Anyone have any experience of 'Chonda' engines?
I have a rotavator - a merrytiller thing that is as old as the hills for the garden. It orriginally had a Briggs and Stratton engine - unkown. When I bought it, it had a honda GX160 5.5hp on it. The guy that sold me this told me he had rebuilt the head on it as the valve stem oil seals went - after 18 months they went again and I decided to confine it to a corner - as it was the same problem again, I thought the issue could be deeper (or a bad rebuild).
I came across a 168F engine for a good price and ordered one yesterday - it came today.
From what I hear, they are a chinese rip off of the Honda unit - hence being called a Chonda.
Anyone got any experience with them? Before I start it up, I will make sure everything is nice and tight. The manual that came with it had some pictures that left me in stitches - like the engine crying if it has no oil in it or it being sick if the valve clearence is off.
I came across a 168F engine for a good price and ordered one yesterday - it came today.
From what I hear, they are a chinese rip off of the Honda unit - hence being called a Chonda.
Anyone got any experience with them? Before I start it up, I will make sure everything is nice and tight. The manual that came with it had some pictures that left me in stitches - like the engine crying if it has no oil in it or it being sick if the valve clearence is off.
Comments
On the frame of my rotivator, there are several holes in different locations - evidence of it having had several different engines in the past. The bolts I used fit right into the holes - as a result of the engine being a copy of the Honda.
I filled the sump with oil, took out the spark plug and put a few drops of oil in the bore and turned the engine over with the pull cord a number of times - the engine had some residual oil in from when it was built but you cannot be too careful. Refited the spark plug.
I then put a drop of petrol inside the air filter, and a small amount in the fuel tank and set the carb and the fuel line. Took about 5 pulls and it fired into life. Let it run for a minute, turned it off and restarted/ I had set it to run on low revs and just left it for ten minutes or so and slowley built the revs.
It was smokey as shit to start off with - probably due to me putting oil in the bore and residual build oil. It settled down pretty quickly and I gave it a whirl digging - it was going well althought I did not take the wheels off or put the drag bar on.
The weld on the exhaust manifold seemed to be blowing a tiny bit around the weld - a problem I can live with but I will probably take it off and re-weld it.
The only bug I have with it is that the exhaust fumes blow right back into my face using the rotivator. I will probably cut the exhause and re-weld it at 90 degrees.
All in all I am very happy with it, but time and use will be the ultimate test.