no rings in new happytime engine. wtf?

[RMWdave]

so i guess as far as our hobby goes its safe to say that even locktite isnt enough? its pretty sad that you have to be an experienced small engine mechanic to get any reliability or proper performance out of this with the parts you get.

this MIGHT get fixed......but you can be rest assured that when it goes back togeather its going to done right..... IE balanced crank.... porting.... pipe and carb and all the other **** i cant afford.
if i had any sort of credit id probley go and buy myself a ruckus scooter

 

[fetor56]

This seems to be the guy on eBay.....needless to say do your best to contact him cos of the poor interchangeability of internal HT parts; + it's not your fault.
http://shop.ebay.ca/merchant/zero-pulse_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZ

 

[RMWdave]

fetor, you say poor interchangability. does that mean that a small engine shop wont be able to match up some rings?

 

[arceeguy]

If you start off with one of the better engines (Grubee, Powerking, etc), it doesn't really take much to get them reliable. Does your engine have a label with the factory name? If so, who manufactured the engine?

Replacing the acorn nuts on the head, making sure the studs are fully seated, and torquing them is all I do nowadays. The engine mounting hardware is another reputed weak spot, but I have found that if you don't overtorque the fasteners (about 6-7 lb/ft) and use loctite to prevent loosening, they will be fine.

If I were you, I would just get a set of rings from the vendor and not touch the porting or engine internals. Just make sure the carb isn't to lean, keep the revs reasonable, and it might last a while.

 

[RMWdave]

update: just spoke with the vendor over gmail chat, he is lettermailing me a set of rings on monday. Here is the chat i had with him so none of you get the wrong idea about him! once again, hes a great guy to buy from.

me: yea, i cant run this at all its got no rings in it at all
Zero-Pulse: hi David
me: its been down for two weeks now
Zero-Pulse: I was just in the process of writing an email to you
you can ship the engine back that isn't a problem
I got a few engines laying around here I can replace them with
Sent at 7:54 PM on Friday
me: ok but i cant afford shipping at all can you send me one on monday with a slip for the return and ill just pull the new one out of the box and put this one in it and hand it right back to ups?
can we do it that way
just rings would be fine
Zero-Pulse: Hi David, I don't offer free return shipping my items are already mark down super low, this bike kit is already losing me about $100 USD, the only thing I can do is ship you the piston rings if you think you can put them on
me: yea i can do that if you have a set of rigs i dont mind at all that would be great
Zero-Pulse: ok no problem at all. I will letter mail them over to you on monday.
sorry about that issue
me: hey, no problem. i know first hand about chinese quality control lol
Zero-Pulse: oh trust me sometimes its unbeleivable
me: im just glad i gave it a going over before i started it!
no damage done
Zero-Pulse: its all good
you must have some really really bad luck
sold 500 of these engines only two had seized engines
and then your problem twice
really really weird
me: lol
just the rings is fine with me im a mechanic so i have all the tools to rebuild it
Zero-Pulse: David some advice, never go to a casino
me: i dont think ill have any more problems this one seems to be alot better in comparison to the black one everything is torqued
im going to post this chat up on motoredbikes.com if you dont mind for some feedback?
the members over there seem to think this is pretty f-ed up too
Zero-Pulse:
no problem at all
me: thanks again paul haha sorry
ill be back in a month or two for a second kit
Zero-Pulse:
apperciate it david
me: ttyl! (hopefully later, not sooner)

Zero-Pulse: no problem later david
Sent at 8:03 PM on Friday

 

[Esteban]

You do get what you pay for !

 

[fetor56]

Glad it worked-out.

BTW...here is the response to your original question but the problem got fixed in the meantime:
Personally i think there IS a good chance a small engine shop(somewhere) would be able to match up the rings & probably sell u better rings.It's going to be harder cos u don't have a sample to work with.
Firstly i was thinking your completely justified in going back to that particular "zero-pulse" vendor & have HIM correct the problem(at minimal cost to you)
Vendor first,small engine shops/other HT dealers/performance engine shops & get new rings machined-up.
Whatever it's going to be a hassle,sorry & good luck.

 

[machiasmort]

You've got better luck then me! I bought one siezed from the factory from BGF E-bay.
Was told I was on my own. Couldn't find rings locally to save my life, the bores are an oddball size. Dax and Blue collar Bob help me get the thing runnin finally. Closest ring I found was out of an English chainsaw. My buddy owns a small engine repair shop and out of 1,000s of rings had one that was still .100 oversize! Nobody else in Buffalo came close! Dax finally was the solution, He came up with one that was .020-.030 undersize but enough to just brush the cylinder wall and keep the piston from slapping arround. I used it for the bottom ring.

The head bolt was stripped so I retapped it 1/4X20 and in the process of taking the jug off, lost the base gasket!!! The motor is now ultra high compression and I've got over 1,000 miles on it!

Like AG said, make sure you run it rich!!!

 

[Mountainman]

everyTHING seems to be pretty up and up at this time
it's a good THING
the one THING that I didn't understand was
did the dealer say that he loses 100 dollars on each one sold ??
and has sold many many ??
poor guy would be broke -- I think ??
MM

 

[RMWdave]

no hes lost a hundred bucks on the original warrentied kit (this engine without any rings is a replacement, hence him mentioning my bad luck haha)