Description
I got a 1977 Briggs 3 horse water pump engine at the scrapyard. It was a complete engine, so I thought I would have a try at getting running. The problem areas were the usual ones, no spark, very dirty oil, and a lot of dirt and sand around the carb. One thing I discovered was that some one had mad a steel key for the flywheel ! Perhaps it was shearing off the aluminum key, as they didn't tighten the flywheel nut tight enough. Also the flywheel was missing one fin, probably broken during a teardown to access the ignition breaker points. I cleaned the points, but there was still no spark, so i gave up, and installed a pointless type Magnetron from a scrapyard 3.5 horse Briggs lawnmower engine. I also installed the proper aluminum flywheel key. NEVER use a steel flywheel key, I learned the hard way, and it cost me a flywheel and a crankshaft, when the engine backfired! If the engine keeps breaking keys, something is wrong, bad timing, or the flywheel is too loose, or needs to be lapped to fit the crankshaft better!
Once I got spark, I moved on to the carburator, where I installed a new diaphragm , and blew out all of the passages with carb. cleaner. I filled the gas tank, added used Dexron 6 trans fluid as oil (to act as solvent and clean the black sludge out), primed the carb, and it started and ran on the 3rd pull ! I love these oil Briggs engines!