factory

I don't know what sort of Mylar was used, but they are usually re-usable, I found a good used one yesterday, also Wallfish had some new ones made as I mentioned before. Here are two pictures of the earlier rubber type check valve, I think it's obvious why I now consider this type a "replace on sight" part, sometimes the valve flap is missing or detached. I've been cutting my own gaskets, but do have some originals, I also bought new O-ring seals for the cylinder in the nearest available metric size, took me two attempts to buy O-rings of the right thickness. See this thread for more on that; I would be surprised if Webhead doesn't have new old stock exhaust gaskets too. David

Yes the check valve is the transparent blue plastic sheet gasket shown on top of the diaphragm in the picture (they were fitted to my Tiny Tiger 400), the originals are usually clear (early ones are made from the same black rubber as the diaphragm), some have probably fallen out un-noticed when previous owners have tried to get them working. Sometimes they seem to be stuck to the thicker gasket (both items are part #6 on the diagram I posted. David

How hard to find are the diaphragm arm & spring to obtain? I seem to recall from a thread last year that Webhead had no stock of the spring. Most of my damaged/spares carbs are missing these or have the wrong type of arm, I expect to find more missing carb parts when restoring other engine & tools in my collection in the future. I'm going to order some new check ball bearings on ebay as I've found I don't have any of the correct size for O&R carbs in my spares. I will have to make a roller, it should be possible to make the later style of disc (the smaller one that was stuck to the diaphragm). Please can you confirm if the other parts I mentioned in the last post are missing from your carb. David

Have a look at the Newbury show thread, the Dyna-Mite generator can be seen in some of the pictures from Paul's O&R display there. David

A have a few damaged carbs, I will have a look tomorrow to see if they still have the parts needed inside, any of the small parts inside can occasionally be missing if someone has been in there before. Looks like the check ball for the valve will be the larger of the two types used, most are 3/32" diameter except for early ones which are 1/16". An O&R service bulletin recommended fitting a new one during repair, as they had problems with them sticking even after cleaning. Stainless & chrome steel balls for bearings are still available in imperial sizes. I can't see the small roller that sits under the end of the diaphragm arm spring, the size is 0.062" diameter, I did make one for my first engine from a piece of rod salvaged from a broken cassette player. Also I can't see the clear plastic check valve gasket, early carbs had one made from the same black rubber material as the diaphragm. See the picture below showing a laser cut replica, thanks to Wallfish for providing me with some of these. You may want to change the exhaust gaskets, as they tend to leak when reused, not something you want when you've cleaned everything up, I found out the hard way with my first restorations. David

Just a go a making some tank lid seals using a couple of offcuts of gasket paper. Nearest hole punch I have in my kit is 26mm and I used 1/16th punch for the vent hole, took a little searching to find a lid without a seal to test fit it with. Anyone know the best thickness of gasket paper to use? I have gasket paper in the following sizes, 0.006" (0.15mm), 0.01" (0.25mm), 0.016" (0.4mm), 0.031" (0.8mm) and 0.063" (1.6mm) I don't really want to damage any originals to find out. David

I suspect if you use ordinary card to make a seal for the tank lid, it will fall apart when it gets wet with fuel and end up in the bottom of the tank. David

I've looked through my spares and only have the needle & spring, sounds like Webhead has all the parts as well as the correct screws & new carb diaphragms. Sounds like the fuel & internal filter are quite clogged from old oil/fuel mix, I suspect the carb will be just as bad. It's usually a good idea to use fresh fuel mix and drain the fuel mix when these engines are not being used, as well as for long term storage. This didn't always happen, leading to clogged filters & gummed up carbs. I have even had several engines shipped with decades old fuel mix still inside the tank, not a good idea either as shipping companies usually prohibit shipping of any item containing fuel. It would be interesting to see a link to the "lacquar thinner" product Webhead mentioned, to see if we can find an equivalent product in the UK. With the last tank I cleaned I figured out another way to clean the filter, using the fuel/oil measuring kit I have. I originally had a 10ml plastic syringe for measuring small amounts of oil & a 400ml jar with 100ml measurements on the side. After the rubber part of the syringe eventually perished & got stuck with oil/fuel, I searched and found a set of glass syringes (2ml, 10ml & 50ml) intended for medical/laboratory use that wouldn't get damaged with fuel or oil, I also found out that the fuel line could be attached to them. Using the largest one (50ml) & a short piece of fuel line I filled it, attached it to the tank pipe and used it to gently push fuel in to clear the internal filter without damage. Webhead's suggestion using a longer piece of fuel line sounds good too. Webhead is right about the filter screen being easy to damage, it happened with the first one I cleaned many years ago. I ended up adding a very small in-line filter with that one. I believe people have opened the tanks (usually when they are leaky) but then you have to figure out how to open it without damage and then seal it back up again. Not something I've tried yet. Small sheets of gasket paper/card are really available on ebay & other places, see the last post in the attached thread for more info; David

