together on the TAS P-7. Attempted to start it and it sputtered quite nicely and looks like it wants to run. It will need some carb adjustment and maybe a new diaphragm but overall it cleaned up nicely and should be a fun addition.

Wallfish, Thank you for all the suggestions. I’m definitely going to give these a try. The bushing idea is great, that should help take out a bit of the slop. I haven’t tried the vinegar approach for gas tank rust but certainly will give it a go. It’ll be fun trying to attach new fuel line to the pick-up filter and nipple inside. It’s just low enough in the tank to make it really trick to reach. Here are a couple more photos... I think the air cleaner is junk. The welding melted holes in it. The threading job on the inside of the carb throat is also pretty bad. I suspect with a fresh air cleaner and some minor clean up to smooth down the threads it might still work but certainly swapping out the whole carb would be nice.

David, Excellent, yes- those both look to be the same as mine. Glad it appears to be original (except the hack job on the air filter). How you come up with all these photos and info is amazing! I haven’t had a chance to tear into it yet but I did do a couple spot cleaning sections on it just to keep inspired as to what it could look like. It should clean up nicely and I was actually surprised at how nice the red grips popped! Clint

David, Thank you for all the great advice. After looking at it a bit more I’m actually getting more excited at doing the more in-depth overhaul/restoration on this one. It’ll be fun working through the entire unit and I’m sure I’ll learn a great deal along the way. I’ll definitely keep my eyes open for other augers, I pretty much look on a daily basis and will let you know if I spot one. Clint

I would have to agree. I worked on my first recoil job over the holidays and it was a bit tedious. I didn’t even have to change the spring. I think I have a little technique now so hopefully the next one will be a little easier. Its really too too bad a previous owner butchered the whole recoil system on this auger. Strange what some people do to try to fix things. I’ll add some pics once I tear into it more. Clint

Oh yes, definitely fixable. I just wasnt expecting this condition based on what I was able to see during the deal. It’s defintely a cool piece! Clint

I ended up learning a hard lesson on buying an item sight unseen and out of state. In my excitement to find another O&R auger I ended up working out a deal with a seller out of state. They only had a couple very bad photos for me to gauge condition and make my decision but I went ahead with the gamble. I just received it and unfortunately it’s a disappointment. I haven’t been able to spend any time with it yet to completely go through it but after 10 minutes with it I have uncovered a number of issues already: 1. No spark, I had expected this and wasn’t too worried about it. 2. Some previous owner butchered the recoil mechanism and rigged up some strange spacer system comprised of a bolt and nut through the little oil hole. The distance between the inside of the recoil housing was also affected so they added washers as spacers between the blower cowel. They also ground down the threaded shaft and flywheel nut as part of this butcher job. So that’s pretty disappointing. I haven’t spent enough time yet to see if there is any way improve this, not sure it can be truly fixed ithout completely replacing the recoil and crank shaft. 3. I don’t think the actual aguer is a match to the gear box. It has a ton of slop at the unition and the paint is slightly different color so I’m thinking the auger was replaced at some point along the way. 4. The air cleaner assembly was also cut and welded on poorly made threaded shaft. The welding created other big holes and distortions so the air cleaner assembly is pretty much trash. They also did a terrible job actually trying to thread the throat of the carburetor to accommodate the newly welded threaded end on the air cleaner assembly. 5. The gas tank needs a thorough cleaning and new guts. 6. Condition of the coil is unknown and it is a bit rusted. More to come as I dig into this project. I’m not sure yet just how far I will actually go with it in terms of fixing it up. It would be nice to at least see if I can get it to run but given all the other issues I might end up just hanging this one on the wall as a reminder to be extra careful in buying sight unseen. Probably paid a bit too much to learn this lesson...

very nice!

Webhead, Thank you, that’s good insight, at least I know they’re not way off on their asking price. The Circular saw would be really awesome! I can’t believe you have a NOS chainsaw and circular saw, very nice! Clint

David, That’s great, I actually have something similar in progress. I ordered some materials over the holidays and they just arrived. The pictures you provided do give me some additional good ideas on how to construct it. Thanks, this is really helpful! Clint

I’m slowly making some progress going through the TAS P7 engine. I spent some time on the gas tank today and need to get some new sealing washers, add a new fuel filter and replace all the fuel lines. I have a new spark plug on order and I have the spark plug wire prepped for repair. It will be my first attempt using a new type of shrink wrap tape since I can’t slide the normal shrink tubing over the large end with the plug connector. I also had some success finding a used, but in great condition, kill switch from a vintage Tanaka outboard motor that matches the broken one on the P7 so I’ll have to get that all wired up.

It’s incredible how much knowledge and information you have! I might make the drive out to check out the saw in person and give it a good looking over. I don’t know how quickly it might sell, I’m guessing a chainsaw collector will snatch it up. Maybe after I can see it up close then I can make a more informed decision. The pictures they have posted shows in pretty well.

Thanks David, greatly appreciate you checking my work! Now I just need to mount this engine securely and get some fuel to it.