My Small Engine Projects

Thanks! I did try to solder up some of the holes in the tank, but only one stopped leaking. It takes quite a while to do but I think it will work if I go over them again. Yeah the rings could be seized, when the engine is cold there is reasonable compression but when it's been running for a while there isn't very much compression.

Sounds like we're on the edge of another teardown here!  

The fill and the cap for that tank look really rough.  I can't believe it works, but I think the vibration from the engine would pop that cap off pretty quickly.

Nah, it runs alright so I don't think I'm going to bother taking it apart unless the compression gets that bad it won't run. Yeah, I'm not too sure about the cap but we'll see.

So I tried to solder up the holes, but it doesn't work. Tank still leaks. So I'm going to try some metal tank repair putty like these to try and seal the tank up.
My soldering iron's not very good either so that didn't help when trying to plug the holes.

I guess it's time to go the epoxy route.  It's cool to see a product specifically for this.

Fixed the link. Yeah I hope the epoxy will do the trick. The tank does have some rust in it, but I will clean it out as best as I can. I'm not going to put too much money into this tank cuz it might not work.

Did some research into the engine on this water pump, turns out it is a 3hp. Must be pretty rare with the updraft carb and rope start only, which is surely quite late for a 1975 model. Found a Briggs 3hp & Alcon Water pump identical to mine for sale on ebay starting at £30. It is in better condition than mine though and runs. Found a 3hp Briggs with updraft carb for sale for £40 which is too much, especially as it doesn't run. Also found a job lot of Briggs', 2 have the updraft carb and separate tank same as mine, and the other is a carb & tank setup with what looks like an Alcon pump.

Just some of my internet findings if anyone's interested

So ordered up the tank repair kit. Should be here in the next couple of days.

I'm trying to get the pressure washer pump off the Honda GX200 that was removed from the frame that the water pump is now on, but it's stuck on. Is there anything I'm missing, like a setscrew or something?

I struggled taking one of those off an engine at work.  Basically I really had to fight with prybars to get it off once I removed the four bolts holding the pump on.

Yeah I'll probably end up doing that, haha. There is a screw in plug on the pump where the engine shaft should be so I might take that off and see if there's anything holding it on. I want to check before I force it off and break something.

So the tank repair kit turned up today. Patched up the tank, doesn't look great but hopefully it holds. I can sand it once it's cured. The instructions says it cures within 1 hour, but I'm going to let it sit overnight and leak test it tomorrow.

a one hour cure?  man that's fast.  Isn't ti some kind of two part epoxy puddy?

Yeah it cures really quickly. It's two parts, you mix them together and then apply it to the tank.

So far, the tank seems to be holding fuel. It's still got some rust flakes in it, but I installed an inline fuel filter so that the carb wouldn't get clogged up. Just need to clean the rust out sometime. Also the threads in the carb to hold on the air filter are striped, so I need to do something about that. And the tank cap stays on the tank when the engines running, which is good



Bolted on the pump cover, but so many bolts were sheared or nuts were missing that when I tried to put some water through it it just leaked. Need to sort that out.


Decided I'd change the oil, because the old oil was really thin and looked like it had a bit of water in it. 


Didn't seem to help much, still smokes quite a bit.

Man this thing is in rough shape.

You're saving what every other man would toss.  Sounds like a bunch of pain in the rear helicoil work to get the air cleaner on and fix the leaking pump cover.

I call it recycling  It's not in too bad shape, but could be better. The engine still runs nice and smooth. To fix the pump cover I'm going to drill and tap or helicoil the broken studs and either make or buy a new gasket for it. I'm not too bothered about it actually working as a water pump at the minute though.

Nice, I like the look of it all weathered and worn.  Good recycling!

Thanks! I like to see old bits of equipment like this in their working clothes, although painted up ones look good too.

Picked up a Lawnking 434 lawn mower. It's got a 3.5hp Briggs, the deck is steel and is mostly sound but has some bad spots.

Biggest problem was that one handle bracket had rusted off the deck.

Welded a piece of steel on the underside to hold it in. Seems pretty sturdy. I might patch up the hole next to it but it doesn't really affect the cutting ability.


So plans for it are to rebuild the carb with new gasket and diaphragm, change oil and spark plug, touch up paint work and probably sell it in the Spring.

I think that big hole in the deck will act as an air intake for the underside of the deck and basically supercharge the air movement to increase grass shooting distance up to at least 25 feet.

LOL. Looks cool! Any idea what year it is?

Haha, it does shoot the grass about 6ft. The engine code says its a 2000, so I'd say the mower is either 00 or 01.

Is there structure underneath that hole or is that the structure?

IDK if you got this for free and you needed a mower I could see saving it, but I would have pulled the motor and scrapped it.

Same Carl. I throw away perfectly good decks just because I dont have room to store a full mower. I would never keep that one.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

Is there structure underneath that hole or is that the structure?

IDK if you got this for free and you needed a mower I could see saving it, but I would have pulled the motor and scrapped it.

No that is the structure. When I get a MIG welder I plan on fixing that hole up properly. Yeah I did get it for free, and it should prove handy to cut rough patches of grass.

muckmudd wrote:

Same Carl. I throw away perfectly good decks just because I dont have room to store a full mower. I would never keep that one.

If you know me you know I never throw stuff away haha. I'll see if I can sell it in the spring time.

So I bought a diagram and gasket kit for £1.89 to get the engine running properly.




Washed out the underside of the deck and painted it with a rustproofer.

So...I got another pusher mower, this one has a 5hp Briggs Quantum and an aluminium deck. The engine runs but has no blade attached because the bolt is sheared in the crank. The plan is to put the 3.5hp Briggs into this one, because it runs quite well. The lawnking lawnmower deck I might fix up good enough to sell and see if I can build up a half decent 3.5 Briggs from my collection of parts to put in it.