I thought the spring & washer would have been long gone, I will have a look at the weekend to see what I've got, I definitely have a spare needle. The housing sounds OK, they usually only get damaged from over-tightening, causing it to snap at the thinnest section. Yes petrol is good for cleaning the fuel tank, that is exactly what I use. I usually leave some fresh petrol in for a few days, if there is a lot of dirt in the bottom of the tank I also put some nuts in the tank with the fuel and shake it to dislodge the dirt. Pour out the contents and repeat if necessary. You can also check the pipes are not blocked by part filling the tank and tilting it vertically (with something underneath to catch the fuel). David

Is the needle housing OK and have you still got the spring, washer & O-ring seal? (see diagram below). The carb needle from your engine looks to have been modified/extended, the brass nut on the end of the copper section almost looks the same size as the housing the needle screws into. Both the brass needle & housing are quite thin in section and are very easy to break if overtightened. If you still have no spark after checking the contacts, then check the resistance of the coil secondary & post the resistance measurement. The screws for the starter housing are #6-32 UNC Fillister head, the standard length is 3/4" with a longer 7/8" one for the capacitor. The earliest engines had slotted screws and the rest used Phillips screws, one of the military surplus traders on ebay has some slotted screws (see links below), I've not found any Phillips ones available in the UK yet, I have asked Webhead for some more of these as I've run out of them, they are quite often missing. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-32-UNC-Screw-Slotted-Cheese-Head-Fully-Threaded-Length-3-4-F6-/152632238870?var=&hash=item2389972316:g:M7oAAOSwU9xUPkUT http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-x-6-32-UNC-Bolts-Slotted-Cheese-Head-Stainless-Steel-Length-7-8-W3-/162598124690?hash=item25db9a7c92:g:LrgAAOSwH6lXRDI3 There would have been a label on the steel band on the generator giving details of the output voltages, 110Vac at 300W + 12Vdc for charging being the most common version. I do have a UK version (branded as the Tiger Tor) with a 220/240Vac output, unfortunately it is faulty (low output). The inside of the fuel tank may also need cleaning, dirt can accumulate inside as well as also clogging the internal filter. David

Replacement carb diaphragms are available from either Wallfish or Webhead on here. I may be able to help with a replacement carb needle. I've just received an engine with a screw fitted instead of the needle assembly myself. It's good that the air filter foam came out in one piece, if it doesn't crumble to bits it probably isn't the original, I always replace it anyway as foam usually deteriorates with age. Your engine uses a 10mm short reach spark-plug, the original would have been a Champion UY6, these are still available. They usually need the contact breaker points cleaning, I don't think I've had many problems with the coils (except with really early engines), the condenser can be replaced with a modern one if it is faulty and Webhead or Wallfish have got any spares. I keep looking for a modern condenser/capacitor that would fit inside the original can, but haven't found anything suitable yet. The screws/bolts used on these engines are all UNC/UNF sizes, look after the originals as ones with the correct narrow head (fillister) are not usually found in the UK. I have found some ex-military ones but they are usually too short. Interesting to hear your Tiny Tiger was originally from the Philippines, I can see the original distributors label in one of the pictures, is the generator a 110V or 240V version? David

A bit more progress on the Tiny Tiger 400, I had to source or make the fixings for attaching the engine to the new base. Here is a picture of the original fixings on the other Tiny Tiger I restored. The screws are #10-32 and I found some with smaller heads locally. The acorn Pal-nuts are still made, but I couldn't find a supplier for the correct size, so I ended up ordering some modern ones, I will change them if I ever find a source of the correct ones. The Tufnol/Paxalin tubes had to made using the one pictured above as a template. These were made from some Tufnol/Paxalin rod a couple at a time, using the nearest sized metric drill for the hole, then turned down to final size and finally parted off. Cleaned up with edges with a file & sandpaper and gave them a coat of varnish. Two of the extra ones will find their way onto my Tiny Tor generator. David

Did he not buy it then? I have noticed he hasn't been on here since the 8th of September.

