oldbassard

Hey Gang

I used to be a partner in a small engine repair shop. I am quite sure we worked on about any problem a small engine can come up with. During this time I did take the interest in comparing the different "Knock Off" or aftermarket parts and quality replacement parts. I think if there is a problem these small engines can have, my former partner and I have worked on it. With the exception of the new ignitions on these RC's, which I am just getting back into.

We used to have a saying, "If it's getting gas and fire, It'll run" Well that has to be amended to, "If it's getting CORRECT gas and fire, it'll run".

I did take the time to carefully disassemble and compare Chicom and Walbro carburetors. Often you'll get a chicom carb that will last a good while and sometimes you get them that wont run right from day one. Here's why. the diaphragm inside the carburetor meters and pumps the fuel, the diaphragm inside the chicom crab are very noticeably inferior to the Walbro. They are much thinner and are made of a lesser quality material. These inferior diaphragms cause the engine to idle and run erratically, die in the air, hard to start and a host of other problems. So sometimes they work right for a while, sometimes they don't work at all and sometimes they might last a few years. Any Walbro I have owned has lasted me several years (I currently have one that's been running for about ten years).


The first gasoline engine I bought for an RC was last year, it was a chicom engine that was advertised to come with a Walbro after I received it, I saw it was a cheap copy of a Walbro. The first thing I did before I started the engine was to put a Bowman ring and a Walbro carburetor on it.


Having bought the engine, I don't want to take any chances on a substandard carburetor causing the engine to fail in the air, and the Bowman ring is just a big plus for HP.


All Walbro does is to design and develop small engine carburetors, they put a great deal of research into their carburetors, others try to simply make cheap copies of them and that has caused a lot of dead sticks and crashes for RC's. For me the new carb was a
must.

To give you a better understanding of the importance of the diaphragms these carburetors. They are made of a very special rubber. The rubber has to flex just the right amount at the exact right time. After the diaphragm ages it gets stiffer and causes the engine not to perform as it should because it can't pump or meter correctly. No other company puts the research into development into the carb than Walbro, that's why when you buy any quality two stroke engine, Stihl, Husqvarna, OS, Saito and others they ALWAYS have a walbro.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

Current Walbro and Zama carbs are often made in China to Walbro and Zama specs.

There is a Chinese copier of Walbro carbs (brand name EMAS) that has a fair record but you rarely see the EMAS name or even a model number on them.

The Chinese are quick to copy a successful name brand but not too good on supplying the spare parts. To correct that statement, they actually do make some spare parts and in particular the diaphragm kits but they label them under the pretense of being replacements for specific Walbro or Zama carbs. The Stens after market company imports mostly Chinese parts.

So be careful about repairing your Walbro carb with new diaphragms that you are getting genuine parts?

Newer carbs come with brownish Kevlar or bluish Mylar pump diaphragms which rarely go bad but the metering valve diaphragm is still the old style "rubber" and will eventually get stiff.

oldbassard

Thanks for the intelligent input, I have been away from small engine repair a few years and you added some facts I was unaware of.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

Something to take note of is that the Chinese copy the Walbro carbs but they also copy the Zama carbs. If your carb has no traceable model numbers, it probably is a Chinese copy?

There's more to the Chinese carb story as many of these little Chinese engine marketers get government credit for using all Chinese parts and I mean a company that is all Chinese. Not a company owned by someone in the USA but located in China.

earlwb

The main issue is getting a real genuine Walbro rebuild kit. I strongly suspect that the Chinese copy the rebuild kits and even if you get what you think is a good rebuild kit, it may be a fake.

s3nfo

My Feedback: (14)

Couple of months ago I went to my local lawn mower repair shop (also Stihl and Honda dealer) and they told me Zama was bought out by a German company and Walbro parts are getting hard to get cause Zama's quality is vastly improved and they're taking over the small engine market.

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

Stihl bought Zama some years ago.

I think Zama has improved some and more chainsaws and OPE engines have Zama carbs now days.

But Walbro has also been involved with some of the computer controlled mixture carburetors.

Also Stihl prefers to replace a troublesome carb with a new one rather than waste labor rebuilding it. They have reduce the price of many of the Zama models used on Stihl OPE.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

Walbro parts are not hard to find at all. There are many *bay sites that advertise the genuine repair kits and I have found a couple that offer extremely fast service and reasonable prices. Genuine Walbro parts are clearly marked as such though I have received a few small parts such as shafts that came in small brown paper envelopes. I would guess they were picked from bulk stock and were identical in every way to the original part. If ordering from a local dealer, insist on genuine Walbro parts if that is important to you and reject those that are not. Frankly, I rarely if ever go to a local dealer for parts as most would simply rather not deal with our small purchases and their prices are almost always 2x to 3x compared to online.

Regarding Chinese Walbro carb clones or even genuine Walbro carbs made in China, so far I have had zero problems with these and hope the trend continues.

av8tor1977

My Feedback: (6)

Zama is grabbing a bigger share of the market. I am finding a lot of Zama carbs on high end engines that always used to have Walbro carbs.

AV8TOR

nick.henderson

Here's a thought. Has anyone tried to see if Walbro rebuild kits, gaskets, diaphragms etc will work on the Chinese Walbro clones? Buy a clone, swap out the guts and presto!!! Maybe??!!

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

In most cases, the Walbro kits do work in the Chinese carbs.

But I don't think it is a situation where you get a silk purse from a sow's ear though?

You just get a Chinese copy of a Walbro that still works.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

Me thinks people are making way too much of this Chinese Walbro thing. Like it or not, they are here to stay for a good long while and they work just fine in most cases. Get over it as they're not going away anytime soon.

Were there never cases of so called genuine Walbro carbs that had defects? In my own experiences, the only real Walbro carbs that have had problems were marked Mexico and Japan!