OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Finding and Swapping Tip & Curb Side Finds Identifiable in any way?

Ok, so i picked up this on (for nothing) still assessing wether what i have is worth keeping, but what am i looking at here?

All i know it its brigs, mostly stripped, on a base that i peg as mid to late 90's (though thats just a guess) can anyone work out anything about this engine, or tell me what markings might help ID it?

Plastic inlet or metal into alloy.

Looks like a classic 3.5
Post type sprag starter and provision for the bail bar brake at the back.


Old type 3.5 carb, an electronic coil and a starter off an old 3 or 3.5Hp and that will go. Well it will, id be ripping the head off and checking the bore out before making the call on throwing it.

Compare the head gasket to see if its not a 92 or 95. 10 series is a different bolt pattern.


Bob.

I'll check out the bore and have a look at the inlet and see what i find out...

More random stuff.

Its a good idea to keep spare inlets, plastic ones especially, the covers rub through them sometimes and they break easy.

If you have a mower apart and the tank off, check that the metal tube is firm in the alloy bit on the other end. A tap with the hammer to knock it home if its loose.

Another standard thing i do is check the tension on the two little bolts in the inlet manifold, ive seen them loose and seen them undo themselves and the inlet rattling about. Big lean out. New gaskets can be got easy from a mower shop. The 3-3.5 Hp uses a small one. The 11ci 4hp uses a slightly bigger gasket, its a different manifold. The newer motors (sprint etc) use a plastic manifold thats got a round hole in it.

4Hp 11ci inlet manifold and head are different. The engine cover is longer than a 3.5 by about 10mm or so. And the bracket across the front of the head is a different shape too.

The flag on the bolt on the coil. Sometimes the bolt can dig into the top of the coil and the flag wont flap, i just file it bit off the flag so it will move. Ive also seen the bolts rusty and cruddy.

Keep spare heads, ive had a few where the lug on the top of the head for the cover to bolt too has been busted off or stripped out. And stripped out plug holes, havent had many of them but it happens, easier to use a head than mess about with helicoils etc.
Also keep any of the old pressed steel head gaskets. I subsititue them in for the newer type graphite type that usually de-laminate when you pull the head off. Not sure about different squish thicknesses. Theres different shapes of gasket but they are the same bolt pattern, the gasket relates to the combustion chamber design. Most of the later type with the 'wings' are the chinese Poo and end up in the bin anyway.



The starter sprag body on that motor is a nut, im sure your not meant too, but i undo them with a drift and hammer. Just stick it on a meaty bit and tap away. Remove the flywheel (i do that with a hammer and the weight of the mower which you are not meant to do either) and keep the keyway, beats buying the little suckers.
If its sheared the key, i usually try and spin the flywheel back, with the key spun round it wants to pull through the thread.

Thats about all ive got for now.

You have a whole lot of points in that last post I didn't know, Bob, and I think they will be useful for a lot of members in the future. If you have more information like that, especially with pictures, the archive value of this thread will be further increased.

I was going to put my money on it being a quattro40 engine, I have the same mower base here, from memory it is very late 90's Ill check it out this arvo.

What joe said. Thats highly likely, the more i look the more it looks like a plastic inlet. The head gasket will tell the story.

Bottom of the head on the side we can see might be the give away but ive got nothing to compare it too.

I'll check out the gasket and inlet, and get a couple more pictures too.

Plastic Inlet, Havent got to the gasket yet, heres a few more pics;

Im thinking its a 3.5 classic.


Didnt pay enough attention to the quattros ive fixed to notice if they were post and sprag clutch starters. I thought they had the cup type.

If you get it to the point of putting missing bits back on and running it, you need the curved vane on it with that baffle plate

Stuff a bit of rag in the inlet and wash it up.


Id go past a truck parts place and get a 20L drum of 'shock treatment' degreaser. Its $60 well spent. A 2L spray pump from bunnings. Mix it 50/50 with water and get washing. The stuff does a good job, help it on the real bad stuff with a tooth brush, once its on dont let it dry. Not good on bare aluminum. Or bare skin, stings like a bitch if you get it in your eyes. Not too bad on your hands but arms legs or face it stings.

Fallowish ground (its biodegradeable but the stuff your washing off is not) and a garden hose. Ive got a scrubbing brush as well, good for catchers and frames that are real bad.


Id also suggest going to a hardware car parts place and buying some organising trays with a lid and internal compartments. If you strip a motor, sort your bolts. Then if youve got an incomplete etc its easy to lay your hands on the right bolts.
Ive got a few of the trays Bunnings have a 'tecknix' brand one with orange bins in it for $15 each which is pretty cheap.
Ive got wheel and axle in one, bearings bushes, spring clips, nuts etc. Briggs and tecumseh bolts in another. Loose blades and bolts in another. Victa bolts in another along with the victa special tools ive made.
I had blade bosses in one as well but it got too heavy, so ive put them in onve of the open top stackable poultry tubs that my engine parts are in and i put the bar blades in with them.
The stackable crates are a good idea too, labled, its a pain having to move the 4 in the stack to get the bottom one out but its not that bad, at least you know exactly whats where. I forget what ive got, Brown ones for briggs, Good side starters, starter parts, carbs & parts, 3-4hp carbs and tanks, 3-4hp engine parts, 35 quantum, 5hp quantum, grey one for Tecumseh, green for victa PT, G4-LM carb, victa mufflers. Yellow for full crank, one for engine parts and one for throttle cables and carbs etc. Then a white one for the crank bosses.

