So I just finished building a very mild Predator 212(new style non-hemi with the split retainers) and bought the vast majority of the parts from Tim at Small Engine Cams. Not only is he a super nice guy and gave great customer service when I bought the stuff but he stands behind his stuff as well.
After I put everything together the motor was really hard to start, meaning it was very hard to pull over with the recoil starter. I was able to get it started a few times but it was very hard. To give a few examples of how hard, I had clamped the motor to my welding table which weighs a good bit more than 100lbs. It is made of 1/4" thick diamond plate. My dad (just shy of 200lbs) was helping to weigh the table down and holding the motor down as well. As I was trying to pull the motor over the kick back was hard enough that it would move the table several feet. I also tried using a drill with a socket as a starter motor and as it was turning the motor over the kick back sheared the socket adapter I was using right in two. In fact it broke 2 of them.
The motor really felt like the compression release was not working and it was really hard to pull the motor over the compression.
Now first off, my IP seems to think that small engine cams is spam and will not let me send emails to him and since I could not email him my next best choice was to call him on his cell. Now, he did not mind that and was more than willing to help trouble shoot. When the over the phone thing failed I suggested bringing it to him and he said no problem.
So I showed up this morning with motor in hand. Tim took the time ( a few hours worth) to go through and trouble shoot it right there. I kept saying that it seemed to be the compression release not working and so we went through it methodically. We started with readjusting the valves and that did not help. We then pulled the side cover off and pulled the cam to check the compression release on it. It seemed to be fine. So we started checking to see if he cold feel the compression release work once the motor was buttoned back up and it was working fine. So we put the rockers back on and looked for the compression release to blip the exhaust valve and saw nothing. That is when it occurred to us that maybe the push rods were too short. The thick guide plate I had purchased form him was throwing the geometry out of whack. With the stock push rod, stock rocker and the guide plate the rocker was bottoming out on the stud. So he went in the back and pulled an NRRacing guide plate, rods (5 1/4" long), 1.3 rockers and a bottle of new oil. Put everything together and it worked. The exhaust side now blips with the compression release and it pulls over nice and easy.
I was obviously very thankful for all the help and the time Tim devoted to making sure my engine worked. When I asked how much I owed him for the parts, he said it was on the house. He was just happy to see my engine start easy and it was a good learning experience for him. I was very shocked and extremely grateful.
So the moral of the story is Tim at small engine cams is one hell of a great guy, he stands by what he sells, provides excellent customer support and he should be the first stop for all your Honda and clone performance parts. I know the next motor I build or parts I need I will go to him first. To top it all off, if you go see him in person, you might just get to meet and the shake the hand of the Camfather himself, Ed Iskenderian.
I am very happy with all my purchases and dealings with Small Engine Cams.
Thanks Tim for all your help and support. I really appreciate it.
After I put everything together the motor was really hard to start, meaning it was very hard to pull over with the recoil starter. I was able to get it started a few times but it was very hard. To give a few examples of how hard, I had clamped the motor to my welding table which weighs a good bit more than 100lbs. It is made of 1/4" thick diamond plate. My dad (just shy of 200lbs) was helping to weigh the table down and holding the motor down as well. As I was trying to pull the motor over the kick back was hard enough that it would move the table several feet. I also tried using a drill with a socket as a starter motor and as it was turning the motor over the kick back sheared the socket adapter I was using right in two. In fact it broke 2 of them.
The motor really felt like the compression release was not working and it was really hard to pull the motor over the compression.
Now first off, my IP seems to think that small engine cams is spam and will not let me send emails to him and since I could not email him my next best choice was to call him on his cell. Now, he did not mind that and was more than willing to help trouble shoot. When the over the phone thing failed I suggested bringing it to him and he said no problem.
So I showed up this morning with motor in hand. Tim took the time ( a few hours worth) to go through and trouble shoot it right there. I kept saying that it seemed to be the compression release not working and so we went through it methodically. We started with readjusting the valves and that did not help. We then pulled the side cover off and pulled the cam to check the compression release on it. It seemed to be fine. So we started checking to see if he cold feel the compression release work once the motor was buttoned back up and it was working fine. So we put the rockers back on and looked for the compression release to blip the exhaust valve and saw nothing. That is when it occurred to us that maybe the push rods were too short. The thick guide plate I had purchased form him was throwing the geometry out of whack. With the stock push rod, stock rocker and the guide plate the rocker was bottoming out on the stud. So he went in the back and pulled an NRRacing guide plate, rods (5 1/4" long), 1.3 rockers and a bottle of new oil. Put everything together and it worked. The exhaust side now blips with the compression release and it pulls over nice and easy.
I was obviously very thankful for all the help and the time Tim devoted to making sure my engine worked. When I asked how much I owed him for the parts, he said it was on the house. He was just happy to see my engine start easy and it was a good learning experience for him. I was very shocked and extremely grateful.
So the moral of the story is Tim at small engine cams is one hell of a great guy, he stands by what he sells, provides excellent customer support and he should be the first stop for all your Honda and clone performance parts. I know the next motor I build or parts I need I will go to him first. To top it all off, if you go see him in person, you might just get to meet and the shake the hand of the Camfather himself, Ed Iskenderian.
I am very happy with all my purchases and dealings with Small Engine Cams.
Thanks Tim for all your help and support. I really appreciate it.
