I had a Dodge 318 V8 that overheated and burned a piston. Money was tight at the time, so I went to a "pull your own" junkyard, got a rod & piston, used the original bearings and rings from my engine, put it all together with new gaskets, got another 30,000 miles out of it. Desperation and ingenuity sometimes work well as a team.

Hands of a surgeon with a calm and cool demeanor.

This was the worst damage I've seen in your videos. If you didn't have the spare parts, that machine would've been for parts only. Now it lives to fight another day. Good job.

Fresh cup of tea, let’s settle in for a little JC Thursday! Oh wait, I should be working!

Great video. Probably one of my favorites just because you took parts you had to fix it. Almost everyone who came across a motor with that kind of damage would have scrapped it . Saving a new motor for $34, priceless. No doubt it will pull its weight and drive a generator. Breathing life into one that was also headed for the scrap yard. When I was real young my uncle went to school for small engine repair. While he was there my grandfather went to a auction at a local business that had just gone out of business. He got a truck load of new and new/old stock still in original packages. (Briggs and tecumseh parts). There was also boxes of old parts from motors taken apart and saved for the same purpose you just showed. I was bored one rainy day and dug thru the many boxes of old parts and actually found enough to assemble a complete motor. It was about a 4 horse maybe or smaller. Flat head briggs. I actually assembled it with no gaskets. It ran like a new motor. I was about 11 years old. Didn't know gaskets was needed. Lol. My uncle came home on weekends. I showed him what I did. We dug thru the parts and found gaskets. That motor ran great. I actually put it on a mini bike frame we got from another suction. It ran great for a long time til my younger brother blew it up pulling on the governor arm to make it go faster. Lol. This video reminded me of that. I don't know how I got it to work. I basically knew nothing about small engines. No skill used. Pure luck.

Hi James I’m not sure if you will see this post but I recently discovered your KZfaq channel and as I was on vacation this week (and dealing with a nasty cold) I binged on your videos and was inspired to take another crack at fixing my deceased father in laws old 1988 John Deere SX75 riding mower (sentimental to my wife). Following your diagnostic thinking( spark, fuel, timing etc.) I got it running again and will give it another life mowing the lawn at our camp. Please keep producing (only if you’re enjoying doing so) these videos as your thought process and attention to detail is inspiring… Michael O.

Best to insert a snug fitting drill bit inside the dowels so when you grip the dowel it does not deform👍

Nice,no internal plastic parts. I like watching KZfaq videos where people are repairing internal combustion engines. I’ve a Generac 6,500 continuous watts,industrial commercial generator. I purchased it in 1995. It has performed perfectly. The only thing I don’t like about this generator. The exhaust muffler is quite small and extremely loud. My Generac brushless continuous 6,500 watt 7,800 watt short term usage generator has a 13 horsepower Honda Clone internal combustion engine. I instantly converted the generator over to propane. Never having to worry about the gasoline going bad. I purchased a a 500 gallon propane tank. I installed it myself. I also built a shed and a permanent spot for the generator. I ran 0 stranded copper wire from an electric panel in my shed to my main panel in my home’s garage. My brother in law was an electrician and gave me the wire,sub panel and breakers. I didn’t use a disconnect switch. My wife and children knew to turn off the main breaker and turn on the 30 amp breaker for the generator. I also put an electric starter on the generator. The Honda Clone already had a flywheel with the gear teeth on it. Many manufacturers of generators that has the option to put an electric starter on it. Don’t have the gear teeth on the flywheel. The Honda Clone has an oil pump and filter. When I was living in the mountains of Pennsylvania. My neighborhood power grid was not on a loop. During our regular winter snowstorms . We would many times lose power for up to 5 days. The Generac Generator did its job exceptionally well. It would run our Well Pump and oil fired home heater. That had a copper coil inside for hot water. I also had a ventless fireplace heater. I purchased another 500 gallon propane tank for that. I would use a battery from my Ford F-350 with a DC to AC converter for the televisions and computers. The Generac Generator also has a 12 volt DC port for charging vehicle batteries and charge the Truck Battery daily. My truck has 2 batteries and I would swap them out daily. Anyway I really like your videos. Over time I will most likely watch all of your videos. The only thing that sucked was I had an electric stove. We would use a Coleman camp stove and a propane grill for cooking. Many of my neighbors didn’t have generators and the ones that did. Didn’t drain the gasoline out and their generators would not run. Or they would have a bunch of cheap extension cords. Many would burn up. Our homes in my neighborhood were at least 100 yards apart. I would allow my one neighbor to plug in a high end 30 amp extension cord. So his baseboard heat wouldn’t freeze. He had the same problem. Gasoline over a year old, no stabilizer in the gasoline. (The carburetor from my Generac was identical to my neighbors generator carburetor. After it dawned on me that I had a brand new carburetor. I installed it on his generator. ) His generator of course would not start. He and his wife had 4 small children. He would help me without question any time I asked. I would always return the favor. I ended up converting his generator over to propane and installed a disconnect switch,sub panel and breakers in his shed. This is what you do for neighbors that are decent hardworking people. After 20 years of moving. We still keep in communication regularly. He was so thankful when I converted his generator over to propane. My brother in law gave me all the 0 stranded copper wire. Sub Panel,disconnect switch and breakers. Another neighbor on the other side was a complete a-hole. He also had baseboard heat. Didn’t drain the gasoline out of his generator. One snow storm we had lost power for 5 days. All his pipes froze and split. The neighbor I was glad to help. I had him purchase antifreeze and filled his baseboard heating system with it. Just in case,He never had to worry about his pipes freezing and splitting. I had him purchase. Ford diesel antifreeze that never goes bad. His baseboard heating system still has the same antifreeze in it. No corrosion at all.

