Maniac57's latest Rose326 kit review

[maniac57]

Okay here we go with the engine.
The castings on this engine are much nicer than usual with clean cylinder fins and much less flash and irregularity. The engine also came with hex head screws in the drive sprocket cover where the clutch arm is...a nice touch since this needs to be tight yet removable for greasing the bucking bar and ball.


Popping off the head reveals the standard crappy angle plug combustion chamber.

I'll replace it with this one and see if the added machining makes any difference. (I doubt it will do much aside from lowering comp)

 

[maniac57]

Moving on to the piston and rod we find a standard 38mm stroke rod and piston
The cylinder looks like it has the wider version intake but the transfers are crap as usual with a noticeable ridge right where it angles from casting.


The bucking bar has scoring from shipping where the arm moved against the bar with no grease. I'll polish this off before use.

The coils looks decent with a good wet solder joint on the ground wire and NO white wire.

 

[2door]

I know about 'Tokyo Rose' but I'm not familiar with Beijing Rose.

Seriously, the engine is looking good. What about the rest of the kit? Twist grip throttle? Fuel tank? Chain? Clutch lever and cable?
How do those compare with the standard Chinese engine kit?

Tom

 

[maniac57]

Overall I give this latest Rose/zminglu/mingsinternational kit engine a solid 8 out of 10.
I noticed a bit of scratching on the piston from horrible de-burring on the ports which will need to be addressed before this engine ever starts. The cylinder bore also looks almost like it has been honed, which concerns me a bit...never seen that on a HT before and I wonder WHY it was done since they use plated bores.
The piston looks crisp and clean with good machining and properly assembled ringset.
The porting is what you would expect with lots of flash and crappy finishing on the port edges. It would PROBABLY wear in just fine as is, but I simply cannot start any engine in this kind of shape. I'll clean everything up when I reassemble the top end.
The mains are nice and smooth with proper endplay on the crank which is a VERY good sign of better assembly. They seldom come new without a bunch of slop since they don't seem to bother shimming at most factories. I have not split the case so it could be just luck, but regardless it's nice to find none of the usual movement in the crank. Every Rose engine I have seen has the one piece crank halves with no separate counterweights.
The clutch looks nice and tight with properly spaced drive gear and NO damage to the small drive gear screw slot! (VERY unusual!)
The screw holding the primary drive gear on was quite loose. I got another half turn on it with my hand impact driver so Be sure to check your new engine.
Rinsing out the bottom end revealed very little debris, unusual for factory fresh a chinagirl kit so this is a happy sign.


I have been seeing steadily improving quality from Rose since I first ordered from her 7 or 8 years ago and this kit seems to continue the trend. It's one of the nicest cylinder castings I've ever seen on a china engine and the assembly seems to be quite good for factory original.
This is the best bargain I could find and the quality is every bit as good as any Grubee/Stinger/Skyhawk brand costing more. Sometimes MUCH more.
Why pay hard earned cash for a sticker or a crappy website?
Rose has always given me excellent customer service and great value.
That's why I have bought well over 25 kits from this vendor.
Spend your money wisely and use the savings to improve what NEEDS improved. The stock angle plug head and the stock exhaust.

 

[maniac57]

As far as the rest of the kit goes:
The gas tank looks quite nice with a good coat of paint and the inside of the filler neck fully covered so there is none of the usual crap inside from the overspray. Time will tell how it does in service.
The tensioner is the two bolt version with the usual crappy plastic wheel and a fair roller bearing. Nothing new.
Ragjoint is standard as are all the other bits. Has the pin locking clutch lever and standard controls. Usual crappy plug boot. Throttle with metal locating pin. (Hate it. Prefer the old one with the plastic pin I could snip off to do without drilling bars.)
Chrome on muffler looks fine. Typical gaskets with small holes. Need matching as always.
Aside from the engine itself, there's nothing new in the kit.
It will be a while before I fire this engine as I'm building a jackshafted chopper for this bullet and fab time will be longer than most of my builds.
Stay tuned for the startup report sometime in the future and watch my chopper thread for build details.

 

[Greg58]

Maniac I was hoping yours came with a plug wire like mine, its a moulded end wire that is better than any kit wire I've got yet. Nothing to fall apart is a good thing.

 

[maniac57]

Greg, you are 100% correct. I just looked closer and it DOES have the small molded plug cap! MUCH better than the crappy bakelite version.
Good thing you said something, I would not have noticed until install!

 

[Citi-sporter]

Any progress on this?....

 

[maniac57]

Any progress on this?....

Check out my Chopper thread for more details. Engine is mounted and running fine through jackshaft and 5 speeds during break-in!