factory

I can probably get some measurements and some pictures of the Octura mount I have, if no one has one for sale. They seems to be two versions of the Octura mount, mine is the standard cast alloy version, but I have also seen a version made from a section of extruded & machined aluminium. Here are a couple of pictures of one (not mine); David

It was the less common 350W version with the larger tank, one sold for a much more reasonable $250 in March, the more common model 300 Tiny Tiger are usually not too expensive. David

I've finally scanned the instruction manual for the Turbair Tot 2S and created a pdf of it. Turbair Tot 2S Instruction Manual.pdf There is more to follow when I've l got it scanned & edited. David

I've noticed that seller with the $500 Military Champ has been buying up & reselling O&R stuff, the Champ was bought two days earlier for $400, which is still $100 more than I've seen them sell for before. They also seem to be separating tanks & gearboxes from some engines and appear to have split up several Chicken Power kits. I've been wondering if O&R's have been featured on one of those shed/garage clearance type TV programmes (where they often make up daft estimated selling prices on stuff you know isn't worth that much) as prices have indeed been getting very high recently. Note that ebay is a bit dishonest with the prices that items with best offer sold for, they stopped showing the actual lower sold price a few years ago, but you can still find out the actual sold price by using the best offer history tool on goofbid, it only works with recently sold items though. I was also surprised that the 350W Tiny Tiger made nearly $600 as it failed to sell the previous time at an auction start price of $300 with $400 buy-it-now!!! David

They certainly attracted plenty of interest, I met a few other collectors that have some O&R's too and I was also asked how to repair the starter mechanism. It is getting hard to find O&R's over here that I haven't got, all the tools & the early engine in my display this year have been bought from the US. David

That would be great, thank you. David

Here is my O&R display at this years 1000 Engine Rally at Astle Park. David

That is a different version of the Aquabug outboard which was sold as the Perry Aquabug over here. I scanned the owners manual for the Perry Aquabug & added a pdf of it to this thread a few months ago; Note if you leave fuel in it the tank with the vent closed & the temperature changes too much it can split. The most common problem you are likely to find with the O&R engine is a perished carb diaphragm, both Webhead & Wallfish on here have new ones and the carb repair thread shows how to replace it. I did see one of the Mini Motor outboards for sale on ePay recently, it was a bit odd though as two sellers were trying to sell the same item at the same time and they both ended early too. The tank was split on that one as well. David

Have you got access to a scanner, or could I borrow the Turbair 21 Leaflet for scanning? I've been scanning stuff at 600dpi (saved as png files from the scanner), editing with IrfanView, adding them to a MS Word document and printing using Foxit Reader to create a pdf, it takes a while but produces a good quality pdf file for adding to the forum. Got this brochure scanned today, it's the earliest information I have for the O&R engines, I believe it dates from around 1960/1961 but the brochure is undated. Warning it may contain the odd marketing fib. Here is a pdf of the Ohlsson & Rice Ultra Compact Engine brochure; Ohlsson & Rice Ultra Compact Engine.pdf David

So that explains what the Turbair 21 is, if the seller had bothered to take a picture of the inside I would have probably bid too! Thanks for sharing it, I have quite a bit of Turbair stuff to scan & add to the forum when I have time. It appears to have an earlier O&R engine so that may date it to before the other Turbair crop sprayers, it also looks a bit like the mystery Italian crop sprayer in the unknown thread but it's not exactly the same. I'm slightly puzzled as to why the pictures I posted of it have shrunk though, they weren't very big to start with. David

That certainly looks like a good candidate for replacing the seal. David

That is the only spare I have (which came with my Aquabug outboards), I'm not sure if it is new though as the packet was already open. David

Here are some more pictures of the progress on restoring this generator. Engine stripped & parts cleaned. The governor vane & exhaust were missing & the original carb (not shown) was damaged, many thanks to Webhead for the replacements. A spares engine provided the missing air filter. Both the main crankshaft bearings on the flywheel side were found to have cracked plastic retaining rings for the bearing rollers, the spares engine provided a couple of replacements. I also found out why the spares engine had excessive play in the con-rod big end, someone had already taken the bearings. The bearings were changed to have steel retaining rings on later engines. Replacement bearings fitted and engine part reassembled. The other bearings were OK, they were cleaned, greased and refitted, new paper gaskets were made. New gaskets were made for the cylinder & exhaust and the exhaust collector ring was also replaced as it was found to be damaged. The perished rubber wires from the magneto coil were sleeved with heat-shrink sleeving, be careful when using a heat-gun to avoid damaging the insulation on these early coils. A new terminal was also fitted for the spark-plug lead. David