Nice work Jim! Good to see that the Hemi can be swapped-out for a standard head with minimal changes.

Brilliant your ability to know what parts fit other engines is priceless. Congrats 😊😊😊

Thrifty and clever James, well done it sounds great!

Thanks James for your work, your expertise is always appreciated! 👍

Hey James really enjoying your videos . Thanks for all the extra work you're doing to make them . One thing my Blacksmithing Great Grandfather taught my Dad is . When you need to strike the end of a bolt or shaft like you sometimes do to extract a rotor . Place a ballpeen hammer's ball end on the bolt head then strike the hammer with your heavier hammer . I don't know why but it works much better and lessens the chances on damage to the shaft . Thanks again

THANK YOU for the extra info about the HF cleaner... GREAT JOB on the engine! and the video editing!

Fascinating rebuild. Thanks for posting.

I smiled almost as much as you probably did when it started on the first pull. Good job. Thanks

Hi James, in the past I've used an old drill chuck to grab round pins for removal, it works very well. Rich

The first though that occurred to me about that holed piston is; "can it be repaired?" Perhaps a few words on why you wouldn't clean up the hole, bevel it then pour some molten aluminium from below? I don't know why, but your videos engross me. So much so that I have kept an old OHV motor mower engine that I dream of rebuilding (although I have no use for it).

Great precise and accurate rebuild. That's a good motor.

Exellent work. Very quiet & very smooth.

Another MasterClass edition to these venerable 389cc engines. Thanks James, really enjoyed this one!

Had nothing but confidence in your skills James 😊

Bugs me that you did such a great job fixing and cleaning the motor, only to put that rusty flywheel on without so much as wiping off the rust.... 😄 Once again, thanx for a great and informative video.

Great work James !! You know your stuff! When I used to work on lawnmowers, I did the same thing you did.

You redesign them according to the parts you have. Its an amazing skill James.

sounded so smooth, great job

Great video Jim! You are truly the Dr. Frankenstein of small engines and generators 🙂 It is ALIVE!

I watched this hr and and a half long video not learning a thing about motors but found a channel that cares about detail and I can get down with that. This was a very good video. Small engines dont have to be hard there was some foolery but everything was laid out for you. Polite and to the point. Your doing a great job 👏

It's always a good feeling when you successfully cobble parts from several units together into one good unit!

As usual, stellar work melding parts together into a well running engine.

