Micro CoGen.

I noticed that horrible freight now sells a (presumably Chinese) clone:

http://www.harborfreight.com/engines-generators/gas-engines/22-hp-670cc-v-twin-horizontal-shaft-gas-engine-epa-61614.html

I don't want to start a "that's a piece of junk" war but the picture shows a muffler and oil cooler come with it for $700.  With a 20% off coupon, that becomes $560.  If you live close to an HF store, it might be a way to experiment "on the cheap".

The other thread is a little old, so I started a new one.  I found some Canola seeds and planted them last fall.  They grow thru the winter, with just the leaves near the ground.  About a week ago, they started putting up stalks and have begun to bloom.  These are planted in one corner of our garden.  The area on the right had been planted earlier in the year (potatoes), and had compost added to it.  The area on the left hasn't been planted in a while, I've been just plowing it to hold the grass and weeds at bay.  You can see the huge difference it makes it the way the plants grow, the ones on the left are almost nothing.  I've even added some granular fertilizer, but I don't think the left half is going to make much.  This is just a hobby, test plot, so I'm only expecting to get maybe a gallon of oil.  I also need to get a seed press, settling tanks, filters, biodiesel reactor, etc.  But at least I've started...

I've seen a couple of the Kubota G5200 "lawn tractors" for sale locally on Craigslist at what seem to be good prices.  I'm thinking of getting one of them for a generator project.  My understanding is that they come with a D600 Kubota 3 cylinder engine.  I think I could couple the engine to an ST-5 generator head and produce around 4kW of power.  I may either set it for direct drive at 1800 RPM or belt drive at 2200 RPM (engine speed).

Questions:

1) Is there anything needed to be done to the injection pump to set it up for generator use?  I'd like to use the built-in governer for engine speed (if there is one).  Since the engine is setup for variable speed, I need to know if there is anything required or recommended for constant speed operation.

2) Does anyone have a decent, but inexpensive electronic speed control?

3) Any major reason not to convert this engine to generator use?

Thanks -