BGF Hongdu/Solex

[wayne z]

I tried heater hose, and ot got kinfa crispy after a couple hrs run time.

Found some 3/4" hi-temp rubber aviation fire sleeve tubing in my" supplies"
I installed it with small hoseclamps. 2 hours later, no change.

Starting to suspect my muffler might have restrictions. Maybe at the inlet junction. Allready drilled the weld slag out of the outlet pipe and added the 5.5mm hole.
Seemed like the motor ran increasingly better as the heater hose gradualy burned a larger leak.

Still gonna do a compression test later today though.

 

[mopedjay]

i got my engine today expecting it to look like rays did but its not bad at all

mine doesnt have any rust in the tank or broken covers or anything wrong with it at all

i must of got the only good one out of the whole batch but i have one complaint mine didnt come with and funny chinese stickers on it

il have it on my bike tonight and post up some pics

 

[Colony Five]

i got my engine today expecting it to look like rays did but its not bad at all

mine doesnt have any rust in the tank or broken covers or anything wrong with it at all

i must of got the only good one out of the whole batch but i have one complaint mine didnt come with and funny chinese stickers on it

il have it on my bike tonight and post up some pics

sounds like mine...no stickers, and mine had no rust in the tank either. does yours have the compression release lever on the gas tank side like mine? it looks like some of them are on the other side. also, mine came with a black fuel return hose, not a clear one.

 

[wayne z]

Did you guys engines have a lighting coil? mine came without one.

 

[Colony Five]

Did you guys engines have a lighting coil? mine came without one.

mine has one. it's the luck of the draw when you order one of these. too bad there isn't a more reliable source to get them from, but then they probably wouldn't be so inexpensive.

 

[cannonball2]

One of my engines has the comp. release on the left one on the right. The cylinders are cast differently also, ones a lot nicer. Would be nice to source a seller for first run units I have a feeling these are mixed.

 

[Colony Five]

i kept forgetting to check...i finally remembered, and sure enough, mine came with no air filter. not only that but some of the cheap metal cracked off the edge of the air filter housing separating it from the cover.

 

[wayne z]

These lil motors realy intrigue me, I just bought another from BGF, LOL ,after I saw what rebuilt solex engines were selling for.

Aso read something, like ,starting immediatly, they're gonna stop manufacturing the Black&Roll cuz the Company decided the China made engines didn't meet their quality requirements.

Mebbe the engines we're seeing now are someones stock liqudation. If you want one or more, better get em while they last!

I did a compression test today, and getting only 75 lbs pressure , cold or hot.

That's 20 lbs less than specs. Prolly the funky lookin rings, but I want to rule out the comp release leaking. Anybody got any tips for checking it?

If it was leaking wouldn't there be oil residue around it? Mine is very clean.

 

[mopedjay]

yep mine has the compression release on the right and the cylinder and case castings look 100 times better than on rays engine

if your comp release was leaking you would hear it when you turn it over by hand check your cylinder and head bolts a couple of mine were loose and also my intake boles were loose so check those too cause you dont want an air leak that will spoil your day

with this cheap chinese stuff you have to check everything

like i said im going to try to order a pallet load of them straight from the company and since they are technically sold as parts they dont have to meet EPA and DOT requirements

i think maybe next year im going to try to open a moped and scooter shop in PSL florida of course il be selling the cheap chinese stuff but at least i know how to work on them so it should go well especially with these high gas prices

i think these engine kits will sell good

 

[cannonball2]

If it leaks it goes out the exhaust and there probably wouldnt be all that much residue(if any) on top of the head. I lapped mine, its easy to do. Looks like it some sort of screw, so turning it to lap it is a natural with a screw driver. According to the shop manual it part of a normal major service to do so. One thing about what we are getting that would be different from overstocks or liquidations of BnR stuff, is this is a kit to fit a bicycle. Some one went to some degree of trouble to put it together I would think if it was sell off stuff, it would just be the engine unit. I bet these are domestic bike kits, with less quality control than the BnR engines. Thats bad news about BnR. Looks like Steves Mopeds was just promoting them. I noticed the new one on ebay dropped from $1850 to $1350 on sale. Too bad, similar to the new generation Whizzer(which I have) story, consistant quality was an issue. If the parts Wayne gets are the same quality as whats in our engines then BnR is gonna have problems. The pics look better though.

