Hi Ryan & Mod Gadge,
Yes Ryan I can understand your disappointment in regards to the situation of the Model 45. I guess it would've been better if the situation were to be reversed, that way you wouldn't feel so bad if you were to strip down the diplomat, but truthfully even diplomats in that gooder condition are getting hard to find, not that anyone's really looking for them.
It will be interesting to see if the diplomat drives or not. If it doesn't then I'd take the engine from it and transplant it to the model 45 as it should have a 3 HP engine on it, not that there's that much difference between the 2.5 and 3 HP.
BTW Scott Bonnar did fit 2 HP and 2.5 HP units to the 17 inch model 45 over the years, actually around 1976 many 2.5 HP engines were fitted to the 45's. I guess that SB got a cheap deal from Briggs for purchasing a huge job lot of them in one go.
Anyway it will be interesting to hear back from you with the results of both machines.
Cheers,
BB.