I'm certainly doing well to solve/identify some of the mystery parts & tools. There are still a few more to solve though. Thanks to Andrew for adding the pictures as the link will become dead a few months after they are sold. I've edited the pictures and it looks like there is an adaptor plate between the carb & the induction housing flange, I would imagine it has some countersunk screws hidden inside. Both the adaptor plate and air filter plate look like they could be made without too much trouble, if Webhead hasn't got spares of either of them. There also appears to be an extra pipe fitting on the crankcase with the remains of the tubing & retaining spring. David

I've built up a good selection of UNC/UNF taps & dies over the years (for repairing my both collection of O&R engines and vintage HP test equipment), most of them were bought second-hand at reasonable prices from the stalls at steam & vintage shows. It can take quite a bit of searching though if they are mixed up in boxes, as they usually are. I have also found a few suitable screws (for the earlier O&R engines that use slotted screws) as well, usually on the ex military surplus stall. Webhead has helped with supplying the Fillister head Philips screws that are found on most O&R engines. The starter/blower housing screws are the most often to be missing, or damaged by people using the wrong type or size of screwdriver.. David

The rubber seal is a not just a flat piece, it's attached through the diaphragm arm and seems to have a little movement to allow it to seal properly. Not sure how you could make one or work out the correct material to use. Here are a couple of pictures of a diaphragm arm with the rubber seal. David

Finally found an engine with the Tillotson carb, looks like it was intended to be used on the Groomer weed trimmer. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-OHLSSON-RICE-O-R-COMPACT-Gas-Engine-Pull-Start-/182606956279?rmvSB=true Unfortunately the seller has the ebay international communication block activated. David

That's not a silly question at all, there were a few different types of imperial thread commonly used in the UK in the past, but the O&R engines use American UNC & UNF threads which weren't used much over here (apart from some computer parts & connectors, some of which still use them). UNC/UNF is also known as ANC/ANF but sellers often only use the number or fraction and the number of threads per inch e.g. #10 x 32tpi. Below is a chart I use, created from several pages in an old reference book. All the threads apart from the spark-plug are either UNC or UNF, the spark-plug thread is metric. The starter/blower housing & carb mounting screws are both #6 x 32tpi UNC, these screws have a Fillister head. And the power output shaft (tapered version) is tapped #10 x 32tpi UNF, there is also a D shaped output shaft with no hole found on some engines. David Edit Here is a PDF of the thread chart, as the picture above has been automatically reduced in size by the forum software making it harder to read. UNC UNF Threads & Drill Sizes.pdf David

Here is an exploded parts diagram for the O&R carb (slotted needle version). David

That explains it then, I've seen the same freely available article (re-typed) being sold on ebay, full size plans are also available as well. Octura Models are still going, but they don't seem to have a website. The clear one-way valve was originally made from the same black rubber as the diaphragm, the rubber valves perish too and sometimes the valve part falls off. I don't know when they changed to making the valve from clear plastic, as they didn't change the part number for the newer part. Here is a diagram for the carb, I will add it to the carb repair thread too. David

That looks a nice clean engine, it probably hasn't had much or any use, which may explain why it's running with the original diaphragm. They tend to harden & crack after being exposed to fuel, it's rare to find an original that is OK. Those earlier style carbs are quite hard to find, I have a few O&R engines that may have had RC use in the past, often the governor vane is missing and the carb permanently modified for the RC servo. Google has scanned the entire archive of the US Popular Mechanics magazine. The article for building the White Heat V hydroplane by Tom Perzentka (of Octura Models) is in the June 1962 edition, available for free on google books here; https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mtwDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA124#v=onepage&q&f=false It's on pages 124 to 130, pages 186 to 188 and page 190. Seems that your scans slightly are different, is it from the Australian edition? David

You should be able to find gasket paper/card available in small amounts on ebay, I got a pack of various different thickness for a couple of pounds. Then choose the size closest to the original and cut a new one, don't forget the vent hole. I would have measured mine, but don't want to damage it as it won't come out easily. David

Someone probably didn't use a screwdriver of the correct size, seems to happen far too often judging by the amount of chewed up screw-heads I find. I too could only find the manufacturers manual for the standard type HU carb on the web. Here is a picture of the correct diagram, I'm now slightly puzzled why the one in the first post has an extra inlet, has someone swapped the cover? David

Looks like your Chicken Power is fitted with a carb primer button, I also noticed it was made under the Advanced Engine Products Inc name (which is on the box, instructions & the engine blower housing), so it probably will have the rubber seal on the diaphragm arm. David

Here are some more pictures of my model 400 DC generator, which I'm currently working on. Both the commutator & carbon brushes show little wear, there is some corrosion the steel laminations on the armature, hopefully it will clean up OK. There is still some magnetism left in the field coils, some filings/swarf can be seen on the ends of the coil blocks. Not sure how I can easily flatten the card on this one as it won't fit past the fan, it may have to be done in situ. David