I hope it all works out. There's definitely a cult following. I made a once in a lifetime find at a yard sale a few years ago. It was at an older summer home where the garage hadn't been opened up in years. It turned out that there was all of this power equipment from the early 1960's in nearly pristine condition. When i talked with the woman ( in her 60's ) she explained that it was her father's place and that he was an engineer.
The thing that caught my eye was an ONAN 2200 watt / 110 volt generator head that was intended to be mounted on the PTO of a tractor. She initially wanted 325.00 $ but i got her down to 75.00 $ at the end of the day when the yard sale was closing out.
To give you a basis of comparison: The ONAN 2200 watt weighed close to 110 lbs. When i pulled the generator head on my modern 5 KW 220 volt generator it weighed about seven lbs. What a difference !
Long story short ... i eventually gave the ONAN head to a local guy that's still running a 110 volt machine on the condition that it never be scrapped out. I can't imagine how much copper might be in the windings of that thing.
One thing i've run into with most older small engines: They were built before the blended fuels were ever thought of. The fuel line that runs from the tank to the carb will sometimes crack and suck air when exposed to gasahol. If you start up the machine and it's running ragged that's the first thing to check for. They have special fuel line for the gasahol at the parts store.
The one thing i don't have an easy answer for is the rubber plenums & seals in the carb. They seem to suffer a similar fate when exposed to this new fuel for any amount of time. You would have to ask around, but there are generic aftermarket carbs that go more by bolt pattern & engine horsepower than anything else. All things being equal they would work as well on an ONAN as a Honda.
A running unit as close to original condition would have more value to a collector than one where the condition is unknown.
Bookmarks