KAL the Extended Journey.

Could you weld the sleeve to the crank and carefully grind down the weld to smooth everything out?

The sleeve is a no go. It is welded in and is pretty much destroyed now. So since this is not a required thing. I am contemplating pulling the crank from another engine.

Maybe a full engine overhaul while at it.  Just trying to weigh options.

Decided not to mess with this crank. I'm going to just replace on it.

Tear down has begun. 

Valves seem right I-.005 E-.009. Both sides. 
Absolutely no piston wobble. Cylinder walls are unscored. Remove the sump tomorrow. As well as inspection port. I don’t think I will remove the Pistons as I currently do not have a tool to reinsert the piston. If I get one or borrow I’ll pull them out.  Probably should for inspection. Not to worried with how they fit now.

MightyRaze wrote:

I don’t think I will remove the Pistons as I currently do not have a tool to reinsert the piston.

Do you not know the old hose clamp trick?

Yeah, but that requires a hose clamp too.

Oh, I thought you meant you didn't have the actual tool. LOL. Well then....

Don’t have either. LOL

Well if it was me I'd just cut the top pulley off and use the bottom as a sleeve but I'm pretty sure I'm not seeing something because if it was that easy you'd probably have it done by now.

2 things. The stack pulley is not the same on this one. It is just a pipe with a smaller pipe welded in on the small end. Also the pulley appears to be copper plated?!?!

Second, I destroyed it getting it off. lol

Shouldn't be hard finding a crank. You can really find oppys on every streetcorner and scrapyard in america.

Oh. I have one coming in Monday!  Not surei mentioned that.

Well, the crank came in Saturday while my family and I were camping out at the lake, doing a little social distancing!

 
 
 

But I digress...

I don't know what I was thinking when I said I was going to change the crank without removing the pistons.  Can't do it.  LOL, not a problem though.  I borrowed my dad's tool to put them back in, easy peasy.  Didn't take a pic with the block empty.  Hands were pretty dirty. LOL been kinda fun doing this.  Haven't taken an engine down to an empty block and build it back up before.  Not hard.  Well, valve springs are a little hard when you do not have that tool, but I managed.

New crank installed as well as the camshaft...


Timing lined up...



Pistons, installed.  BTW rings looked BRAND NEW!





Sump installed as well as the access port.  Everything has been torqued to Briggs specifications.



Didn't get a pic, but valve covers installed as well as a new Top and Bottom oil seal.  

That is where I stopped for the night.  Tomorrow, if I have time, I will install the heads as well as the intake.  Then sometime I will clean the engine again and repaint it.  Little trouble finding some black engine paint for some reason right now.

Nice! Knew there was something to it. Black will look good!

Did some more work tonight on the 18hp.  It's really starting to come together.








Next I will work on the starter.  I'll pull it apart and clean and grease it up.  See if I can get by without buying a new one.  I will also work on the carb.  It's pretty rough, but I think I can get it cleaned up.  We will see.  The fan shroud has been MIA.  I found it today in the back of the shed.  I had painted it Yellow at one time thinking I would be putting it on my suburban, but found out the shroud is taller for a horizontal vs a vertical.  It will need a new black paint job.

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Shouldn't be hard finding a crank. You can really find oppys on every streetcorner and scrapyard in america.

Me who has been trying to find one for the last 3 years and only just got one.


That engine looks really clean Mighty! Looks brand new. I bet it'll run great for years to come.

I'm going for a bit of a restore on it. Replaced all the gaskets so far, repainted the block.  It ended up being a full tear down.

I have the carb that I had soaking in mineral spirits for a while cleaned up and installed.  Had to make a new throttle link.  Mine turned up missing.  Also got the starter cleaned, painted and installed.  I still lack a coil.  I have a small dilemma.  This engine has the older all cast flywheel and not the 2 piece with the plastic fan.  May loose my pull start until I can come up with a new plan.

Scratch that, not sure what I was thinking.  They all pretty much have the same screw pattern for the briggs flywheel puller.  Non-issue with pull start.  LOL

Few more updates from this morning while working from home.

I was going to go with a blue flywheel, but didn't want to copycat Jeremiah's wards.  So I decided to go more traditional black.




Here is the link I made for the throttle.



It's coming together!  That toolbox has most of my smaller Briggs parts, mostly carb stuff.



Plan on cleaning the side tins later today and touch them up for install.  I ended up having to order a coil.  Went ahead and got a package of L-Head spark plugs too.

I halfway dread cleaning the side tins, they were full of oil, mouse debris and other unidentified substances.

Getting closer. I am hoping to fire it up this weekend. We will see!  I will need an air filter. 

Looks fresh off the assembly line. Good job mighty!

Well, today is the day I try to start this thing!  Wish me luck!

Man this is going to be a back breaker.  I'm letting the engine sit on the stand overnight before I do anything with it.  See if it leaks.  I wish I had a scale for the weight difference in the 2 engines.  I bet the older 18HP is a good 20-40 lbs heavier.

Where do you think that extra weight comes from?

Mostly the flywheel.  Being the all cast one vs the one with plastic fins.  And strangely enough, the intake manifold.  It is much larger than the other one as well.