Saving an old Honda GX35

I found a heck of a deal on Craigsfist for a GEBE kit with a gx-35. I've assembled two of these kit with the GX35 and have a great deal of respect for these quiet little torque monsters.

The guy wanted $350 for the bike. When I got there I found him pumping up the flat tires and the bike had ben kept outside for some time. The good news is that I had actually met the guy before on my first 50 mile San Diego Cruise.

The bad news is it took a while to start and upon test riding, it became very clear that this thing had no power or its clutch was gone. Heres a picture from his CL add, it must have been years ago.

I told the guy Id give him $160 for it having no idea what is wrong with the motor i told him it is definitely going to need a clutch. He said "no way" and I let him know he would likely have better luck selling to somebody who has no idea what to expect from one of these setups. He agreed, but stated he would be moving this week. He told me how good the Schwinn gel seat he had on it was and how he mounted a "custom" light onto the front fork (AKA zip tied a Flashlight to it).

I nodded in agreement then told him Id give him $180 if he kept that POS seat and light. He said, Ok.

First this I did was ordered a new clutch, air filter, new engine housing cover and pull starter from Stanton. New plugs from Amazon and a new belt from GEBE. First thing i did was disassembled the GEBE kit/motor from the bike and placed the bike in the garbage.

Then I poured out what looked to be the dirtiest oil Id even seen poured out of a GX35. I actually had to change the oil twice to get it to come out clean 10 minutes of running between changes to get it circulated.

The plug was a sad sight as well, glad I replaced it as the old one was loose to boot.

I soon found out why the motor would idle just fine with the choke on long after warmup...

Hope I can find another one of these plastic housings with the studs for the carb mount.

Here is the reason I noticed a drastic reduction in accelerating in this GX35 versus my daily driver. The owner said he's had the bike for about 5 years (and he bought it used) and his friend has has ridden from San Diego to L.A. a few times.
By his best geusstimate he claims to have around 6,000 miles on that engine. He said he has no idea how much the previous owner rode the bike. I only hope that the GEBE housing isn't completely gone out of spec from the metal to metal contact.

I pulled the valve cover just to make sure everything looked good, and surprisingly everything looked great the belt almost looked new and has no cracks in it that i could find. The first pic is just after the double oil change and the new NGK plug.





The second pic has a standard Sharpy for reference, how cute are those little valves and springs. LOL

Darn it, this is the part i believe i need and its shown on Statons Website but it doesn't look like they sell it. This is not good as the motor won't run without this crummy little plastic manifold.

Not surprisingly the guy never mention he glued this piece back together. I believe the part I need is # 26 on this diagram but id even take the whole assembly if i could find it.

So it looks like that part number for #25 is 19631-Z0Z-000 I found a marine place with it but they want $20 for shipping on a $12 part. Also it looks as though the part may have been subbed by Honda for part# 19631-Z0Z-010.


This is courtesy of the Honda parts manual.

Dagwood said:

Cory, Remember, this is a string trimmer engine..find a local lawn and garden shop that is a honda dealer..all the parts are available...and I recommend NOT going to a marine dealer..they dont like the typically shorter margins in the lawn and garden parts market, and generally mark them up to their more standard marine margins, which is MUCH higher.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, unfortunately I already ordered from another marine dealer online. Hopefully I get the stuff soon. Meanwhile Im gonna go find a lower end cruiser to put her on.