Had a brown one left over and its got the thru bolt with over centre lever type handle clamps in it.

I got a thing from bunnings a while back thats got all little compartments that goes on the wall in the shed. Ive got service items and the like in it, then the O-rings for victas hanging on the shadow board.

The two screws on the mesh on the sprag. They are 1/4", i had troubles with my 1/4 drive socket, its rounded into the hex and the heads on the bolts on the briggs motors are shallow so the socket wouldnt grab them. Also the socket was too fat, some of the bolts ( i think it was tecumseh) are well shrouded and the socket wouldnt get in. I could grind the tip of the socket flat to square it up but instead ive just used a drill driver for for a 1/4" bit. Works well.



Sorry, i ranted.

I have a couple of those trays, but it is something i keep meaning to get more of, now that i'm branching out (i keep one tray, victa fine pars, such as deco clips and cowl screws, the other is larger bolts and mounting nuts, etc, then i have one of the old style metal units with all the little compartmental draws, which separates my carby parts, and a another larger draw unit for carby bodies) as i only have enough for the victa parts.

That bit about the screws may come in handy, some of my sockets are a little worn too!

I have a stack of old milk crates for things like cowls and starter, that i can see straight into, and a long steel box for old engines.

i have a few other crates, which i think i may well label, as i cant see into those ones.

I think i might grab that de-greaser this week, i tend to be OK doing the old victa's using old fuel and a brush, but i am finding the more complex engines need a little more to get cleaned up well, and i really hate trying to negotiate a dirty engine, apart from the mess transferring you mentioned, its also a bugger trying to keep muck out of the delicate parts!

Reason i said about the trays and tubs etc, is that it can get a bit hectic and before you know it youve got stuff everywhere. Some jobs are just not worth going on with. Go back to them later when you have the time, jobs get sat aside to use as parts.
Ive usually got 2 or 3 on the go at one time. Get one sorted, set it aside for final service, or to pull the motor and swap it onto something else. Get one going, wash it and wait for it to dry. Others washed and in under cover before i start on them. Some of the 4 strokes i wash, they dry, i lift the cover and then it goes back out to wash again.

Also theres three different shaft lengths on the 4 stroke. 42mm, 62mm and 81mm. The short one ive only seen on Victas mounted sideways. the middle one goes on Victas with a spacer ring, some masports etc too, mainly older ones. The long shaft is common to rovers and most of the late model stuff.

Be mindful of those lenghts, ive got about 10 motors on the floor in the shed that are all good, 62mm go up one end, the 81mm go up the other. The Victas dont last long enough to need a spot.


If you get a steel base full crank and remove the engine. Get the tin plate that goes under a power torqe and sit it on the base and using a ruler get it centralised. Then you can mark it and drill it. Then cut a steel template. Mark both full crank and power torque on it and drill it out so it will bolt on, then find a dual drilled power torque victa base and you can mark it and drill it to suit a forward facing engine. My template even has a bit to mark out where the hole needs to be cut for the power torque muffler to go.
Then i cut the centre out with the plasma cutter. If you dont have one im not sure how youd cut the middle out efficently.


The degreaser im talking about is pink.

Even though ive got a largish shed outside is a bone yard. A stack or two of good bodies that i need catchers for or handles or something like that. If the frames have handles, standing them up on their nose with the handle up is the go. can get about 4 into the space of one mower on its wheels and there les chance of scratching etc. Its also the only way to store a power torque out in the weather if the plastic cover is off the engine.
Ive stacked fixed mowers with the handles folded. its not good to stack anything on a Victa with the rubber coated plastic wheels. They deform especially if the inner side wall has popped out and gone walkies.
Theres Stacks of engine cowlings/covers. A collection of handles. Blade plates galore.

A box of 5/16ths coach bolts is the go. Good for putting in handles. Grab a bolt and go out and look and pinch a handle bolt out of a mower you havent looked a yet, saves buying heaps as some mowers are not destined to live.

An empty 44 or three is a good idea too. Steel in one and ally in the other. For the time it takes, i pull the dowels and punch out the valve seats so the dead blocks are 'clean' ally. only ones that go irony ally round here are the I/C blocks.
A trailer load (probably about 1.5 cubic meters) of busted frames and stripped engines got me $240 so its worth collecting it.
Steel is still here but its cheaper so i will wait till the pile is big.

Another 44 to hang handles in.



It takes up way more space than i thought it would. I mean mowers arent real big, how much room do you need.


Geez another rant

come to think f it now I would be leaninf the classic 3.5 or very early sprint 375 as well. While the quattro motors did have both types of starters they mostly had the rectangular mufflers...