Lifan engine or new cylinder head...?

Hi all.

The 32 year old exhaust on my Chaly broke off at the manifold, I got a new one and tried to get the old one off but managed to shear off one of the studs. The end of the pipe has also brazed itself into the manifold. Upon closer inspection I noticed a crack in the cylinder head at the manifold. It looks like I'm going to have to replace the cylinder head and looked online for a new one, they look pretty much impossible to source without shelling out a small fortune.

However, I can get a brand new Lifan 110cc semi auto engine for £200.

I'm basically asking two questions here. 1) Should I try to source a new cylinder head, and if so where is a good place to find one? Or 2) Should I get a whole new Lifan engine, and if so how hard would it be to fit?

Any help/advice would be gratefully received.

Cheers,

Martin.

Fitting shouldn't be too bad, but you may have to fit a new wiring loom and maybe convert to 12V. On the plus side, you could get a good power increase by increasing to a 110cc, and on the down side it may take a bit off the value of the bike.

If you do go ahead with an engine swap, it might be worth searching to see if any of the specialists have a wiring conversion kit to enable leaving the rest of the bike alone.

Other options: Buy a C70 copy head from EBay or Beatrice Cycles in the USA or put a complete 50cc top end on your bike. You may also be able to buy a 70cc piston kit machined for use with a 50cc head.

Cheers.

My Chaly is a 12v, it's a 1984 3 speed fully auto, so hopefully a new loom/cdi shouldn't be needed if i have to get a new engine.

Update on current status: I removed the head, drilled out the broken stud, retapped the hole and put in a new stud. i also used a Dremmel to get the end bit of the exhaust out of the manifold and cleaned it all up with scotchbrite, I then put it all back together and fitted the new exhaust.

However, it now won't start.

It kind of did at first but conked out as soon as I let go of the throttle, but now I kick it over and over and it just wont respond. I think there might be a compression issue due to damaged gaskets from when i disassembled it (i did put that loctite liquid gasket stuff all over it when i reassembled it, but i dont think it helped.

I get paid tomorrow, so i'll get on fleabay and order a full gasket set and a compression tester. Once i've received them I'll take it all apart again and replace all of the top end gaskets. if this doesn't work, i might have to start thinking along the lines of new engine

Sorry, in my world the Honda Chaly is on an 'M' reg number plate and has three gears, an auto clutch and a 6 Volt battery.....!

Did you make certain that you got the timing right?

Old gaskets and liquid gasket are no good for cylinder heads. There is too much compression. I suggest you clean off the remnants and try again with new gaskets.

Little Honda's like these just have to run....... They always do..... A friend of mine had a Chaly 40 years or so as a child. It went all through the family and was thrashed around fields every weekend for years. Everyone thought everyone else was carrying out maintenance, but no one really was! It still has 40 year old dirt on it, and it still starts first or second kick!

Liquid gasket was the problem. It had squished into the combustion chamber and bunged up the valves. I peeled it all off, replaced the gaskets and rubber seals with new ones, bolted everything back together and it kicked over almost first time. The Chaly is up and running once again and I rode it into work this morning for the first time in months.

Hi BaldyMD, nice to here you got the Chaly up and running again and that it's taking you to work and back

It's good to be back on it, it's just a shame that I've got it going in time for the weather to get cold and miserable. Here's hoping for good weather on Sunday so I can take it a bit further afield than work!