Hondas and knock-offs

The knock-off 5.5 I have grown to love is a copy of the better motor, and from the appearance of both I'll bet it will outperform the cheapie, though it sold for less than half the price.

The same trip I bought a 6.5 Tecumseh lawn mower engine, on sale for $88. CDN. Thought I'd bolt it to an old chassis, but the second drive shaft may interfere with that. I may have to find a self-propelled mower with a blown engine.

A couple of things about the Tecumseh startled me. The first was that the engine will not turn over when I pull the cord gently. Seems it's shipped without oil, but this one won't move at all. The second thing has to do with the label and its codes. According to the EPA the life expectancy of this engine is 125 hours. That's it. No wonder the thing was in a remainder bin.

I look forward to finding a use for the engine -- a welcome change from a solid year of making sawdust.

When I was in the USMC in Korea in the late 80's we could buy for $10 Rebok tennis shoes that were IDENTICAL to the ones we could buy for 70-80 in the States and they wore for a long time like the originals. We knew they were fake but for 10 bucks???

Not saying the engines are as quality as Honda but anything can be faked, copied, counterfeited. Some may be cost effective.

.....didn't even mention the "Rolex" I bought in NYC for 20 bucks that has sweeping second hand like a real one..... ..