Thanks for the update, Peter. I'm aware that you are careful to test mowers several times before you sell them on, and you are quite critical of their performance, so there is a good chance your excellent record of customer satisfaction will continue.
I haven't had much hands-on experience with Tecumseh engines, but from what I've seen the side valve ones seem to be very durable in a mechanical sense - probably substantially more so than aluminium bore Briggs engines - but the carburetors are fiddly to operate and even more fiddly to repair. They don't seem to be notably smooth-running either. At the moment I'm not about to change my opinion that side valve Briggs engines are a better bet as a simple, reliable, and easily repaired power plant for mowers. I'm not ready to say the same of the large Intek engines though (the small ones seem OK so far).
As I keep saying, my idea of the best deluxe walk-behind mower engine is a pushrod Honda, and the most practical cheap and cheerful engine - as long as you don't mind fixing a few trivial faults when you first get it - is a chonda. I prefer to avoid OHC Hondas, and for the moment am withholding judgement on the small pushrod Briggs engines. For your hobby repair jobs, I think you'll find yourself tidying up chonda engines before long, but heaven help you if you keep them on their original mower bases.
I'll leave this thread open for now - please let us know when you've finished testing the Ultima and are satisfied with it.
