Tecumseh Fans?

[homebuiltbikes]

Been awhile since I've been here dads bike is all done! I was wondering how many Tecumseh Fans there are out there? I've run Tecumseh motors since I was 9 or so, 41 yrs now! Their a little tricky to time just right but I have a system that works great. I had a HS40 that I used for about 30 years until it just couldn't be rebuilt again, smoked like a skeeter fogger but still ran great! then I found an nos 1964 HS50 block and I will probably run this till I die! I want to see what Tecumseh lover are doing with theirs! back in the day Tecumseh would kick any Brigg,s @$$! What do you say?
I've looked for performance parts and there's not alot out there for those ol' 60's tecumseh motors. I always reground my own cams and played with different valves and springs but it would be nice to see some ready to install hypo parts
GO TO www.homebuiltbikes.com to see dads bike and my other projects

 

[deacon]

nice stuff man... I am looking for a small Tecumseh 2cycle at the moment. I want to build a friction drive with a motor of about 2-3 hp. I think 2cycle for the weight of the motor. I have to lift and lower it onto the wheel for my clutch. I really want something hardier than these weed eater and Chainsaw motors. I took a look at a greyhound that they tell me is Techumseh made and it looked hardy but too heavy, I think. It was the four cycle from HF.

I like the lift clutch because the most that can go wrong is a frayed brake cable. I want to keep it as simple a possible. I run one with a bike engine now that I modified, but the motor lacks the almonds I want. I don't care about speed but when I hit a hill I want it to go on up it, not drag.

 

[Goldy]

Speaking for myself I have been a big fan of Techumseh engines for a long time. They are just as bulletproof as B&S if not more so. In fact I'm still using the old Tecumseh powered lawn mower my father gave me...he bought it new in 1961. Other than new piston rings about 20 years ago (iron cylinder liner) it has had no other work done...unless you count the fact that the engine has outlasted 5 mower decks!

 

[professor]

The only issue with the Tech. 2 stroke is they are quite wide and mount around the output shaft (no bottom mounts).
The ones I have are off the Toro snowblowers (old S-200 style) and the output shaft is not machined 5/8 all the way to the case and that shaft is long ( the large part might be some standard size though). These are very long lasting engines.

 

[timboellner]

My first Tecumseh was a 4 hp horizontal on a Bird mini-bike.
I loved that engine and it took it's fair share of abuse.
Through a rod right thru the crankcase over reving down a hill, no load.

I was sorry to hear they were no longer making engines.

Long live the " little indian motors " anyway...

 

[LS614]

I really like the tecumseh engines, got one over 50 years old that I revived, I HATE the diaphragm carb with a burning passion though, I'm switching to a float carb, this one leaks too much despite the repairs I've attempted. It is a 3.5hp, still going strong!

 

[ddwinters]

I've got a (fairly) new one of those babies, an HS40 that's on a minibike I just picked up. I'm in the process of cleaning the carb and tuning it up (it sat for a while), so I'm not sure how great it will run. I plan to make a pusher out of the little fella as I'm a little large for a mini. My 'regular' ride is a '74 Honda Trail 90 but I want to play with a bike some and see how many MPGs I can get with some pedalin' and some pushin' by the little motor.

 

[mapbike]

I love the old HS50's for their speed and power with a few mods, and yes a briggs flat head 5HP would not even hold a candle to the old HS50 Tecumseh Engine, I have the original one that was on my first go kart, with no Gov. and a free flowing exhaust it would do 40MPH flat out and would spin the single wheel drive kart fo rabout 100 yards in gravel, the most fun I had as a kid was on that Go Kart, I completely rebuilt the engine when I was 12 yrs old, I had the rear wheel off the groung reving the snot out of it and put the rod through the block at WOT...... Bam!
My grandad had a small engine business and he walked me through every aspect of the overhaul after he bought all the new parts for me and that experience set me in motion to tinker with small engine from there on out and has stayed with me my entire life.....great memories indeed.....!! makes me miss my ole Pap.......!

I would love to get my HS50 running again but like was mentioned earlier there just isnt hardly any old Tecumseh parts out here any more, I need an ignition coil for mine and cant find one anywhere, I do have an old H50 that may share the same coil but I have never removed the flywheel on it to see if it will or not, there was a fella here in Texas a few years ago who was making custom billet rods and other parts for the H50's and HS50's he told me he had built an H50 that dyno'd 23+HP he raced the Karts and had won many races with that Tecumseh in the modified class, he said he was never even touched by even the best of the best Briggs power plants, and said those old Tecumsehs mopped the floor with most of the other as well in those days.

If anyone knows if the H50 coil will interchange with the HS50, please ring in here and let me know.......BUT only if yo know for sure because I know some f the parts WONT interchange being that the H50 was the heavy duty version of that 5HP Flat head engine.

Yep, I wish someone would start making some good parts for those old HS50's I'd love to have a mine going again with some mods like a Tilitson carb, Billet Rod, Better valve Springs, Ect.....! Super Strong Engines for sure.

Peace

 

[ddwinters]

According to the online catalog for mfgsupply.com the HS ans H coil are the same:

31-1884 - Tec 30560A/30546 Coil


Or try the Sears site.

 

[Bikeguy Joe]

I have an old Lauson (maybe pre "Tecumseh") engine from I think the 30's. Haven't got it running yet, still researching it.

