I resorted to taking one of the engines to a mechanic who spent some time on it but, like myself, he eventually gave up. He simply shook his head at it. He said there is no reason why it should not go, but it won't.
I've got a couple of old H. G. Palmer bases here that I've lovingly restored to the best of my ability. I was determined to get at least one older model Kirby-Lauson or Tecumseh engine working on one of them, but constantly ran into problems. The carbys seem to be the biggest hurdle with these engines. The funny thing is I found an old Zenith carby here from a Southern Cross mower which was in bad shape. I fitted it to a Tecumseh engine and made up a wire and spring for the governor. It kicked off first pull and ran. I thought I was all set. Of course next morning I tried to kick it off and it coughed and spluttered. I finally got it running but it sounded really erratic. Next day I tried to start it and no go.
So I've bought a couple of old 200 series Briggs off of old Rover mowers and got them running. The bolt pattern is identical. I just had to buy some spacers to raise the engines a bit, as the shafts on Rovers were a fair bit longer. The great thing is the blade disks fit the Briggs shafts perfectly. Even the keyway is the same. I only needed a different centre bolt. My H. G. Palmer restorations will not be what I had hope for, but at least will work, and the bases and handlebars are all original. I can even use the old Conwire control levers for the Briggs engines. So all was not lost!
