Hi Wallace , your dead right about the gen head they were indeed fitted to a fair few differant engines ect and Iron horse being one of them from what i read up on the weekend and yes i think it is dynostart and that’s why i knew straight away i had to have it as now i can fit that onto any small engine and have electric start built in and will sure makes starting on charcoal a breeze .
Kyle this little gen head is a motor as well and thats what makes it so perfect for charcoal gassers,
If you are going down the road of buying a AC head for your new engine then the inverter head that Bill sent the link to looks like the type of thing you should get , as the avr type generators will not give you clean enough power for your electronics , i use a cheap chinese inverter generator running on charcoal to power the Powerjack battery charger side of my inverter and all in all they work out pretty good and fairly quiet too , and i am able to recharge the large battery bank while using the ac on the house at the same time .
Hi Thierry, I have made a large inside diameter carb and it may have produced a bit more power but it’s a lot of work and difficult to get the governor to work properly with it. For me it’s easier to work with the stock carb and looks cleaner.
A predator is a bored and stroked Honda GX200.
Its 18cc larger in displacement…
There are 3 or 4 versions of the Loncin 212 engines used by harbour freight.
The 60636 part number from harbour freight is closest to the Honda for parts interchange.
They are cheap and that’s a good thing.
People hate to hear this but that Chinese engine is cheaper and stronger, longer lasting and easier to start than a 5 hp flat head Briggs.
I can’t think of anything the 5 hp flat head did better than turning gasoline in noise and smoke.
That should be a warning that we are not making things here to last.
If you could buy a 6 hp cast iron engine with OHV and higher quality material inside that would be worth buying.
But no one makes a cast iron engine anymore
The perfect engine for our needs would be OHV, turn 1800 rpm displacing 400cc and making 6 hp.
It would have a simple piston oil pump and spin on filter.
CDI ignition and an adjustable carb.
These villiers clones might be good too, never took one apart.
Forgot to add we had good engine companies.
They were called Onan (and Cummins screwed that up).
Kohler was good but they moved production to China with Briggs.
Wisconsin engines were good but the range is limited now.
Hercs were excellent engines and perfect for our needs too.
This is turning into one of my ranting speeches so I will call it quits now…
Yes Jeff that are all clones of the Honda.
In China there is no stigma about cloning things.
The better you are at it the better/cheaper you look in their eyes
The idea behind the clone is make it as good as it needs to be and as cheap as you can.
The 12 Hp is probably a version of the GX390.
Some of the clone versions off the 390 are up to 440cc…
I am confident it could make 1/2 its rated power or more at a reasonable rpm of 2200 or so.
And do it very reliably for a long time with care.
But the cost, my god what has happened to the world?
Yes these Onan part are crazy expensive I have a commercial 4500 That needs a AC voltage regulator at about $300 Found a newer ohv unit on craigslist that needs a circuit board @$500-$600. CCK pistons $130 each rings sold separately. I have 2 of these but at 5.5 :1 cr and flat head to boot how well can they do on wood? Steve U made reference to someone successfully doing it I will have to see if I can find that. Sure would be nice to hear one of them chugging along rather than that screaming thing I am using now.
That’s why mine are setting now and I am collecting all I can find. Thinking I want to run two 120 volt units with a 4cyl car engine. Run 1 for most of my needs and second when I need 240 in the shop, on wood of course. Baby steps, I gather this stuff as I find it for free, trades or next to nothing. Big plans, little money.
I am thinking the ford 2.3 litre used on the Mustang and Pinto might be a reasonable choice.
Its free wheeling if a valve sticks and much cheaper to buy and repair.
But would it be reliable?
It should be good for 20 Hp at 1800 rpm on wood
Wallace I have had them and 2.0 and 2.2 and 2.5 Chevrolets and personally liked the performance, reliability and fuel economy of the Chevrolets much better. the 2.3 I had was in a Ranger, had a timing belt and over head cam, not sure about the older ones. Mine was a 1990