 

[mapbike]

My engine is a late 70's early 80's HS50 that has a point type ignition, which if I remember right is an entire assembly of the coil and the point & condensor housing that mounts under the flywheel as a one piece assembly, It looks like what is shown here at mfgsupply.com is for a newer engine with the electronic ignition, unless of coarse the coil itself can be changed, it's been so long since I have messed with that engine I cant even remember anymore, but I'm almost curtain that the point & condensor ignition models had coil/point housing as a complete unit and the coil cold not be replaced alone.

Now I'll be forced to check into this further, to be sure I'm not mistaken on this....!

Thats for the link and the possible help on this coil issue, ddwinters

According to the online catalog for mfgsupply.com the HS ans H coil are the same:

31-1884 - Tec 30560A/30546 Coil


Or try the Sears site.

 

[mapbike]

Well I found a fella on ebay that is selling the coil for the HS50 model and says it fits ALL HS50 engines, so I will have to take a look at mine and see if the coil can be removed from the point/condensor assembly, and it also shows the same part like was said earlier for the H50 engine, if this is the case then maybe this will become another project before long and I can have that thing ginning again....

BTW....it is the same coil that is listed by mfgsupply.com so thanks again ddwinters you may have helped me resolve this issue

 

[kev1n]

The only issue with the Tech. 2 stroke is they are quite wide and mount around the output shaft (no bottom mounts).
The ones I have are off the Toro snowblowers (old S-200 style) and the output shaft is not machined 5/8 all the way to the case and that shaft is long ( the large part might be some standard size though). These are very long lasting engines.

I built a friction drive with a toro s2000 tecumseh engine and love it. It climbs hills so hard it bucked me off and kept going once when I was offroading. I was just thinking I would like to find a different carb to put on the engine. What other carb models will work?
Thanks Kevin

http://motorbicycling.com/f36/diy-bikes-wisco-rebuild-20578.html

 

[deacon]

I have a Tecumseh I bought on ebay. I never had one before but this one runs top end fine. It just won't bottom end. The guy who owned it before me got the linkage to the carb messed up. So there is no idle adjustment but I think it is more than that. I think there is a low end adjustment screw that is missing from the carburetor but I can't be sure so much is missing from where it was pulled out of service. Then I broke and removed recoil starter as well.

So my question is, was there supposed to be a second carb adjustment on that engine. 3 hp I think its off a snow blower.

 

[mapbike]

In my experience that has been an issue with some of the older Tecumseh's, My Grandfather had a small engine repair business for about 50 years and that is the thing he never liked about the older 3-5HP Tecumseh engines, they were almost impossible to get tuned to where they would idle right and also rev up and maintain their RPM's, or you could get them to wind up real good but then they would not idle right or sometimes wouldn't idle at all without dying within seconds, we could get those old briggs engines to idle down so good you could count every stroke, but I never seen a Tecumseh engine that would do that, It is bad design of the carb's in mine and many others opinions whom I've talked to about it over the years, sometimes one of the good carb's off of the old Clinton engines would get the Tecumseh to run much better, The Old Briggs engines never had the power of the Tecumseh's but the Briggs was a much more reliable and much easier to tune engine, those pulse carb's on the briggs and even their bowl type was about the best there was.

Some of the Tecumseh's had 2 adjustments but most just had just a high speed needle adjustment, so you could lean them out and get them to idle but then they wouldnt rev, or you could get them rich enough to rev but then they would load up at idle and die after a few seconds or just idle rough, this was the problem I have encounted many time over the years with the Tecumseh carbs, even the OHV Powersport Tecumseh's had carb issues after a while.

You might be able to get one of those NT carbs tuned to run good on a 3HP 4stroke....it would be very easy to make an intake for it, even though it has no external adjustment at all, it might be possible to get it tuned by soldering the jet and redrilling it along with needle clip adjustment just like is done to tune the china girl 2 smokers, the carbs are cheap and it might be a good alternative, I have a 3HP Briggs I plan to try this on in the future just to see if it can be done.

Good luck with what ever you do, hope you get it running great before long!

Peace

Oh.! one more thing you should do is check the throttle shaft in the carb. they are bad about getting wore to the point that the engine has a vacuum leak around the shaft, when this happens they dont like to idle well at all.

I have a Tecumseh I bought on ebay. I never had one before but this one runs top end fine. It just won't bottom end. The guy who owned it before me got the linkage to the carb messed up. So there is no idle adjustment but I think it is more than that. I think there is a low end adjustment screw that is missing from the carburetor but I can't be sure so much is missing from where it was pulled out of service. Then I broke and removed recoil starter as well.

So my question is, was there supposed to be a second carb adjustment on that engine. 3 hp I think its off a snow blower.

 

[curtisfox]

Another carb that would work is a chain saw carb. You can eather run the inpulse from intake or crankcase like off the tapet cover. Or you can take the diafram out and make a plate to bolt inplace of it,with a hose barb and run gravity feed fuel

 

[homebuiltbikes]

I havnt checked here in a while but I'm pleased to see all the Tecumseh fans out there! I saw lots of cool stuff! I've been busy workin on a 91 Ford Ranger & a 93 FLHTC I traded for my 01 JEEP, got a great deal! They both run great now! also I started a bicycle chopper for my son Harry who is 11, he's helpin & learnin alot! You can see it at Homebuiltbikes.com - Home Once its rollin were gonna put a Tecumseh on that too! I think he'll follow in the footsteps of my father and I, he's always in the garage with me and he's startin to be a pretty good welder, Great for 11 yrs old!
Thank You everybody for your replies, I really enjoyed reading them all!
RIDE TO LIVE- LIVE TO RIDE

Tried to post some pics but still cant resize, see; Homebuiltbikes.com - Home

 

[mapbike]

Here ya go Homebuiltbikes

got some of your pics on here for ya..

Peace