Hey, I have that exact same Homelite engine that's on your blog. I have to close the choke to keep it running. I'm in the middle of attaching it to my bike using a chain drive. What did you have to do to go legal? Just fill out a form? I'm in ohio and I'm afraid I'll have a hard time making mine legal, if I even try. Check out what I've got so far.
Motorized Bike (SpiderCast)
I can't wait to get that little homelite running again. I'm going to rip it down entirely and rebuild it from the ground up if I can't get it to run with just the carb cleaning.... A spray bottle of carb cleaner was only $5 at home cheapo. Do you have the 25cc or 30cc model? It's going to be my experiment engine- I've found some resources on modifying them to do a lot more. Homelites are the weedeater engine of choice on the RC speedboat lists for mucking about with. So I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with it. I'm calling it my winter project.
In Mass it was easy to get the registration, fill out the form and then find a RMV that will process it without getting a VIN#. It costs $40 for 2 years. So far Framingham and Lowell RMVs will do them with no issues. Beverly RMV will not.
I've been following your blog. When I saw that the homelite didn't have a threaded shaft I figured I'd go the same route as you and add sprockets. I've found a lotof jackshaft kits out there for a small amount of money. I suspect I'll have to keep my pedals because my butt is too big for that little engine to move around. Isn'ta that homelite a tiny little thing?!?
UncleKudzu Thanks for the props on my blog. I have a lot of fun writing it and keeping track of my (mis)adventures. and yeah I'm in love with that frame... Is that wrong?
Deacon- the ryobi is fast enough. I pedal up to 5 or 7 mph and drop the engine and I get to 14 pretty quickly, she builds up speed and cruises around between 14 and 19 easily. I'm having some issue at WOT, so tonight I'm going to clean my muffler and see if that makes a difference and go back to stock tuning on it. I'll tell you one thing when that thing is runnig well it handles my weight (195lb) easily. I'd like (kind of) to see what it does with less weight on it. A reason to diet? The engine starts up pretty easily and will easily bump start but I like the pull start. At a little above middle throttle position I pedaled up a hill at 14mph. I've got to try it without and see what she does. I made the trip to the park and back in short time.
As far as guts I haven't tested her enough to tell you more about teh pull. I do see that the muffler on mine will need cleaning often, and I bet mine would do better if I did a carb cleaning. But the walbro on it is pretty nice, it has more movement ont he throttle than the craftsman did- so more range in speed, not just WOT and idle.