small engine question?

OK, i have a snapper rear engine riding mower. its down at the shop so im not exactly sure the model but it looks like this. I repainted it and put good new tires on it etc. but, it never really ran that good. now its sat outside for a couple years and engine is rusted up.

my question is what the cheapest route to replacing the engine? im sure harbour frieght or northern offers one. but what am i looking for?

it has electric start on it now, i would prefer to keep it.

Its a briggs flathead engine, get it freed up again, clean the carb, fill with 20w50 and use.

I suppose I could do that, never messed with a B&S.

still would like to see what my options are for replacement

In reply to jhaas:

The bolt pattern of the engine and the crank snout dimensions will determine what your available options are. There are only a few sizes so this won't be a big problem. Cost aside your best option might be fixing what you have solely because I can just about guarantee that it still vastly better than anything you could buy for less than$1000 today.

When the engine only attaches to sheetmetal, the boltpattern is mere trivia to someone who possesses a drill. The biggest issue is the output shaft.

That said, pull the head off, soak everything with penetrating oil, wire wheel the bore, free the valves, and run it. It'll be fine, or at the very least you won't be able to tell if anything's wrong...

1) get it spinning,

2)crank it over

3) pop wheelies

4) profit..

+1 for teardown of the current engine, they are wonderfully simple and you can do it in your sleep.

ansonivan wrote: +1 for teardown of the current engine, they are wonderfully simple and you can do it in your sleep.

...and another, assuming it's a USA made Briggs or Tecumseh, it should be a bullet-proof beast compared to whatever Chinese piece of E36 M3 you'd replace it with.

Just FYI, I used to rebuild B&S's that got dumped overboard... into the ocean. And they always worked great after an afternoon's R&R!

The real pro here is keeping the old engine keeps the old, fully adjustable, EPA ignoring carburetor. Idle and main mixtures are FULLY adjustable with a screwdriver.

Another +1 for the teardown. I was in your situation 2 years ago, and I did the mistake of replacing an old B&S (16HP) with a newer EPA approved B&S(19HP), and I regret it. Not only does the new one feel weaker than the old before it crapped out, but I am having problems with the new one (hard to start, rough idle, seems to drink a lot of gas, etc.)

LS1

I'll chime in on behalf of the "rebuild it" camp. Old Briggs engines are capable of lasting damn near forever, and parts are easy (and relatively cheap) to come by.

Those engines are chimp simple and parts are cheap. As mentioned they are also super interchangeable so it's possible you could find a pull start version on a push mower, swap your flywheel and starter on it and still have electric start.

I blew up the 12 HP OHV Tecumseh in my old MTD rider, bought a rusty John Deere with an 11 HP Briggs for $100, swapped the motors and sold the scrap for about $25.

I think you should get rid of that old, nasty, cruddy, antique, mower. Let me know when you need it picked up and out of the way.

Fill it up with your choice of penetrating oil, let it sit for a couple of days. Fire it up and run it. If it smokes too bad to use, put a set of rings in it for next to nothing and run it some more.

Those engines are dead simple and usually dead reliable. Fix it.

To fanboy, talk to your local small engine shop and see if they have a set of jets for the carb. EPA engines are jetted lean for a clean burn. It makes them hard to start and generally run like crap. If not, a set of number drills will let you drill them up a size.

check for mouse habitation under the tins, they like that E36 M3 for some reason

I'd vote refresh, easy peasy