Genuine Yanmar vs. Clone vs. Robin?

[mhsilverw]

Hi,

As I get nearer tidying up after stripping the enfield (with a duff petrol engine), may I ask a engine related query?

I recall the Redbrest Robin DR400 from the 80's with the conversion with a diesel engine, whch I think was Japanese...and the tests on that bike around the time.

I know that several enfield conversions on here use Yanmar or Yanmar clone type engines (I think Henry Price may sell some with 'clones') as oppossed to the Greeves sort that Enfield themselves made.

Whilst I guess a 'genuine' Yanmar engine may be more expensive than a 'clone' {assume chinese?} what are the advantages (if any) of using a genune motor. And how do these compare to the 'Robin' and 'Greeves'?

Kind Regards

Mark

[andrewaust]

I think the Robin and Greeves is a little less in HP then the L100, here where I live the genuine L100 is ridiculously expensive, I've run the guts out of the clone L100 clocking up 18K so far, I will admit some of these engines could do with a pull down and some of the crappy bearings replaced, still far cheaper then purchasing genuine.

My engine has Japanese NTN bearings which was a bonus. I did replace the main ball raced main cartridge bearing as loctite floating in the oil caught up in the race and made it noisy.

It really comes to your budget and engine preference.



A

[John]

Hi Mark. I'm not sure where you are, but in the UK, a Yanmar L100 would retail around £1400-£1500. A Chinese equivalent can be purchased brand new for around £400! I have seen a Hyundai 418cc diesel (The Yanmar is 406cc) which retails at about £350. Even though the durability may be inferior compared to the original, even if you had to buy 3 clones to 1 original Yanmar, it would STILL work out cheaper! I would imagine that a clone would have at least 3/4's of the engine life of the original. The longevity of an air cooled industrial diesel single working at 3600rpm all its life, is around 2000 hours. Even if we assume a life of 1500 hours for the clone, & assume a lifetime average speed of just 35 mph for a diesel bike, that still works out at 52500 miles, which is pretty good going for a motorbike. And remember, that's based on the unrealistic assumption that the engine will spend its entire life at 3600.
Hope that puts your mind at ease! Regards, John.

[arnaud]

just get a 418 yanmar clone, the german ebay is a good source, and the sellers will ship to your adress.
stay away from the very cheapest ones.mine costed 320 euro and is fairly good.
run over 45K now. Freqeunt oil change is advisable.