Homelite Mighty Lite 26CS

[Goodspeed]

I was cruising CL this past weekend and came across an ad that piqued my interest:



It's a 2009 Homelite Mighty Lite 26CS, Model UT21004 in (heavily faded) red over black.

With my IS never being a real "project", I missed turning wrenches and being able to make some sweet noise, while firewalling the throttle and hitting some high revs. My goal is to bring this out on the weekends when the weather is nice!

Back at home, in the garage:



I quickly traced its starting issue to be some fuel lines that were well past it, which crumbled apart almost immediately. Thankfully it looks like I won't have to bend any new ones, and/or cobble together some AN fittings and all that. Seems like a pretty direct job to fix.




The carburetor up close. I know I'm not alone in wondering just how in the hell these actually do their magic, so I'm looking forward to tearing into this one at some point:



And lastly, the fuel tank which was chock full of eroded bits of fuel line and other gunk. I'm thinking it sat with bad gas in it for a long time. Thankfully, it wasn't too much trouble to drop this tank from the chassis.




So, a new tank & lines are on the way, as well as a new plug. I went with a Champion copper, though had half a mind to really kick it up a notch with an iridium or platinum plug.

I'm thinking of a new paintjob and am open to ideas - I hope you'll enjoy following along on this build, I'll get into more detail as I really get into it as time allows :thumbup:

[JustinG]

HEART YOU

[JPolen01]

Wow is this really how you get your rocks off Goodspeed?

[ScottyB]

:lol: awesome, please pleaseput a nitro r/c car expansion chamber on there

I'm thinking of a new paintjob and am open to ideas

army-style olive drab with a white star on top. call yourself a "tactical whacker"

alternatively, go with bright pink and apply rainbow stickers all over with this as the centerpeice

[Senor_Taylor]

Wow, what kind of power are we looking at here? I've been pining over these for years. I'll see if I can dig up a photo, but I used to have posters of these things and a few Toro Walk Behind mowers covering my wall as a child. Always a just a dream knowing I'd never be able to own one. Really great to see someone here was successful enough in their career to own something so cool. Make sure you bring it to the car show so us less fortunate can have a go at her!

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[BLINGMW]

I know I'm not alone in wondering just how in the hell these actually do their magic, so I'm looking forward to tearing into this one at some point

Don't be too disapointed when after staring at it for a while you still have no idea how it works.

I like tactical whacker.

[Sully]

You could have at least found an old echo. You bought the Daewoo of weed eaters. Or Geo tracker. Whichever you prefer

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[Goodspeed]

:lol: awesome, please pleaseput a nitro r/c car expansion chamber on there

I'm thinking of a new paintjob and am open to ideas

army-style olive drab with a white star on top. call yourself a "tactical whacker"

alternatively, go with bright pink and apply rainbow stickers all over with this as the centerpeice

I've always wanted a nitro R/C car, I'll have to look into that :lol: Would be cheaper than a Magnaflow or Flowmaster 40 series, the original is kind of spent. Good ideas on the paint job!

Wow, what kind of power are we looking at here? I've been pining over these for years. I'll see if I can dig up a photo, but I used to have posters of these things and a few Toro Walk Behind mowers covering my wall as a child. Always a just a dream knowing I'd never be able to own one. Really great to see someone here was successful enough in their career to own something so cool. Make sure you bring it to the car show so us less fortunate can have a go at her!

I think at sea level on a cool day, we're talking somewhere around 2hp. Do well at your new job and you can realize such dreams too. And definitely keep an eye out at the show,!

You could have at least found an old echo. You bought the Daewoo of weed eaters. Or Geo tracker. Whichever you prefer

Weed eater?

[Ryan T]

Curved shaft, so much dissapoint :oops:

For as much fun as ya'll poke, I've made a good bit of walking around money on things like this. People unload them cheap or leave them beside the road when they quit working. Pick it up, clean it up, fix it and put it on craigslist. Found a Stihl FS80 for free, spent 45 minutes working on it and got it to start and I've been weedeating with it for damn near 6 years.

[ScottyB]

i'd crap my pants if i found a Stihl anything lying around on the side of the road for free. those things are pimp.

[Senor_Taylor]

i'd crap my pants if i found a Stihl anything lying around on the side of the road for free. those things are pimp.

We used to have our stihl chainsaws and weed eaters stolen every year out of our barn.

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[Sully]

i'd crap my pants if i found a Stihl anything lying around on the side of the road for free. those things are pimp.

We used to have our stihl chainsaws and weed eaters stolen every year out of our barn.

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Probably would have been left alone if it was a homelite.


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[Ryan T]

i'd crap my pants if i found a Stihl anything lying around on the side of the road for free. those things are pimp.

We used to have our stihl chainsaws and weed eaters stolen every year out of our barn.

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Knock on wood but we've had great luck with our barns. We've got a handful of Stihl weedeaters, a stihl chainsaw, tractor, all sorts of attachments and usually a John Deere mower or two in there and they've never been messed with. The main barn sits right on the road but there are homes pretty close that usually keep a lookout for us. No one lives on the property so we are thankful for good neighbors.

[JPolen01]

Well damn now the whole world knows your inventory!

[Ryan T]

Well damn now the whole world knows your inventory!

But who knows where the farm is? Besides DJ, Justin and Godspeed?

[JustinG]

And I'd still get lost trying to make it back there.

[Goodspeed]

New plug, air filter screen, fuel tank/lines & primer bulb:

[youtube]-xiNiifTYHE[/youtube]

[Sully]

Have you pulled carb and sprayed all the holes with carb cleaner? Also if you get it running and it seems bogged down, pull the exhaust manifold and it'll probably have a layer of carbon blocking the exhaust port

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[ViPER1313]

Also looks like the clutch is bad. Head should not spin like that when cord is pulled.

[Goodspeed]

Have you pulled carb and sprayed all the holes with carb cleaner? Also if you get it running and it seems bogged down, pull the exhaust manifold and it'll probably have a layer of carbon blocking the exhaust port

Haven't yet, I keep meaning to get a can at Advance. I'll pick one up and give that a shot :thumbup:

Also looks like the clutch is bad. Head should not spin like that when cord is pulled.

Really? Makes sense, but I feel like every one I've handled has done the same. Hrm.