OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Engines 1980 Briggs and Stratton 5hp horizontal shaft

G'day guys, bugger me got this old 5hp Briggs and Stratton horizontal shaft engine few weeks ago and couldn't help myself had to give it a clean up haha.... Here are a few pics of how its looking so far....Just need to work out what to run with it so I can load it up and run a few tanks of fuel through it....Cheers Chris

Hi Chris, love ya work as always mate! What a ripper.
I can't quite see the date code, but it looks like 30 January 1980, so she is an oldie!

Can't wait to see it finished....

Beautiful work and great attention to detail Chris. Thanks for sharing the photos

Cheers, Michael

Chris, a thanks from me as well for the sharing what can be achieved. Just something for those of us who are new to restorations like you do, would you give some little pointers on how you do it? I mean things like "how did you clean the carby to such a clean finish" & "preparation for paint" for example. Thanks again for displaying your work it is truly a joy to see. regards Chris.

Sure I will add some tips for cleaning up parts and paint Ive picked up along the way...Yeah I'm no expert at this they will be just tips on how I go about things and what Ive worked out works for me,Its the net and you always get thats not how you do it! lol.. will just be tips on what works for me cheers Chris....

Hi Chris and members, here's some info on the 13 series horizontal Briggs engines that may be of interest. The images are larger than the in-post preview if you wish to read the specs.

Cheers, Michael

G'day guys,and thanks for the info Michael.....Here is a few pics on how I tape the head off for some paint a very sharp knife makes this an easy job to do.. Normally not a problem if you just paint an already assembled engine just paint away ,but if you paint individual parts on their own you need to make sure in this case the head and kill switch have a good earth back to the block ,some briggs have the kill switch on the carby and they need a good earth from carby all the way back to the block...from the pics you can see what I mean works good for me Cheers Chris...

Looks fantastic Chris! What was the inside like at this age,still servicable? Decided what your hooking her up to? Great work mate

G'day blue yeah it's not to bad on the inside definitely done alot of work but still has some life left in the old girl yet,thinking of running another old briggs I have setup as an air compressor maybe?....The pulley was a little stubborn to get off

Have made the mistake of doing too many projects at the same time so progress is slow with this one....If Im looking for a good finish with paint I find it best to get all the old paint off and that's easier said than done! if you don't have access to bead blasting..
What I find works good for me is this spray on Quick strip paint stripper not that Im a fan of paint stripper it cant be very messy but this can stuff works great...Just let it soak for an hr or so and hose off,it may not make the paint fall off but what it does do is make the paint very soft and even a hand held wire brush will get it off in just a few min...Also it works great in getting old dry fuel varnish out of carbs (note not the plastic kind!)...
Sometimes I may cheat and bring in the big guns! as in my 3 phase Karcher HD 10/25 S pressure washer it has well over 3500psi and rips most things clean off back to bare metal especially if hit with Quick strip beforehand ..I will need to use it on the engine block as it's a mess with old wasp nest's and crap in the fins.....
One last thing for the Quick strip to work best part's must be free of oil so a good hit with degreaser beforehand works best...Cheers Chris few pics

Good stuff here for us lads. I went out and got some of your White Knight (hammered) metal paint from Bunnings & look forward to what it will look like.

G'day Christo for a Rover base and the hammered paint your talking about Id not try and take all the old paint off just give it a really good sand up and get all the old peeling paint off and a good clean then paint away its good stuff that paint.....And good luck the best part is standing back at the end thinking how good does that look after all the hard work....

G'day guy's, In the few free minutes a day I have to work on this engine, Ive been busy cleaning up the block and doing the messy work before final clean and paint....a little lapping of the valves and cleaned the ports up with my Dremel.....

Yep I took your advice and gave it a go.(1st coat) I actually bought the brush on paint and it is looking pretty good to me. I fail to get the time for the prep work that you do, but it is a start anyway. Even if I can't sell her it is still great fun.

Getting there....

To set the air gap for coil/ magneto I just use the business card trick,never had any problems doing it this way on any small engine I've worked on yet....Cheers Chris....

G'day guy's...Not all paint has the same coverage some can be very thin on coverage and would take way to many coats to bring the colour out.....Sometimes I will use a light coat of matt white as an undercoat just to bring the top coat colour out in less coats of paint.....Few pics and 1st coat of yellow I will give it three coats of yellow all up...Cheers

All done yay lol ..Ive got an 80 amp alternator that I will run with it set up as a battery charger,not to fully charge a battery just enuff to start whatever it is say like one of my ride on mowers...Cheers Chris

Get the %&*# outta here Chris!...Thats Red Hot....Erm Cept its yellow! What an Awesome Job Mate and cool idea on the application!

Thank's blue coming from you means a lot, you set the bar pretty high mate.....Will load pic's later on when it's all set up as a battery charger thingymabob!....