Craftsman GT3000 "MUTT" Part I

Put a welch plug in, there wasnt one before


Made a new choke linkage. This older carb is a bit different than a typical 3 screw, a bit smaller i think, and the port you'd drill for an external fuel pump isn't there. The old linkage was a bit long and made the arm go too far. It was usable but i didnt like it.



Well cleaning the carb didnt help. She ran for a bit then died out. Pulled her over a bit more and nothing happened so i pulled the plugs. Bottom cylinder was wet and the top was dry. She still has spark on both plugs when i pull them out. I think I'll try switching them, and if that doesn't change anything I'll try a different coil.

Put the coil on off the old 20hp. She seems to run great now. Got my fingers crossed, throwing her back together now lol

The coil and carb cleaning have definitely helped, but I've come the conclusion that the combination of the snorkel and the new exhaust effects the mixture too much to fix it with an idle adjustment. Went back to the old air box. I'll have to figure out something else for a snorkel. Snorkel wasnt really necessary anyways, i should worry about waterproofing the ignition first.

Yeah, my snorkel was also too restrictive until I messed with the jet. Even then it ran pretty lean

My problem is with it running fat. The snorkel acted like a choke, you can smell it in the exhaust.

Oh, and she's still not running right. Tries stalling when i step on the gas. Gonna try taking the exhaust extension off tomorrow...maybe that's it

Actually i mean it ran alright for like an hour but then it seems like it leaned out, the idle speed came up a lot, and it tried to die if i was too quick with the throttle.

But anyways, a pic of her out and about...

On your snorkle...  this is how it still looked?



Did you happen to drill out the hole for the bowl vent into the center chamber of your adapter?  You might be getting some kind of vacuum issue.

I milled out a spot there on the adapter and filed a little slot in the lip on the carb. I know that wasnt the problem. I think I'll check the intake bolts/gaskets too

Maybe a bigger snorkel intake size? It is kinda small

That would probably solve it, if it ever even was the issue. I just dont know with this thing. Never had one fight me so bad before...

Excellent... Thought I would ask.

That sucks, but i think you can solve it. Lucky you have enough spare oppys

I've tried so much with this, it's hard to update...

So I put a stock air box back on. It's still doing the same thing. Took the exhaust extension off. Still doing the same thing. I'm gonna try putting the other carb back on and then we'll see if it'll even run with that.

I want to die a lot more than usual today

Feel free to suggest more stuff that I've already done so I can try it a third or fourth time and confirm it doesn't help

Maybe take the air cleaner back off and look down the barrel of the carb (from a safe distance and with goggles on) while it is running, to see the main jet and idle jet working. Maybe you would be able to see how the extra gas is getting in the engine.

I guess I'll try that. I'm not sure what it would show.

You would be able to tell if something is not working right. Like for example, when the engine is idling and you see gas coming out of the main jet which would mean that the engine is idling faster then what was anticipated which might mean the idle jet is not working. It might give direction to what to look for, if anything.

Put the old carb back on. Runs good now. I even stole a good battery out of my parents mower so i can have electric start

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Put the old carb back on. Runs good now. I even stole a good battery out of my parents mower so i can have electric start

Watch out, so your Parents wo'nt catch you! Put it back early enough before they will use it!!

Oh they never use that mower. I'm the only one that has to mow the lawn so I use my beloved Snapper.

And even if they did use it I'd put the battery in I took out of Mutt, it's still strong enough to start a single

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Oh they never use that mower. I'm the only one that has to mow the lawn so I use my beloved Snapper.

And even if they did use it I'd put the battery in I took out of Mutt, it's still strong enough to start a single

Nice! Sounds like a mower that never mows, only rots in the corner and will be scrapped soon

Nah it just sits inside where all the other mowers do, lol.

Took her out of the store, pulled the right exec off, cleaned up the valve stem hole and put a new valve stem in, seems to hold air now. The front tires both have slow leaks but I'm not really concerned about those, they're pretty slow.


Oh, and she still runs kinda crappy, even with the old carb back on. Not trying to stall, but definitely rough. Also the fully adjustable carb runs fine back on the oppy it came from, like pristine fine. Gonna go through the fuel line looking for a kink along with putting a new filter on and if that doesn't do it maybe I'll go for head gaskets and the coil. Feel like I'm getting closer to the issue though.

Try to smear some Engine sealing stuff between the old head gasket and the block and the head if they're reusable, to get cheap. Or buy a new Chinese oppy Carb for it, if they're cheap and good

If the adjustable carb ran terrible, but good back on the engine came from and the original carb that ran ok is running not so great now. It may be an issue on the engine side would be my guess. Check for cracks in your intake and might check plugs and spark. Check those after you look at your fuel filter and cap.

I suppose the fuel filter is plugged from the crappy gas that was put in her.

And Seb, we already established that it wasnt the carb, and no kind of sealant is getting anywhere near the head gaskets on this engine. I'm not that much of a hack.

Intake gaskets?

I very much doubt it. I've had this intake off and the gaskets were pristine. Also I sprayed carb clean around all connections and nothing changed.