Rebuilding an old Honda HR214

[Kevin509]

Hey all, I have an old Honda HR214 at home, no idea how old it really is, but I'm 20 and I know my parents had it before they had me haha.

Anyway, the mower functions, I just cut the lawn with it earlier tonight, but it smokes something awful on startup until it's warm, and just doesn't feel quite as 'strong' as it used to. Because of that, and because I like to tinker with things I was thinking of making a winter project out of rebuilding it.

This leads me to two questions, firstly, are parts still readily available for these old Honda's? I'm hoping there's an off the shelf "rebuild kit" or something like that I can buy to make it easy..

And secondly, am I getting into more trouble than it's worth with this project? Seeing as it does still function am I better off with the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mantra?

 

[natenkiki2004]

You could easily run into more problems by rebuilding but if you've got nothing to lose (i.e. a bunch of time or another mower for the spring) then why not? Get a little experience under your belt and bring a good mower back to full life

There should be schematics, try partstree.com Honda is really good with part numbers, you can plug them into eBay or many other places and get the parts you need.

You probably just need new piston rings & a good cylinder honing if you're lucky. Best to check & adjust other things as well like valves.

Good luck!