TO CLONE OR NOT TO CLONE?

Gday to all, as I have said time and time again, I am a mower newbie and being in Australia quite a bit removed from the scene, I have a general question on motors, I currently have a couple of mowers I want to build and a few old briggs flat heads and oppys lying around, a couple seem to be hard to get parts for as in the 12.5 oppy etc, the other option I have been eying off is the clone engines available on ebay or similar. My question being what have people experiences been with them, whether it would be worth it or should I just source more briggs motors and concentrate on spending the money on those. I get I will get mixed opinions but usually I can find relevancy within all when taken into account.

Cheers in advance and have a great day.

Most of the old flathead Briggs are known to be pretty rugged and reliable. Stoopid simple too lol. You can pretty much adapt any carb to them and just make them work with what you have. I run an 11 horse Briggs flathead on my rig.
Not sure what clone engines you have down unda' but up here in the states a lot of kart racers use Lifan and Predator. Theyre pretty good engines, just a little more complex and not nearly as rugged. Quality control is something to watch as well. If you could get three of the same clone engine that would be ideal. That way you have backup/better parts on hand if you need them.

I'm neutral when it comes to repower. I would figure what you are more comfortable with. What you feel you can get parts for best.

I got one clone motor I bought for $40 bucks used, a 13 hp one. Don't know if I will ever use it just because it's a clone, just because of the name "clone" . But it is 13 hp. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I got a philosophy I tell my customers "Easier to fix your junk then to buy new junk"

cheers guys, think I will just keep collecting old Briggs's where I can, guess the only way I will know what a clone can do is to try one in the future, I guess it cant hurt to have extra flatheads lying around though.

find a motor, throw it in... learn as you go... there's a use for everything

Lawren Wimberly wrote:

find a motor, throw it in... learn as you go... there's a use for everything

I like that way of thinking.