Beammeup, please re-post the pics of your SB45 in this thread, so it will make sense on its own. While you are doing that, please post the long string of numbers stamped on the cooling air cowl of your Briggs and Stratton engine. That will tell us quite a lot about the engine, and enable us to point you toward an owner manual and illustrated parts list, as well as telling you the engine's date of manufacture. The date will tell us whether you have breaker points (behind the flywheel) or electronic ignition.
You can put some degreaser on the cylinder head and hose it off if you want, so long as you have the muffler and air cleaner fitted at the time, so water can't enter the engine, and you do not blast water at the engine, especially the ignition coil. I suspect that "felt" was dried-up old grass clippings, and they do need to be removed, to allow cooling air flow.
