i distantled the engine to see how it works, curiosity an all that
the piston is absolutely minuscule in fact its more of a plunger than a piston. Anyway a reassembled the engine and hooked up the can from the air horn. It was hard trying to control the air with the button from the can and most of the air was wasted by either blowing the pipes off or leaking out from under the button. I got a couple of turns out of it but it hadn't occurred to me that the can would get cold and i just about freeze burned my fingers. Even if i had fixed the pipes better costant running would have formed ice in the engine anyway. I then opened up the water pistol only to be disappointed that the valve for trigger turned out to be a pinch pipe, not much throttle control there. I used the pressure chamber from the water pistol and filled it with baking powder and vinegar. Eventually i managed to get the two parts mixed and the cap on but the pressure build up was pitiful and just made a mess of the workspace.
So far from my discovery that the best way to run this engine was by the compressed air chamber and hand pump the car came with (fancy that
). Before i hacked the car up the downside was that the wheels span fast for about 3 and half seconds and the engine barely produced enough torque to turn the hands on a wrist watch, albeit for the small car it was more than sufficient and went like **** off a rug!
It may be possible with a soda stream and a larger engine like the one in this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160642183859?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2648one of the downsides the car i bought compared to the one in the link was there no plumbing. The compressed air chamber motor and gear box was one combined unit so would not have been a simple installation in a boat anyway. But 25 quid seems a lot to me especially if it doesnt work.
