ASP FS 80: A blast from the past.

Well here is yet another departure for me. I just purchased a CHINESE made engine.... While I normally, of late anyway, stick strictly with Japanese made engines, I made an exception here. The ASP line of engine hit the market about 1989, at least that's when I bought my first one. I believe the FS 80 was ASP's first foray into the 4 stroke market as direct competition to the OS 70 Surpass. The age of this engine, it's rarity, and the fact that I got it NIB for under $100 is why I bought this engine. I figured if I was the first person to run it and break it in I couldn't go wrong. As you can see this is a direct clone in design of the OS Surpass line of engines from the time period. Obviously I am not expecting the same quality as I would from an OS engine and I wasn't disappointed in that respect. The external appearance and casting is ...... rough to put it mildly. Because of the fact that this is a Chinese made engine from 1993, the year this engine hit the market, I will be doing some tear down of this engine before running. I have heard of and seen metal shavings in some of the early engines from China. I want to make sure things are as right as they can be with this engine before I run it. Another reason is that there are no replacement parts for this engine. Here are my initial pictures of this engine. This weekend I will be shooting a "Look inside" video of this engine as I disassemble and inspect the internal components.