May 7, 2023
Some companies suck at doing things, whereas others excel at it. Milwaukee made some of the toughest impacts on the planet, while DeWalt was lagging quite a ways behind. At the same time, Milwaukee couldn’t make anything that could drive a nail, whereas DeWalt happens to be under the same umbrella as Bostich, a known nail driver.
I’ve always had great luck with Makita angle grinders, every welder I’ve ever owned has been a different brand, and I’m proud to say that any specialty tools I have are from the Powerfist brand and have paid for themselves fairly quickly due to their low price point. As far as equipment that runs off of fuel goes, that’s reserved for lawn and tree care stuff that gets used outside. Sure, there’s battery-powered chainsaws that are arguably better for most people than gas-powered units, but I still like the sound, not to mention the smell of mixed race-fuel.
Why race fuel? Why not? You can (almost) never have too much octane. Ever see a gas-powered hand-held drill? How about one that runs on nitro? I have, and if you’ve got around ten minutes, you too can see it in action on TimWelds YouTube channel.
Toyan makes tiny, functional, fuel-burning engines. In this case, I’m talking about the 28cc overhead-cam V8 they came out with not long ago. For my fellow Neanderthals, in English, that’s a whopping 1.7 cubic inches. It features pressurized water cooling, splash oiling, twin carburetors, long tube headers, and an incredible redline of around 12,000 rpm.
It appears you have the option of a kit that runs off of gasoline or nitro, and I can assure you, nitro is the obvious choice. The kits come in a nice wooden crate, and all the pieces are packed in foam like they would be for a firearm or a musical instrument. They also offer them assembled, but who on earth wants to live a boring life such as that? They even offer a supercharger, and I mean, how could you not? The price of admission isn’t cheap, as this is a complete, machined, well-balanced engine. The kit will run you over two grand, and it looks like by the time you add on the supercharger and a few accessories, you’ll be over three.
If I were to retire rich decades from now and were looking for a benchtop project, I’d tackle one. For now, I can build something exponentially bigger, with tires around it, two of which on the back having way more fun than the two on the front. If you search TimWelds on YouTube, you’ll find the video. It’s actually pretty cool. The only sketchy part involves JB Weld, but we’ve all been there before, and JB Weld got us out of that situation successfully, the same way it did for TimWelds.
