NEW BUYERS ! Would you buy one of these motors ??????

[Large Filipino]

I don't think the problems that Phil had were due to a lack of maintenance, do you? How are the Japanese engines able to run full throttle for extended periods of time without having the same type of issues? Why don't we hear about these same types of problems with the Tanaka or Mitsubishi engines? I've visited the help areas here and almost NEVER read a post about someone having trouble with one of the Japanese engines. Doesn't that seem strange in comparison? I get the whole "minimalist" approach that you take to the Chinese engines, and yes it IS a miracle that something so poorly designed with such little quality control even runs...I'll agree with you on that point. I just don't agree that it's a viable approach to anything that could even remotely be described as reliable transportation.

Warner

That's the whole idea! Phil over did it in my opinion. He should have kept everything as is as crazy as this sounds. He should have allowed the shoddy carburetor to mate with the shoddy engine block to mate with the shoddy magneto and CDI and throw away that kill switch.
It's like if you find a relic stashed away in your garage and somehow after a minor cleaning it starts right up! But as you try to improve on it your piston rings go and it won't start even when you put the old parts back in because the seal's not the same or any other reason.
I hope you understand what I'm saying here. Those engines work as a whole. When you modify it things that are substandard like the piston rings will go.
My HT has by now 2,500 miles. Original bolts. Original carburetor. Magneto changed once then I threw away my kill switch. EVERYTHING on the engine is original even all the gaskets!
Never had an overhaul. But down the road if it ever would need one that's cake walk for me. I've blueprinted big blocks in my time and taken apart Caterpillar and Detroit Diesel engines and played with the Helixes on their fuel pumps so a HT rebuild is romper room stuff. Maybe when my engine hits 6,000 miles I'll do one.
In comparison,an automotive engine can see 500,000 miles before a rebuild if taken care of right. So yes. There are more dependable engines. But the HT brings you back in time where 4 stroke valves were open and needed manual oiling,when antifreeze was never heard of;people added salt to their water and it worked inside their cast iron radiator. When a connecting rod bearing would blow and you fixed it by soaking a piece of leather from your belt in motor oil and using that. When a piston ring was wax string you wound around the piston groove.
So with inferior parts come taking it easy. And keeping things together without changing anything. And pedaling with the engine and not opening it up too much.

 

[bluegoatwoods]

On the question of whether or not HT owners are being trashed here, I am getting vibes that suggest a certain "elitism". This thread has gone through a couple of cycles already;we'll see posts going through the HTs weaknesses in quite a bit of detail. Then someone will say "Hey, aren't we all supposed to be friends here? Quit trashing us."
Then we'll see a few posts that say, "we're not trying to trash anyone. Just discussing pros and cons" And then it starts over again.

My question, then; do we really need the equivalent of a four year university education to understand that these are kits designed to be just good enough at the cheapest possible production cost? Or that there are higher quality kits available, for those who wish, at higher cost?

Are we so dumb that we must keep chewing the same fat over and over?

I'm not really all that thin-skinned. But I do feel a bit of annoyance at the need to defend these simple little machines which are, after all, rather valiant when you take price into account.

Is this forum doomed to split because the HTs and the non-HTs can't respect each other? If so, then I'm with the HTs

If you don't like them, then buy something else and be happy.

 

[KiDD]

I'm happy with my happytime....

I now have atleast over 500 miles on it and I haven't had a single problem with it for over a month

 

[astring]

Would you buy one of the Chinese kits if you were told,,,,,,,
That after you bought it,,, you would most likely have problems with the installation , carburetor , gaskets , all bolts , etc., the chain , sprockets , muffler mount , chain tensioner , front mount , throttle , clutch cable & lever , kill switch , rusty gas tank , defective tank petcock , & there would be little, to no warranty or accessible replacement parts ??

Would you still buy one ??

for $1 I may

 

[duivendyk]

May be "Happy Time" should be just restated as "Hobby Time",which is fine if that's what you're after.

 

[iron_monkey]

I finally bothered to read Phils post in detail.

Some tuning got it running pretty good, would almost do 60 km/h with the 44 tooth and was at last getting decent mileage, around 140 km a tank.

Then the CDI sh!t itself, no spark, got a new one, put it on and back to stage one, running sh!t again, so got a new mag, still running bad, so bought another CDI and MAG at the same time, still running bad, wet plug and carb seetings unchanged since I lost spark.
Changed the plug lead again, put a stainless wire one on, no differance, droped the needle, solderd the jet and redrilled, lmao made it to lean and broke the bottom ring and scored the bore, now its junk.

It looks like you stuffed the connecting rod bearing/bushing going at 60k/hr at 44t sprocket. I cannot imagine anyone going 60km/hr with the stock sprocket or what the poor engine sounds like at that speed.

As a result engine runs poorly, you then try fiddling with the electrics and the carb thinking they might be the culprit, stuff up, and finally killed the engine for good.

Sorry but this is yet another one of those simple examples where a HT engine dies from outright abuse. Even if the exact cause wasn't the connecting rod bearing/bushing going bad, at this rate your engine was going to die very soon anyway.

 

[duivendyk]

Yes, there appear to be a fair number of immature, testosterone challenged speed demons out there in HT land, few engines will stand up to that for any lenght of time.But they are slow in getting the message it seems,or else they don't read the posts.

 

[BSA]

Yes, there appear to be a fair number of immature, testosterone challenged speed demons out there in HT land, few engines will stand up to that for any lenght of time.But they are slow in getting the message it seems,or else they don't read the posts.

Sorry, but as a happy time owner I am all to aware of the faults with these engines, but I like them. They can be modified to get better performance than many other engines, are simple, and are cheap. If i spent as much as 500$ on a happy time bike it would be just as reliable as any rack mount system and probably faster. They also look great. So stop suggesting that we are stupid for buying things that we like.

BSA

 

[iron_monkey]

Sorry, but as a happy time owner I am all to aware of the faults with these engines, but I like them. They can be modified to get better performance than many other engines, are simple, and are cheap. If i spent as much as 500$ on a happy time bike it would be just as reliable as any rack mount system and probably faster. They also look great. So stop suggesting that we are stupid for buying things that we like.
BSA

Read it again. Hes obviously not referring to everyone who bought a HT.

 

[duivendyk]

I did NOT suggest that HT users are morons,don't put words in my mouth and don't malign me!,if you choose to draw that conclusion it is your own warped one.Read some of my other posts on the HT subject and you could learn that I have nothing against experimentation,I think I talked about "inexpensive fun and an excellent learning experience in the school of hard knocks".But as an engineer it pains me to see engines,especially clearly underdesigned ones senselessly abused by some users.The stupidity lies not in buying these things but in MISUSING them.