18hp intex help

Good afternoon. Hope yall are well. Need some advice on a 18hp briggs intex. It came on an lt1000 and I was told it needed oil, a filter and couple other small things. The flywheel turned over and though it was a bit dirty seemed ok. Did all the things fella said it needed and went to start it and it just spun like it had no compression. Pulled the spark plug and put a screwdriver in the hole to find TDC to check the valves. When I touched the piston I felt it drop. I spun the flywheel and the piston stayed down so assuming that's a broken rod.

Went to pull the engine off today to break it down and noticed a crack in the case. Tucked behind the choke lever is a pretty good gash. Uploading a pic for yall to see. I think I know the answer but is that fixable? Say with jb weld? Somewhat new to engine repairing so any advice would be greatly appreciated. I do have a 420 on another craftsman I picked up some wondering if I should just do the swap and call it a day or fix this motor and put it back in. The mower the 420 is on now is a valid rive while this lt1000 has a peerless 6 speed in it.
Thanks ahead of time. The engine model is 31p7770299e1

Personally, once the window has been opened to the world.  I call it done.  Scavenge what I can off it, magneto, carb, stator.... whatever I think I might could use.  No telling what else could be broke or busted inside. We'll see what the others say.

@MightyRaze I'm fairly certain that that connecting rod is broken. Definitely an issue with it and I don't want to do the jb weld thing without some input and have to spend 130ish on a new rod/piston/rings only to have the jb fail and I'm back at square one just $130 less. What you're saying makes sense and I'm going to crack into it one way or another to see how these work excatly.
If I do strip it down what all should be pulled off? New to the mower engines so not 100% sure what would be wise to save

I think that the engine would be best served by a new block. It could be JB welded but I think that’s not the best solution.

If I were you I’d put the 420 (assuming that’s a power more) into the LT1000 until you could find an older I/C model 28 (12 hp flat head or 14.5 hp OHV- but really any of the older steel shrouded Briggs would work fine. I’ve never messed with the powermores but I’ve heard exclusively bad things. As a temporary motor it’ll be fine though- pull the governor out and beat the ever loving crap outta it!

On yeah, that's some nice carnage.

As other have said, it's not worth trying to repair the block. Chances are if it was low on oil enough to break the rod the crank journal will be screwed. Possibly the upper main bearing too. In other words, she's toast.

@Rustbucket Garage I don't know if it's a powermore or not. Just says 420 on the shroud if I'm recalling correctly. It's a t1000 craftsman that it's on. That one runs no problem. Had a buddy weld some mud tires on that one and it's fine to ride around and beat on. But may have to come out and go in the lt

@AllisKidD21 I plan on testing into it to check it out. I will do my best to remember to revisit this post with some pictures

Where's yer guys' sense of adventure!? Maybe it'll be worthy of $50 in used parts and some JB weld to hold it together long enough to give it proper send off in the Fail Thread! Lol

@Brianator I like your spirit sir. Just started to pull parts off it yesterday. Will probably have it opened up by the weekend and will report back

FloridaMan wrote:

@Brianator I like your spirit sir. Just started to pull parts off it yesterday. Will probably have it opened up by the weekend and will report back

I know a machine shop will repair that, have you looked into that at all?

@TechnoChicken I have not. Not looking to throw a bunch of money into it. I just got it cracked open and what a mess. Don't even think ima mess with it. Probably pill some parts and keep my eye out for another motor.

@Brianator

Wow... it tore itself all to pieces.

It's just a little broken it's still good! Lol. On the plus side the governor deleted itself so it looks to me like you're almost halfway there already!

@Brianator I'm debating on the rebuild. Have thought about doing the 420 swap from my varidrive mower then stripping the varidrive down and using the frame for a go kart. Havent decided yet. Looks like a damn grenade went off in it. Bet it scared the sh*t outta the fella

Well I can tell from a whole lot of experience on fixing lost cases that this simply isn't worth it.
New engine prices here are way more than in the u.s. so we often try and salvage.

This however is not the engine that is worth the time and effort, not even if you were planning to upgrade the internal components already.

Look for a new engine, maybe a stronger powerplant even but intek engines aren't that hard to come by if you really wanted to keep an intek.

The only reason I went with going for the intek on mine is because I wanted a stock look.
I could've easily taken a 32hp vanguard I have used and honestly I should have as I know the intek will implode someday.

@fbisurveilancevan was pretty gnarly upon opening lmao. I have a 420 on a varidrive that im thinking of pulling and putting into the lt1000 to be able to use the 6 speed peerless trans. or stripping it down to the frame and then figureing out a way to put a 125cc manual on it. I pulled a couple parts off the 18hp intex and chucked it

I don't know, I'd go with the 125 option if that's already in your head somewhere.

Would make a really nice build.
I have a BMW f650 GS engine lying around for similar tomfoolery some day