Vintage Wards Mini - A Second Rebirth
Hello All -
I am new to the site and can only say I wish I had found this forum sooner. There's a lot of good info here and I appreciate the many contributors who are willing to share their experience and expertise with others.
It's been a long time since I've done "anything mini" but just for fun I thought some here might like to see a few pictures of my nearly finished, mini-hack project! While it was our grandkids who gave rise this project, I think for a while anyway, this is going to be my new "get-around-the-neighborhood" machine.
The original mini-bike, I found abandoned in a garbage pile back in the 70's and first put it back together myself when our kids were small in the 80's. Here's a shot of my young bride on the bike with the oldest of our four girls, who happened to grow up to fly F/A-18 Super Hornets. I think the original bike had a 2-1/2 HP Briggs; long ago blown up and gone. The bike's been stashed in a corner for the last twenty plus years.
What fun we all had tearing up the yard! No helmets... no shoes... no sense! I guess we saw things differently back then in our own youth. These days, a picture like the one above could likely get you arrested or a visit from the DCFS! It's a miracle any of us survived!
To ressurect the little bike again now, in this day and age with a sidecar for the grandkids, I had to put a little more thought into it if any of the new moms were ever going to let their kids get in or on such a machine.
The new engine is a Harbor Freight Predator. It seems to start and run well and so far well worth the super-coupon price of $99. The one-of-a-kind sidecar setup evolved as I went along with whatever I had on hand or could pick up at Lowes. I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out and with the rekindling of some long dormant fab and welding skills.
While I've had a bit of experience with full-size sidecar rigs, after much research and discussion with a few sidecar gurus, I decided to make the sidecar wheel geometry fully adjustable just in case any tweeking was necessary later on. For anyone who's interested in such, the "Lead" is adjustable from 6" to 10" in 1/2" increments with "Toe-in" adjustable anywhere from 0" to 1.5" or so measured conventionally. The DIY upholstery was laid out and cut by me and sewed up expertly by my wife. Primer and paint were done with Rustoleum rattle cans.
We both drove it the other day before the snow hit here in the midwest and it's scary fast! Fortuantely, the Predator carb linkage has an adjustable max throttle stop screw which will make it easy to slow it down to a walk for the little ones.
So far, solo, it seems to track and steer just fine with the outboard wheel set fully aft with toe-in set to about 3/4". On right turns though, like all sidecar rigs with the hack empty, the sidecar wheel can get pretty light and will come up if you're not careful. I'm thinking of adding some LED lighting with a 12v battery under the sidecar seat. A little extra weight "out there" should probably be a good thing.
I took a lot of pictures throughout the build, so please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see any additional details. Please also let me know what you all think? Any comments or suggestions you may have are welcome.
I think the little ones and their Moms are gonna' love it! How can they not?
ZT
Hello All -
I am new to the site and can only say I wish I had found this forum sooner. There's a lot of good info here and I appreciate the many contributors who are willing to share their experience and expertise with others.
It's been a long time since I've done "anything mini" but just for fun I thought some here might like to see a few pictures of my nearly finished, mini-hack project! While it was our grandkids who gave rise this project, I think for a while anyway, this is going to be my new "get-around-the-neighborhood" machine.
The original mini-bike, I found abandoned in a garbage pile back in the 70's and first put it back together myself when our kids were small in the 80's. Here's a shot of my young bride on the bike with the oldest of our four girls, who happened to grow up to fly F/A-18 Super Hornets. I think the original bike had a 2-1/2 HP Briggs; long ago blown up and gone. The bike's been stashed in a corner for the last twenty plus years.
What fun we all had tearing up the yard! No helmets... no shoes... no sense! I guess we saw things differently back then in our own youth. These days, a picture like the one above could likely get you arrested or a visit from the DCFS! It's a miracle any of us survived!
To ressurect the little bike again now, in this day and age with a sidecar for the grandkids, I had to put a little more thought into it if any of the new moms were ever going to let their kids get in or on such a machine.
The new engine is a Harbor Freight Predator. It seems to start and run well and so far well worth the super-coupon price of $99. The one-of-a-kind sidecar setup evolved as I went along with whatever I had on hand or could pick up at Lowes. I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out and with the rekindling of some long dormant fab and welding skills.
While I've had a bit of experience with full-size sidecar rigs, after much research and discussion with a few sidecar gurus, I decided to make the sidecar wheel geometry fully adjustable just in case any tweeking was necessary later on. For anyone who's interested in such, the "Lead" is adjustable from 6" to 10" in 1/2" increments with "Toe-in" adjustable anywhere from 0" to 1.5" or so measured conventionally. The DIY upholstery was laid out and cut by me and sewed up expertly by my wife. Primer and paint were done with Rustoleum rattle cans.
We both drove it the other day before the snow hit here in the midwest and it's scary fast! Fortuantely, the Predator carb linkage has an adjustable max throttle stop screw which will make it easy to slow it down to a walk for the little ones.
So far, solo, it seems to track and steer just fine with the outboard wheel set fully aft with toe-in set to about 3/4". On right turns though, like all sidecar rigs with the hack empty, the sidecar wheel can get pretty light and will come up if you're not careful. I'm thinking of adding some LED lighting with a 12v battery under the sidecar seat. A little extra weight "out there" should probably be a good thing.
I took a lot of pictures throughout the build, so please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see any additional details. Please also let me know what you all think? Any comments or suggestions you may have are welcome.
I think the little ones and their Moms are gonna' love it! How can they not?
ZT