 

[Colony Five]

These lil motors realy intrigue me, I just bought another from BGF, LOL ,after I saw what rebuilt solex engines were selling for.

Aso read something, like ,starting immediatly, they're gonna stop manufacturing the Black&Roll cuz the Company decided the China made engines didn't meet their quality requirements.

Mebbe the engines we're seeing now are someones stock liqudation. If you want one or more, better get em while they last!

I did a compression test today, and getting only 75 lbs pressure , cold or hot.

That's 20 lbs less than specs. Prolly the funky lookin rings, but I want to rule out the comp release leaking. Anybody got any tips for checking it?

If it was leaking wouldn't there be oil residue around it? Mine is very clean.

when the chinese build something that sells, they aren't likely to stop, even if they can't build a licensed copy they'll still do it. i think these are just now catching on here.

that compression is very low, no wonder you are having problems. i tend to think you are correct about the rings, but you also may have a crack somewhere.

you can download an s 4800 owners manual here:

go here

it has a section on how to adjust the decompression valve but basically just says it should travel 1/8" and not less than 1/32"

 

[Colony Five]

a solex 3800 thread

read some of the tips from briansolex over at the moped army forums. while this one deals with an engine that needs to be choked to run, it says what to look for as far as leaks. one easy check is if you have air bubbles in the fuel return hose (you have to have a clear one to see obviously) then you have an intake leak.

there are other good repair threads on there that deal with the solex. it shouldn't be too hard to nail down any problems with a bit of searching.

 

[cannonball2]

Hey C5 how do the short handle bars on your bike handle the engines weight?

 

[Colony Five]

wayne, here is a thread about rings. this ought to help you out

3800 rings

 

[Colony Five]

Hey C5 how do the short handle bars on your bike handle the engines weight?

i haven't had any problems with it but then i am used to riding with a loaded front basket. i am careful not to do any fast maneuvering but it feels stable enough that i could probably get away with it if i had to...i did dodge a blowing tumbleweed the other day that came at me.

 

[Colony Five]

almost forgot, 1 more link for you tonight wayne...read the first part that tells how to make sure your decompression valve is sealing:

VeloSoleX S 3800 Cylinder Head

 

[Stoney]

I want one of these engines but I live in Cali... Any sugestions? I'm jealous!

 

[cannonball2]

I want one of these engines but I live in Cali... Any sugestions? I'm jealous!

Dont know send to some one out of state and hsve it sent back?

 

[RusticoRay]

I contacted BGF and got nowhere. I offered to send it back at my cost and for him to do the right thing and send another. His answer was not to respond to my email, If you plan on purchasing a kit just beware if you get a bad one there is no recourse. Roll the dice if you must.
MopedJay's kit looked pristine compared to mine. It is going to be a beautiful build with the Columbia he is putting it on. I'm going to clean my tank rust today and try and fix the cover on top of my cylinder maybe I wont melt it but we are talking about cheap material.
Stoney can you get a friend in a neighboring state to ship it on to you.

 

[wayne z]

Here's a tip for hooking up the compression release for a better control feel.

I didn't like the way the comp lever actuation felt, with the lever only moving a tiny amount to operate it.
My ham fisted neighbor squeezed it, and when it didn't move much, he squeezed it harder until the clamp ferrule slipped at the cable end.

So, I cut a 1" piece of a Chinagirl clutch cable return spring and slipped it on the cable end then added the clamp ferrule.

Now the control has some movement and "feel" to it, and you can squeeze the lever to the handlebar without stressing the clamped ferrule fitting.