Are clones just as good?

[southysuper]

I’m familiar with clone gas engines (most being Honda clones), but not so much with diesel. I’m in the United States and we do not see nearly as many Yanmar engines as elsewhere in the world. Typically a clone is an almost exact copy of an engine design, but as we know the quality of the assembly, the materials, and components themselves can vary greatly. So I’m looking for a Yanmar clone and I’m seeing some familiar some not so familiar names like kohler, Apollo, Carroll Stream, Launtop, Winsun, Hatz, Lombardini, Amico, and the list goes on.

Questions: does it really matter? Is one clone better than the next or is it all a crapshoot? I want reliability, but sometimes a “name brand” is just that. EPA certified does not matter for my area as I’m not looking to run on the streets and my state has no vehicle inspection (SC). Thoughts, experiences, advice?

[coachgeo]

Move about thru here...... read some build threads etc. Will answer your questions with more detail. In short........ the clones are hit and miss in quality/durability ....... more miss........ WAY WAY WAY MMORE miss but hopefully that is improving. Course I'm an optimist to a fault

[Stuart]

As Coach says, they are improving but it's probably still advisable to stick with a reputable make for the moment.

[alexanderfoti]

I have done 2000 miles on a punsun clone, with little engine trouble. I change my oil at the moment every 1500 miles as it's only 2 liters.

I may increase this as I put more miles on it.

Henry price of Henry price motorbikes would be a good person to ask, he builds and sells royal Enfield diesels with the clone engines in them so he has probably seen many failure modes.

[pietenpol2002]

Hey Southy, you could also talk to these lads over near Chattanooga. They've got quite a bit of experience with these engines and have sold quite a few. They're members of this board but I don't believe they're on here very often. They carry the Winsun, which seems to be one of the better quality clones and they have the 13 hp back in stock again. Others can correct me if this is wrong, but as I recall, Winsun took the 13 hp out of production for a time while they sorted out a crankshaft problem. It's now back in production with the crank problem presumably resolved.

http://www.a1biofuel.net/index.html

[arnaud]

my yanmar clone did over a 100.000 without big issues..