OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Briggs & Stratton Engines Rover ES200 XL - How old is this?

The snorkels are quite popular with some users, tiger, but they have always been supplied by mower manufacturers, not engine manufacturers so their designs are perhaps a bit less professional than genuine engine parts. They have a lot to offer heavy users, such as contractors, because they take a lot longer to clog under dusty conditions. I think they may have become mainly aftermarket items though, now that mowers are mainly commodity goods made in China, rather than something people think about before buying.

I have the impression the mower shops that offer machines assembled from imported parts tailored for specific types of customer, are making inroads into the contractor market. One reason would be that they can easily undercut Honda prices with a very similar machine. However another benefit they can offer is carefully tailored specifications that suit contractor preferences.

Would have to heartily agree with Roebuck and Nathan, these are very smooth and pretty quiet. The carby had mud everywhere, once I took it apart and cleaned it, it runs fine.
Why are these mowers so smooth, is it the engine design? Wheels? Just trying to understand what makes them so good.

I agree they are rather quiet and smooth, but I don't think you should exaggerate this. A while ago I had 2 mowers: a Victa Impala 4 with a 1976 Briggs 92908, and a Rover 200ES with a 1983 Briggs 92508. Both were very smooth, easy to start, and all that good stuff. The Victa was the nicer mower, due to a comfort handle with a good vibration isolation mechanism. The Rover was much quieter, because it had a large muffler where the Victa just had a little pot muffler. I liked both mowers, until I got an early Honda HR194 (4 height levers & bar blade, made in the mid 1980s). The Honda was so much quieter and smoother there was no comparison. Then I got a Honda HRU195 from about 2007. It was even quieter and smoother than the HR194: I could mow with the engine idling, and the loudest sound I could hear was the grass rushing around the grass scroll into the catcher. Of course mowing with the engine idling was not practical, since the cut wasn't totally smooth and the catcher chute tended to clog, but it sounded great.

So, that Rover is smooth and quiet because the version of the Briggs 92508 made for Rover was a smooth quiet engine with a good muffler. However it was not state of the art even for the mid 1980s: the Honda GXV120 was in a higher class altogether. I loved my Briggs mowers when I had them, because they were far and away the best I'd ever had up until then. But now I'm spoiled - I've walked right past similar Rovers on nature strips.

Thanks Grumpy, I guess my experience is rather limited but of all the machines I've seen the Rover is the quietest/smoothest. So in part the mower is quiet because it has a big muffler. You mentioned that the Briggs 92508 engine was a quiet engine, do you know how they make it quieter?

Just a gentle nod, this is getting way off topic guys.Time to wind it up.

Darryl is right tiger, this is not the right place to continue. As a final response, the 92508 and 92908 were the same engine with a different carburetor/fuel tank. The reason the early 1980s Rover 92508 was quiet, was the large and effective muffler it had. Briggs offered the big muffler and the little pot muffler as alternatives, and mower manufacturers chose what they wanted. On my 1976 mower, Victa specified the little pot muffler - perhaps the bigger, better muffler hadn't been introduced at that time, or perhaps they were crazy. More likely, because the engine was laid out with the cylinder crossways on the Victa, and longitudinally on the Rover, perhaps there wasn't room for the big muffler running crossways on the Victa, because of the high arch grass chute. On my 1983 mower, Rover specified the big muffler, and I'm very glad they did. That one change made their mower a nicer machine.

Ok thanks guys.

As this topic has reached a conclusion, I will now close it. If any member has anything to add, please PM a moderator.