Once again, James' attention to detail pays off with the making of this Frankenstein's monster of a Honda clone. When tested, I don't believe it will make the full, rated 11.7 HP but will be close.

Excellent repair, really enjoyed the journey! That’s why I always keep extra good used parts and engines on hand, they can turn a totaled piece of equipment into a small bump in the road. Very satisfying to save something like that!

I always look forward to your videos James. You didn't disappoint!

To get to dows out easily you put a drill bit in the middle that fits nicely and some vice grips on the out outside of the dow and should come out with a twist and a pull!!😁

Great job James........and the engine lives again....BRAVO.

Great job Jim, really enjoyed the video!

The tools you have bought are making things much easier for you. That ring installer is so worth it, as is the piston installer. Plus it just cuts down on the time monkeying with that stuff.

Learned a bunch James - thanks for posting.

Well done. Engine sounds purrrrfect!

Great start to the day

Nice work!! I took a GN-190 and made a GN-220 head fit because I couldn’t get valves for an early GN-190. It worked out great. Thanks!

Excellent job James. I just sold a Hemi engine to someone a month ago. They usually run really well. Hope to see that one on a machine soon. Thanks for the video.

Great job James you have another good engine to use.

Great job James!

An excellent video. Very relaxing as well as educational. Thank you.

Nice job, James.

I am so pleased to watch this video. I have watched the earlier, related video as well where you did the engine swap. I feel like I could rebuild a similar engine after investing in the needed tools and with plenty of trial and error.

Great job James.

What a great job, James. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing

This was really one of your top videos, in my opinion. I was a bit worried that the cam might be different with a hemi-head engine, but the way it runs that seems not to be an issue. Having a stash is certainly an advantage in this kind of work. Thanks for this very valuable video.

Great video! Went perfect with my morning coffee!

Wonderful job! And very informative! I really enjoyed it, thanks 👍

Nice going, James

I'd like see it back on a power head run power again. Killer job as usual.

Saving old iron, one project at a time! Nice! A lot of detective work involved, but a success in the end, potentially! 😊

Enjoyed the video. Thanks for sharing

Nice work James.. I knew you'd make it happen. Make my engine great again !!

I really appreciate that you approach each of your videos from a novice’s perspective even though you are an expert at your craft. Your camera positioning and editing are best in class. Thanks for all the effort!

Well Done James

Propane torch to heat around those dowel pins...fall right out. Good video.

Well done 👍

a most excellent job as always! Thank you for going over all the differences between the hemi and non-hemi engines as this could be very helpful when one of us has a similar situation with other parts onhand. A TIP: when removing the locator dowels, just use a chisel to collapse/split them and they'll come right out.

Nice job. I think that engine started on the first compression stroke.

An excellent result!

Great job! I love your videos, always informative and entertaining.

Superbly Executed James , was a pleasure to watch & take notes.

Learn by watching. Great channel. See James work

Good video James!

As always another great video,lots of good info

Great save James, for those of us that still DYI our equipment, looking for used parts is getting tougher as many small engine shop don't keep or want to sell used part. Our options are those who have a resale on a social media site or local swap meets. Used parts are just as good as new as you have shown. Keep posting as each time your posts show something new that DYIers use. Tks. Michael

Great problem solving on those stubborn pins. In my comfy chair thinking - since I have no slide hammer - I'd have tried cutting a shallow slot in the pin with a hack saw - or maybe two opposing - and then levering on it/them with a screwdriver. But your solution was a lot more elegant 🙂.

Finally, after watching the news, I can find some sanity... We are a dying breed... Great work as always....

Thanks for another great video. Not sure i would have used a conrod that had suffered over speed and munching a valve up.

