Restoring a Tecumseh - another way

#21
Thanks for this thread!

I found it to be a decent thread. You shared your way of doing it which I think is fine.
You even prefaced it by saying it’s prob not the preferred way to do it.

Then again when you put yourself out there like this, there will always be those that disagree that’s just human nature. So you kinda have to be prepared for some comments. I enjoyed reading it thanks. I wouldn’t have done the sticker thing myself but everyone builds stuff differently and I prob do things that others may not agree with either.
 

Davis

Well-Known Member
#22
Ya powder over paint on a motor I very much disagree with what you said as I’ve been doing body and paint for 24 years. Powder fades faster than paint and is a pain to touch up. And to powder the tins and spray bomb the block is way out there and makes no sense to me.
 

cfh

Well-Known Member
#24
There is a way to fill metal and it still works for power coating, because bondo does not work for power coating.. it's call Lab Metal and available from Eastwood:
https://www.eastwood.com/hi-temp-la...MIzY7Ei_b52wIVix6GCh1UrQOOEAQYASABEgJZCfD_BwE

The only problem with it is the expense. It's $55 a can and you still need a solvent too (another $15.) I suppose it's worth it, but frankly, the primer holes don't bother me when covered with a sticker. It's not a big deal to me. I will probably try the Lab Metal though and see how it works.

On powdercoat versus paint. Personally, in my eye, there's no comparison. Powdercoating is WAY more durable. For example, my local sandblaster ("Master Blaster", Milford MI) charges *twice* the amount to sand blast something that is powder coated. And, to make it worse, he says often he blows right through the metal in the process of getting powder coating off (if the metal is thin). So right there is proof to me that paint is a thing of the past. Also powdercoating is VOC compliant. Eventually nothing will be painted. My guy does entire cars in powdercoat for GM. That should tell you something too. Little Indian has been powdercoating frames since the 1970s too. Another example...
 

Davis

Well-Known Member
#25
Ok I got ya I hope you never wreck your car as I’d love to see that powder job. Beyond that it’s not even close to correct for a mini bike.
 

cfh

Well-Known Member
#27
The problem with welding holes on the blower housing is the metal is thin. you'll need to be a damn good TIG welder to make that happen. And there's a good chance that the welding will warp the housing. It's frankly just not worth the risk. The Eastwood Lab Metal is a good compromise. I'm just struggling with the price of it...
 

cfh

Well-Known Member
#28
Davis like i said nothing is really 'correct' with this whole thing. Using a snowblower motor is not correct. The problem with being "correct" is there's a limited number of minibike correct motors out there. Meaning they are expensive. I like the Tecumseh brand and look and i'm comfortable with their power curve and comfortable working on them. To a 'regular' person my techniques appear correct. And at the price of a used 1970s snow blower, it's affordable. But if you're a mini-bike snob, no, there's nothing correct about nearly anything in this thread! I'm not trying to fool "numbers correct" type people. I'm just coming up with a way to get there 90% for pennies on the dollar. I think it works well!

Also powder coating has pretty much taken over the minibike thing. it sure seems like people have no problem with powder coating their frames. So it's not much of a stretch to do the motor housings.
 
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#29
The problem with welding holes on the blower housing is the metal is thin. you'll need to be a damn good TIG welder to make that happen. And there's a good chance that the welding will warp the housing. It's frankly just not worth the risk. The Eastwood Lab Metal is a good compromise. I'm just struggling with the price of it...
You can weld thin metal with a MiG welder, just use small wire and keep heat down and travel speed quick. You can use chill bars too and other methods you can find this stuff out from YouTube videos.
 

cfh

Well-Known Member
#30
OK so here's the next victim motor. It's an HS40 points and condenser model from a snowblower. Cost was $15 from craigslist. There's a couple downsides to this motor, but overall, it's a pretty decent engine.

 
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cfh

Well-Known Member
#31
So first thing is to take off all the stuff we don't need, like the snow covers and the old carb. Keep the exhaust we can re-use that. Below is the serial number for the engine. It appears to be a 1978 model HS40.

 
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cfh

Well-Known Member
#32
Here's the motor after all the removable metal is taken off. The carb is discarded. We keep the original exhaust, that is plenty good.

 

cfh

Well-Known Member
#33
The two disadvantages to this motor are as follows:
1. It's orange.
2. it has a 1" PTO.

These are both fixable issues though!

Notice though the lack of general dirt on the motor. Yes it has exterior corrosion (snowblower stored outside), but there isn't dirty crap on everything. That's the advantage to snow blower engines, versus say an edger or leaf blower.

 
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cfh

Well-Known Member
#34
Here's the head removed from the motor. This is why i love these snow blower motors! this is the first time this head has been removed, and look at the carbon, or frankly, the lack of carbon. It's pretty amazing how little carbon is on the values and the piston. Seems to be pretty low mileage!

On the picture below the light colored areas on the piston have *no* carbon. To me that's pretty amazing and shows the low run hours. Unfortunately this guy stored his snow blower outside, that's why there's so much corrosion on the motor exterior. But the inside looks pretty darn good!


Head is a bit darker, but it took like just a few strokes with a wire brush and all that carbon was gone.
 
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#35
FYI on sandblasting powder coating....... You want to use plastic media. It removes cured powder will little effort and does not create the heat that sand blasting does. Should not warp the thin tins. Typically air pressure is low in this process.
Regards
 

Harquebus

Well-Known Member
#36
Great thread and just what I was looking for. Most of the stuff I find is very dirty and I end up carefully, painstakingly removing the grime manually so I’m not harming anything.

In that regard, I will have to look into a small sandblaster of my own.
I also understand what you’re doing here—using what you can find and making a reasonable facsimile of a “minibike engine”. Tecumsehs are scarce nowadays, in any variety of 3-5 HP flathead practically...

I’m also torn between decals and stickers. I like your reasons for using stickers though.
 

cfh

Well-Known Member
#37
If you want to try a sticker i can send you a sample or two. just email me cfh@provide.net with an address (and what sticker you would like, first/second/third choice), and i'll put it in the mail next time i'm at the post office.

Looks like you're in TN which probably doesn't get any snow. So snowblowers will be rare where you live. Up here you can't throw a rock without hitting one. And they all seem to use Tecumseh motors (haven't seen too many briggs snow blowers.)
 
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markus

Well-Known Member
#38
Now what about the governor? Personally i don't delete it, i leave it. BUT i do wire it with a straight wire. This way the governor is essentially removed. But if you replace the straight wire with a spring, you're back to having a governor! Very versatile!!

thats all you do is replace it with a straight wire?
 

cfh

Well-Known Member
#39
Use Straight piano wire and the butterfly on the carb opens all the way without resistance. if you want to go back to a governor, just put the spring back. i don't run my motors wide open for more than a couple seconds, so it's a fine thing for me. and if the kids come over, i just take the straight wire out and put the spring back. this way they can't over rev it.
 
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cfh

Well-Known Member
#40
When i bought the orange motor for $15, for another $15, i got a Tecumseh H50. It too was from a snow blower, and I took off all the snow sheilds and the old carb, and discarded them. Below is a picture of this motor. It's the wide frame H50 model, so i wasn't really sure i could use it for anything. But for $15, it's hard to say "no", right? It appears from the serial number this is a 1971 model Tecumseh. Not sure whether to restore it???

I have a Gilson model 54703 that has a 1971 Tecumseh H50 (which is seized), so this would be a good replacement. But i don't know if the H50 on the Gilson is really its stock motor. Does anyone know this? If so then i tripped across a good replacement motor i guess.





 
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