Ebay Honda look a like motor for generator???

[monster318]

FIRST OF ALL, I FULLY UNDERSTAND THE "YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR" CONCEPT BUT JUST HEAR ME OUT....

Ok now that we got that out...:laughing:

I have an early 1970s Black and Decker generator, that has a very worn out Briggs 5HP motor on it. For years it was mounted to the front of our race car trailer for power and lights at the track. Since the family stopped racing this generator has sat in the garage. I might get used once or twice in a 2-3 year period. Its basically just the community & family back up generator. The last time it was used it was loaned to my girlfriend's grandfather when hurricane Sandy came through. It would go through a quart of oil for every two tanks of fuel. And thats a lot of oil for the 3-4 days he had it running. It has already been rebuilt with new valve seals and chrome rings twice.

So I been playing with the idea of repowering with a new motor, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend 3-4 hundred dollars on a quality Briggs motor for the amount this generator actually gets used. So I stumbled across this China made, almost identical to a Honda replacement motor for a fraction of what a new Briggs is.

My question is if anyone on here has had experience with this motor?? Or even this brand of motor (SIGMA)??

The link below is for the motor I am talking about.

New 6 5HP Gas Engine Tapered Shaft for Generators | eBay

 

[Industrial Toys]

It all depends how much your time is worth. Different people clearly have different values. To me, a lawn mower engine does not a generator make. But if push came to shove, and that's all I had (and it worked) I would feel blessed.

One thing, I am told, and it's what makes genset motors somewhat undesireable for re-purposing, is that they almost always have the tapered shaft.

 

[varmint]

You might want to check out Surplus Center and Harbor Freight for gas engines... they have shown them for sale in the past, and some of the HF even got decent reviews...

 

[monster318]

You might want to check out Surplus Center and Harbor Freight for gas engines... they have shown them for sale in the past, and some of the HF even got decent reviews...

I did check out harbor freight, what makes this engine hard is the crank is tapered for the generator head. I didn't search hard, I might be able to find one on HF.

Thanks

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Besides the tapered shaft, generators have different carbs too...

SR

 

[jenkinsph]

I bought a new Honda for my plate compactor in January, good service and pricing from Lawn Mower Engines & Parts | Equipatron
Might want to check them out as they have several brands.

 

[sw99]

I have a HF Predator Generator and it has been a lifesaver! Starts everytime and runs like a top. If you can make one of the predator engines work I would give it a try. I have read that they are Honda clones. I am coming up on 90 hours and zero issues. I have changes the oil three times because I am a bitog freak so that may help...

 

[The Fred]

You sound like a mechanical guy. Bang a set of rings and a connecting rod in your old motor. At least you'd know what you have there.

Good luck, Fred

 

[monster318]

Ok so I feel like I owe you guys an update, yes I know I am 2 years later but life happened and I haven't been able to log on in the past year.

So with the motor, by the time I got done fooling around with whether or not to purchase this motor or not, it was not available by this seller or any seller for that matter. The same seller did have a larger almost 9 horse motor but that was way to large for my application. So I messaged the seller asking if they would have the smaller motor back in stock. They told me to message them back in a few weeks around December when they get back into generator season to see if they had it in stock by then. So I waited and then did message them around Christmas last year. They told me they really are not carrying that motor anymore cause they didn't sell that many but if I ordered right then and there he would special order me and have it shipped directly to me. So I did.

The motor came and was spotless, I put the generator together the following weekend,everything lined up and went together perfectly, added oil and fuel, it fired right up on the 2nd pull. Only flaw with it was it would drip a small amount of fuel out of the fuel shut off on the carb, but it didnt leak while running, or while in the off position so I am not worried about it.

So now was the anticipated wait to try it out. I got that chance with the snow/ice storm eastern PA got in the first week of March last year. The property I care take for lost power during the storm for 8 days. The house has an Older Winco 4800w Generator powered by a Propane fueled Briggs engine. After Day 3 of that running 18hrs a day I decided to give it a break during the evening hours and let my newly repowered generator stretch its legs. Everyday my generator would run from ~3:30 in the afternoon till 11pm, roughly 7.5 hours each day for 5 days, It sat and purred like a kitten, it was unbelievably quiet, fuel efficient (I was getting 4.5-5 hours on a tank of fuel) it handled load without hesitation even with the furnace running and a refrigerator kicking on, did not use a drop of oil, oil was as clean after 38 hours on it as the day I put it in.

So needless to say I feel as if I made a solid choice on repowering my backup generator. I will post in the future if any issues arise.

 

[MossRoad]

That's good to hear. Glad you're back. :thumbsup: