Would you buy this engine?

[Linksep]

(Please save your Tecumseh bashing for another thread)

Older HS40 engine off an old minibike, had it running, just won't stay running. $15

That's a Horizontal 4HP if you aren't familiar with Tecumseh model numbers. It happens to be the same engine I am dinking around with in my mini bike build thread.

 

[NJOHC]

for 15 bucks I'd go for it. Since they're the same engine you could interchange the parts in the best shape from both to make a decent engine.

 

[KieranM]

For 15 bucks you cant really go wrong

 

[solomon]

i would, just because i know that you can part the whole engine out on ebay for at least $100

 

[Blazkowiez]

Dude its 15 bucks! Look at whats missing though, if its a sidecover or carb considered alternatively, if its a complete engine and just needs tlc, thats golden.

 

[Tony]

never get the two stroke techumseh. I had one and the crank shaft broke. They dont have a lot of torque either

 

[solomon]

who said anything about 2 stroke?

 

[KieranM]

who said anything about 2 stroke?

He is just getting his point across

 

[Russ2251]

For $15, I would buy it for the adjustable carb alone.

 

[Linksep]

I actually got it already. It was pretty sweet, the guy included a board with rubber isolator feet mounted up so the engine is bolted to the feet and the feet are bolted to the board...the whole thing can be clamped to a workbench so you can run the motor on the bench. He also threw in a 2nd carb that he got from his neighbor because he thought it had a carb problem.

Trying to drain the gas to take it to the basement to work on I found out why the thing wouldn't run... There's a fuel filter molded into the stock gas tank and the filter was virtually plugged solid! I switched tanks with my other HS40 engine and it started right up (though it did buck pretty hard a couple times when I pulled the rope...)

I diagnosed the bucking as internal lockup of some type and when I took the side cover off I found the cam gear was missing 1 tooth... swapped cams and side-covers with my other engine and it runs better with no bucking, but I still need to make 1 really good carb out of my 3 so-so carbs.

So I made 1 good engine out of 2 bad engines. Hopefully I'll be able to get that busted bolt out of the 1st engine and find a used cam for it, then I'll have 2 good engines and a spare carb (I know a guy that might have a cam for me... maybe I'll trade him a carb for it).

 

[Russ2251]

the filter was virtually plugged solid!

If tank is metal, acetone can be used to clean it up.

...I found the cam gear was missing 1 tooth...

I wonder why.
In all my experience I haven't (as yet) witnessed that.

 

[Russ2251]

For one tooth to break off is just weird. At least 3 or 4 (?) teeth are engaged at the same time. I would think they would fall like dominoes.
Possibly the neighboring teeth have some fracturing?
I would love to scrutinize it.
Might be a good idea to thoroughly examine crankshaft for problems.

 

[EagleTalons]

Maybe he had the cam out before and dropped it? Causing one tooth to fracture off.

 

[Russ2251]

Linksep, were you able to locate broken tooth in sump?

 

[Linksep]

The tank is plastic with a very fine metal screen permanently molded into the bottom of the tank (300-series stainless steel would be my guess). It would be VERY hard to get a decent pic, but maybe I'll try. I kinda punched a little hole in the screen when I was scraping it clean with a screwdriver. No worries though, if I want to use that tank I'll just punch a much bigger hole in the screen and use a $1.99 inline fuel filter instead of the in-tank filter.

The tooth was not in the sump unless it's stuck itself in the oil drain hole or it magically flowed out with the dirty oil...based on the amount of sludge in there when I took the side cover off I'm guessing it didn't flow out with the oil, and I didn't see or hear it drop onto my oil change pan (this type of oil change pan). I checked the crank gear and the damage is barely noticeable. The cam gear only has 1 tooth at a time surrounded by crank teeth. I put the bad cam in the bad block and buttoned it up (so I wouldn't loose parts) with the piston rings around the pull started as a reminder to not attempt starting that motor.

Maybe some time next week I can open it back up and post up a couple pics so you can see exactly what happened...

 

[solomon]

That is odd how the cam had 1 broken tooth haha. Why not clean and rebuild all 3 carbs, then sell the ones you don't need? Rebuilt HS50 Carbs go for $50+ on ebay. The kit is only $10 on ebay to rebuild it. Easy money