Great video and fix! Don’t change a thing sir👍👍👍👍

James, I really appreciate you! For several things, including: (most importantly) failure analysis and theory of operation - actually explaining what the valve stem rotator cups do. I have no idea how many dozens of engine rebuilds/valve jobs, etc. I've seen on YT and you're the first to explain that! I have determined in the past 3 years of my small engine learning that I'm probably more of a diagnostician than anything else and having access to failure analysis and theory of operation information is what I look for more than anything else. I learned a lot this time around, so thanks for that! Also, thanks for following up the previous video with this one - having these in immediate sequence in your upload schedule really helps with continuity, at least from my perspective. Since we already had the previous video clear in our memories, seeing this followup really helped to solidify what we'd absorbed from the previous one. I appreciate that you took the time to do this one immediately instead of moving on to who knows how many others you have waiting in the wings. :) We all assume you torqued those exhaust bolts down. LOL! ;-)

The thin head gasket is used on all the newer honda motors now days and some clones It. It gives a higher compression ratio as it lowers the distance between the piston and head. This will work out good as it will give a bit more hp back after swapping from the hemi head.

Good job. It helps to have spare parts laying around. My wife calls it clutter.

Great video James.

Magnificent, as usual, James! Most enjoyable! Thank-you! Ps the donated lift makes an excellent photo stage! So, thank-you again to its donor!

One of your best videos! Grats on the swap. The diagnosis and tear-down including the detailed rebuild is excellent - I learned a few tips along the way. interested in the grey drill burnishing tool. However, couldn't figure out if it was rubber or abrasive, realizing you provide affiliate links for the parts and tools in the description - glad you included the blind bearing tool, used for the removal of the alignment pins. Thank You!

Exceeds Expectations? For that bit of magic, you get an Outstanding!

Brilliant James. Great video and very informative. I guess two heads are better than one😂 or even three👍😆

James, you do such nice videos, very informative and educational, you are the master of Genny's...

Nice job, Dr Frankenstein

Excellent work

Another job well done, love the vids keep up the great work.

Another great video, James.

I'm impressed with the engine rebuild. Using mismatched parts can be problematic. Glad this project worked as planned. I would want to run the loaded generator for at least 48 to 72 hours and then change the oil. Look for any metal. Then it can be sold knowing it's going to be ok.

Well James, I’m impressed we do the hemi non-hemi head swap on predator 212s using a thin shim head gasket and the hemi piston which is a non-dish piston. It’s a flat top. It works very well but I can’t wait to see what happens when you put it on a machine to put it to work, I’ll keep an eye out for that video

Hemispheric heads put out the hp and the torque. Thank you James for another good rebuild vid.

I just realized something you are saving $400 that's a win-win my friend

Good job.

What an interesting video. Excellent news being able to convert from Hemi to parallel valve. Wonder if power output will be affected? Can't wait to see this engine coupled with a 7500 watt power head and see how it does under load. As always, thank you James for your awesome videos.

It's nice to know that even a semi-professional can have trouble with bits which just "won't go" when you try to remove them. The latest news in my engine fix-up saga is that I attempted to remove the main jet from the old carb but it simply refused to budge no matter what I tried. I've decided to try to find out what size it is and then, if it's larger than the jet on the new carb, I'll drill out the new jet. But I only have drill sizes 0.5mm and 1.0mm so I have to wait for delivery of a selection of drills I've ordered which are in 0.1mm increments between 0.5 and 1.0mm. I managed to drill through the gunk in the old jet with the 0.5mm bit, but the new jet is larger than that yet smaller than the 1.0mm bit. So far as I can tell, the 1.0mm bit isn't attempting to drill through the gunk in the old jet but is being stopped by the metal, so I know that jet is smaller than 1.0mm as well. Now I just have to wait for the new bits and I can attempt to drill out the gunk in the old jet until I get a bit large enough that it hits metal, then go back to the next smaller bit and drill out the new jet to that size. I have no backup plan at this stage if I discover that the old and new jets are actually the same size already.

Nice. First pull.

Very easy to understand your english, appreciate it. I am from Sweden

Superbe travail, très instructif, merci 🙂

Very nice as always.

A bonafide JC custom build! That thing sounds smooth as butta, man! Nice save on the cheap with salvage parts. Busy with mowers and pollen thick enough to pass for ash down here in NC. Keep em coming Jim!

Yep, I'd swap parts like you did in a heartbeat. The piston/head are very different, of course. There may be a minor change in horsepower/volume/rotating mass, but who cares? Long as it runs. Cool job.