Honda GC opinions?

sparkwizard

sparkwizard

#1
#1
I'm looking at a lightly used Honda GC 160 OHC engine. I don't think I have ever heard one run. I'm looking to put it on a small minibike frame.
Has anybody got an opinion one way or the other on these little engines? I understand there is very little to do in terms of performance. Are they smooth, quiet and reliable , like Honda claims? Honda claims they have a lot of torque over a wide range. Come on, it's a 160 cc single....
 
Thepaetsguy

Thepaetsguy

Well-Known Member
#4
#4
on YouTube a guy took one of those Honda’s and purposely set the governor backwards and ran it for like over 30 minutes WFO... The YouTube video is honda governor set wrong on purpose or a title close to that. I had a gc160 and the exhaust faces front and these engines with a small muffler are god awful loud. they are torquey little buggers that will rev hard Though! Again it took along time of wide open for the one on YouTube to blow up. Pulse pump is a plus. Would be solid on a mini although not ideal.
 
VeritableFox

VeritableFox

Active Member
#5
#5
GC160 is 4.6hp, right? That's good enough to get a mini bike going. And yea, there really is zero performance mods for them. Most you would be able to really do is swap the exhaust box out to an actual pipe exhaust to something like a generator muffler to keep the noise down. Can probably swap out the air cleaner box with an adaptor to use a more free flowing style air cleaner like you see on the GX stage 1 kits. I'd never take the thing off the governor though, what with the plastic cam gear and rubber belt that drives it. Trying to take it off governor would leave me wanting to figure out how to make an all steel cam that was chain driven by at least a 22 bike chain.
 
sparkwizard

sparkwizard

#6
#6
No need for more speed. I like the idea of a front pipe like a big bike. Thanks for the replies. I am really just looking for something to putt around the gardens on. I think I will go get the poor neglected little engine.
 
DaddyJohn

DaddyJohn

Well-Known Member
#7
#7
Here’s an MM80 I built with a GC pressure washer engine. I had to heat up the tank and shape it inwards to clear the frame rail, then a little jigger-pokery with the throttle linkage, but it was otherwise pretty straight-forward.

I like the forward facing exhaust port and vertical cylinder, and it makes it look a bit like a real motorcycle engine from the clutch side, though I chose to run the stock muffler instead of making a motorcycle style exhaust. More because I was lazy and it was pretty good as is, lol. What I don’t care for is the plastic blower and recoil housing.

As far as performance, it was plenty fast enough. Way better than the standard engine at any rate!
 

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