Very nice display Paul.

That looks very nice. I'm guessing these sold quite well over here as they appear for sale more often than any other O&R tool in the UK. Most Little Wonders I've seen over here have had a hard life, not been looked after and can be pretty beat-up, occasionally one turns up that looks like it was left in the hedge to rot, also the plastic vent for the tank is often broken or missing too (it's probably not too hard to make something to replace it though). However there was a nice clean one on eBay Germany earlier this year. David

I don't know if your still looking or bought the kit offered by Webhead, but there is a more reasonably priced kit on eBay at the moment; http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ohlsson-Rice-Bicycle-Engine-/172904003458?rmvSB=true David

If you post some pictures of your engine & details like the serial number/type stamped either side of the crankcase, we can probably work out what the power should be (it will be most likely 3/4HP or 0.85HP as it has the 10mm UY6 spark-plug). Also don't forget to clean out the old filter foam from the air filter if you haven't already. David

Webhead & Wallfish on here have new carb diaphragms for these engines. David

The engine you have is a Type 133 engine made for the military, many of these keep turning up for sale, usually still in the original box never used, unfortunately I haven't found any reliable source of information for what the military used them for, that include the sites that mention Vietnam and the wrong info given on some sites mentioning WW2 (these engines didn't exist then). The Type 133 engine has a tapered power output shaft, which is the wrong type for the bike kit gearbox which uses a clutch that fits the "D" shaped power output shaft. You are most likely to find these kits on eBay if you keep looking on there, in fact there are three available at the moment, some of which have been on eBay for a long time. Orline kit, missing tank, throttle cable & proper exhaust (it may be hard to find these parts), has best offer available; http://www.ebay.com/itm/112536567748 Orline kit, missing tank and does not spark, a bit expensive but has best offer available; http://www.ebay.com/itm/222581900155 Chicken Power branded kit with a bike you may not want, you could ask if they will sell the kit without the bike, also has best offer; http://www.ebay.com/itm/322656615139 David

It's little more than clever marketing, the kit was originally sold by Orline using the less memorable name of "Bike Motor Kit" in the mid sixties, picture of the box side shown below (not mine). A very similar looking kit was also available near the start of the production of the O&R engine in 1961. Here is an advert from 1974 for the "Chicken Power" branded auxiliary engine kit, where they explain that it's gives the estimated power of about 650 chickens for your bike. And here is the box side of the later "Chicken Power" branded auxiliary engine kit (also not mine). And lastly here is an original TV commercial for the "Chicken Power" kit from the mid seventies on youtube; David

It could be the crank seals leaking, as far as I know we haven't found a source for the original style ones, but they can be replaced with O-rings of the appropriate size (there are two different sizes of the crankshafts & bearings depending on the age of the engine). The first two engines I worked on ran OK with leaky exhaust collector gaskets (I had no replacements at the time), but I now replace them as they usually leak after removing the cylinder. I think I have at least one earlier engine that refuses to run properly despite being completely stripped and rebuilt. David

As the base was missing I needed to make a new one, I had already found out the base was the same as the standard Tiny Tiger so I borrowed one from another in my collection to make a copy from. The original was aluminium, but I found a nice off-cut of stainless steel sheet almost the right width for the base, on one of the stalls at a vintage rally a few weeks ago. After cutting to size and a lot of filing the new base was polished on one side & some temporary feet fitted (I think I may have found a UK source for some feet that look similar to the original ones, but need to confirm the size with the supplier). David

The engine rebuild has mostly been completed. New diaphragm, gasket & check valve fitted to the carb. Starter repaired with new rope and missing wooden pull taken from the spares engine. David

Hi Terry The parts you are after are quite hard to find. I guess something has reacted badly with the plastic of the coil to make it sticky, it may be possible to find to find something to coat it with or stabilise it, if the coil still works OK of coarse. I have seen this problem with earlier coils but I don't think I have one with that problem so can't experiment to find a solution. Could you take some pictures of the damaged air filter, it may be possible the bend it back to make it usable. I have done this before as they are one of the most commonly missing parts and it can be very hard to find replacements. I recommend you read the carb repair thread if you haven't done already. Two stroke oils have improved considerably over the years since these engines were made, the recommended mix is 32 to 1, use a good quality AIR cooled two stroke oil. I have been using Stihl HP oil for mine. Not sure it's possible to flush out these engines as dirt tends to get trapped in the crankcase section. David

It will be similar to the one in this thread; David