A bit of polite discourse on your favorite 2-stroke....

[Harold Member]

WELL... AWLLL RIGHT THEN... LET"S GET RIGHT TO IT, SHALL WE?

Who builds "THE BEST" 2-Stroke engine?
...AND WHY?...

[mcbob]

Well McCulloch of course if you still need to know why then you haven't been paying enough attention Mac's Rule ...................

Mc Bob.

[Dan Flanders]

Because nothing stimulates discourse like a Harry Member?!!? 10 points for creativity.

[Harold Member]

Because nothing stimulates discourse like a Harry Member?!!? 10 points for creativity.

You wouldn't believe my middle name.

Seriously though... I'd like to hear what you folks think about various engines & what their strengths or weaknesses may be.

Thanks

[Rob Voska]

In order to get an answer you have to ask a question. Are you talking Dirt short track? Enduro? Sprint? Back yard fun karting? Go Kart? ATV? TAG? Shifter kart? Quad? Jet Ski? RC Airplane? Boat? Motorcycle? Chain Saw? Weed Wacker? Generator? 2 Stroke Desiel? Snowmobile? Air cooled? Water cooled? Fan cooled? Then the answer is only subjective in nature as it's an opinion. You didn't ask about any style of engine? Weight vs HP?

But I'll tell ys this. There are a LOT of good engine builders. I always run my stuff because I enjoy doing it myself.

[Harold Member]

In order to get an answer you have to ask a question. Are you talking Dirt short track? Enduro? Sprint? Back yard fun karting? Go Kart? ATV? TAG? Shifter kart? Quad? Jet Ski? RC Airplane? Boat? Motorcycle? Chain Saw? Weed Wacker? Generator? 2 Stroke Desiel? Snowmobile? Air cooled? Water cooled? Fan cooled? Then the answer is only subjective in nature as it's an opinion. You didn't ask about any style of engine? Weight vs HP?....

YES.



Experienced opinions are what I'm after. That's why the question was posted in a tongue an cheek fashion. As you note above... How can any one single engine be determined "The Best"?

O.K. I'll narrow it down.

How about, air cooled, 2-stroke engines, that would be well suited to powering the Minibikes and Go-Karts that were popular in the 60's & 70's?
Such as the McCullochs, West-Bends, Homelites, Power Products, etc.

Here are a few 2-strokes that I've managed to collect so far.

This one is a little 3HP Tecumseh 2-stroke from a snow-blower. This engine is incredibly lightweight. I noticed that it doesn't have any form of a reed valve or rotary valve. Just the piston opening & closing the port. As a snow-blower engine, I'm assuming that the engine operated at one speed only. I'm wondering if this engine may be prone to loading up or fouling plugs if used in a constantly varying throttle application such as a Minibike.

I also have one of its big brothers. That engine is rated at 4.5HP and has a 120V electric starter. The starter & the iron toothed flywheel add a huge amount of weight. The engine also has a rope starter & the electric starter will be removed.

This is a Jacobsen 2-stroke from an old reel type lawnmower. I brought this engine, plus the next one, home just the other day & haven't had much time to look into exactly what they are.


Not sure what this one is yet. The remains of the sticker on the blower shroud is pretty much unreadable. There appears to be what might be the 'Power Products' logo.


Here is probably my nicest 2-stroke. A Power Products AH-47.


And here is the real power house of the bunch.


Thanks.

[ted johnson]

Harry, the blue engine is a vertical shaft Clinton, probably a 500 model. It's the vertical shaft version of the A-500, with 2.5 horses. Could be all bushing, could have a ball bearing on the blade end of the crank. Remember that with the piston port Power Products, that piston porting is not a major limiting factor. Yammie kart motors and HPV's are piston ported! Ted

[Russ Smith]

Nice AH-47 with the Clinton Chainsaw D35/D65 exhaust. Do you still have the washing machine that the Maytag engine came from???

[Harold Member]

Harry, the blue engine is a vertical shaft Clinton, probably a 500 model. It's the vertical shaft version of the A-500, with 2.5 horses. Could be all bushing, could have a ball bearing on the blade end of the crank. Remember that with the piston port Power Products, that piston porting is not a major limiting factor. Yammie kart motors and HPV's are piston ported! Ted

Ted, Thanks for the info. I finally have a Clinton in the bunch. Do you have any idea if this engine will tolerate being operated as a horizontal shaft engine once the carb is rotated & the fuel tank is repositioned.

In your reference to piston ported engines... Does that mean engines without any reed valves or rotary valves? I had both a single cylinder 2-stroke dirt bike & a twin cylinder 2-stroke street bike. Neither were reed valve engines. one was a '72 Yamaha DS7 & the other was a '76 Suzuki RM125. Both ran great as long as they were on the pipe. Don't you dare let them lug around at low RPM even for a few seconds or they'd load up & take quite a while to clear them out. I never fully understood what was happening when they'd load up. The Zook took the longest to clear out but she rarely fouled a plug. The Yammy was the opposite & you best carry a couple fresh spare plugs at all times. I was under the impression that reed valves had eliminated this problem and were standard equipment anymore. Please school me.

Russ, The Maytag came to me just as you see it. I have yet to decide what it will power when the time comes. It was something that was appealing enough, that I had to have it if the seller would agree to my price, which he did. I'm looking forward to restoring that one.

Once again... Thanks everyone.