My free clapped out 140cc 2011 Briggs and Husqvarna finally bit the dust.
It was a free mower that was ran without an air filter for who knows how long.
It got to the point where it would only idle at wide open throttle, had no power and the rest was blow by.
The harbor freight 173cc costs more now. I want to say prior to 2020 it was like a hundred dollars, definitely less than 150.
$230 now.
I bought it because it was bigger and heavier than the Briggs 140cc. It also has a very good air filter, it's a rectangular paper air filter, looks like a Briggs air filter from the late 1990s through 2010.
I filled it up with cheap supertech 10w-30 synthetic 10k oil since it's only going to be in there for about 3hr max for break in.
For gas I put in about a half quart of ethanol free 40:1 two-stroke gas.
From the factory mine was set to idle at 1,800rpm, max speed was factory set at 3,200rpm which I bumped the idle up to 1,900rpm and then bumped the max speed to 3,350rpm. I definitely wanted that variable throttle speed.
I did install one of those cheap tachometer hour meters.
FOr initial break in I ran it at idle for 20 minutes revving the engine some, while installing the tachometer/hourmeter setting the idle and max speeds and I finished hooking up the throttle control.
Then I mowed grass like a normal person for about 30 minutes cycling the engine between idle and max speed, favoring max speed. Then shut it off, quickly stuck a temperature gauge in the oil dipstick hole to check the oil temperature and started it back up. The oil gauge read 205f. For pedestrian use, at an ambient temperature of 90f that's perfect oil temperature.
I'd say any PCMO 30 weight oil is fine and that you'd be hard pressed to really need a 40 weight oil, although 40 weight would be fine.
I'd say you'd be hard pressed to get the oil temp to 250f, you would have to do something like fill it up with gas, run it at 3,300rpm or more and drag it behind a riding mower through tall grass on a 100f day.
Or if the air blower passages became blocked with grass.
Mods:
So far all I've done is bump the speed and RTV'ed the air filter into place.
Future mods I'll see if I can find the high altitude jet kit as I'm at 4,400ft I'll get the 3,000 to 6,000ft kit and the 6,000 to 8,000ft. Try all of them, see which one starts and runs better.
Install at least a 4 degrees timing advance key, maybe a 6.
De'CARB and un-EPA the engine to make it what it always should have been.
It was a free mower that was ran without an air filter for who knows how long.
It got to the point where it would only idle at wide open throttle, had no power and the rest was blow by.
The harbor freight 173cc costs more now. I want to say prior to 2020 it was like a hundred dollars, definitely less than 150.
$230 now.
I bought it because it was bigger and heavier than the Briggs 140cc. It also has a very good air filter, it's a rectangular paper air filter, looks like a Briggs air filter from the late 1990s through 2010.
I filled it up with cheap supertech 10w-30 synthetic 10k oil since it's only going to be in there for about 3hr max for break in.
For gas I put in about a half quart of ethanol free 40:1 two-stroke gas.
From the factory mine was set to idle at 1,800rpm, max speed was factory set at 3,200rpm which I bumped the idle up to 1,900rpm and then bumped the max speed to 3,350rpm. I definitely wanted that variable throttle speed.
I did install one of those cheap tachometer hour meters.
FOr initial break in I ran it at idle for 20 minutes revving the engine some, while installing the tachometer/hourmeter setting the idle and max speeds and I finished hooking up the throttle control.
Then I mowed grass like a normal person for about 30 minutes cycling the engine between idle and max speed, favoring max speed. Then shut it off, quickly stuck a temperature gauge in the oil dipstick hole to check the oil temperature and started it back up. The oil gauge read 205f. For pedestrian use, at an ambient temperature of 90f that's perfect oil temperature.
I'd say any PCMO 30 weight oil is fine and that you'd be hard pressed to really need a 40 weight oil, although 40 weight would be fine.
I'd say you'd be hard pressed to get the oil temp to 250f, you would have to do something like fill it up with gas, run it at 3,300rpm or more and drag it behind a riding mower through tall grass on a 100f day.
Or if the air blower passages became blocked with grass.
Mods:
So far all I've done is bump the speed and RTV'ed the air filter into place.
Future mods I'll see if I can find the high altitude jet kit as I'm at 4,400ft I'll get the 3,000 to 6,000ft kit and the 6,000 to 8,000ft. Try all of them, see which one starts and runs better.
Install at least a 4 degrees timing advance key, maybe a 6.
De'CARB and un-EPA the engine to make it what it always should have been.
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