Replacing Harbor Freight Generator Head Gasket With Homemade One
My little Harbor Freight 800 watt generator blew a head gasket. A head bolt came loose and burnt through the head gasket. The engine was running poorly. I finally decided to make my own head gasket and get my generator running well again.
I got a huge flat sheet of head gasket material at NAPA Auto for only about $14 a while back for this job. I finally got around to fixing my little generator.
It is a very simple task which only took me about an hour or so. I pulled off the spark plug wire first. Next I took off the two screws holding on the plastic shroud.
Then it was a simple four bolts to remove the generator engine head.
The head gasket was clearly burnt through and the cylinder and head both had some crud built up on them where the gases had been blowing through. I am surprised this tiny little 2 cycle engine was still running at all.
I traced out the original head gasket onto the flat gasket material with a pen.
Then I cut it with some heavy duty scissors around the outside. I did not have to be perfect. Square works fine for this job.
The hard part was cutting out the metal and rubberized head gasket material. I ended up using a drill to put holes all the way around the inside of the head gasket where I needed to cut out the center.
Then I used a carpet knife to finish the job. Again the drill was used to drill out the bolt holes.
I used a rubber mallet and a piece of wood to flatten the new homemade generator head gasket before taking it outside to mount onto my generator.
The new DIY head gasket slipped right onto my HF generator cylinder with ease.
I put the head on and screwed it down.
Now for the test run.
It fired and sputtered a bit but would not run. A bit tighter on the bolts and then another try at running the generator.
I did not want to torque the bolts down too far. I did not want to damage the soft aluminum cylinder.
The engine started right up and ran well.
Success.
Follow my daily progress on the path to self sufficiency on my off grid solar homestead.
https://www.youtube.com/user/techman2015/playlists?view=50&shelf_id=10&sort=dd
Please donate to help keep The Off Grid Project going: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3TQSWXLLRZ6HW
Join The Off Grid Project and The Do It Yourself World forum and share your ideas, tips and projects.
http://www.thediyworld.com/forum
The Off Grid Project is presented by The Do It Yourself World.
http://www.TheDIYworld.com
-
1:00:22
Trumpet Daily
1 day agoRudy Giuliani Was Right - Trumpet Daily | June 14, 2024
63.5K130 -
37:20
themidwesterner
7 hours agoMAGA Boat Parade from Detroit, MI: Lead boat coverage
41.7K17 -
1:34:40
Game On!
19 hours agoNBA Finals Game 7 is Crickett's Nightmare! | Sports Morning Espresso Shot
60.1K11 -
8:08
Tyler Monagan
1 day agoWorlds Fastest E-Bike with Paddle Tire RIPS!!
87.5K52 -
7:53
ParisDemers
1 day agoAndrew Tate's 25-Min Daily At-Home Workout Hack Will Get You Jacked!?
76.3K87 -
23:14
Brewzle
1 day agoI Went Bourbon Hunting For Dusties in Alabama
73.5K48 -
24:18
CarlCrusher
1 day agoSkinwalker's Evil Twin - Beyond Skinwalker Ranch Behind the Scenes Season 1 ep 6
91.9K9 -
13:47
RealitySurvival
1 day agoHow To Build A Camp Fire Fast!
66K12 -
13:24
Space Ice
1 day agoSteven Seagal's Exit Wounds Is So Bad DMX Was Jailed Over 30 Times - Worst Movie Ever
78.3K51 -
1:17:22
Andy Frisella
1 day agoDid He Just Threaten Us? - Ep 726 CTI
72.7K139