Thank you for keeping us posted, Aldo. I understand your concern. Problems with the reciprocating weight type of balancer seem to be a common reason to scrap those engines. Perhaps it happens because at some time they've been run with more sludge than oil down there in the crankcase - the problems I've seen reported are usually following broken connecting rods, like yours. You've made it clear that wear in the crank eccentrics of the synchrobalance linkage is the most important problem in repairing them, at least in your case.
Will you get another Briggs synchrobalance engine, or will you update to OHV? The reports that I've seen on the Briggs Intek engines so far have been worrying. The Vanguards seems to be less troublesome than the Inteks, and perhaps the Hondas have not been troublesome at all. However all of those options seem likely to cost a lot more than getting hold of another old side valve Briggs.
