OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Briggs & Stratton Engines No Starter Housing - No ID Numbers

Hey Gents,I have a few engines that have come my way without any starter housing which means of course no model numbers.I like to de-coke the engines I sell which means 99% of the time a new gasket is needed. It is always nice to have one atleast orded before I pull the motor down but without model numbers I find it a bit iffy to pre-order. It would all so be nice to give it to the new owner with atleast the right series numbers.Any tips would be muchly appreciated.

. as long as your sure of your work then no problems , there is a few different head gaskets but you need to know the shapes , look up correct type . only way i know of for sure is the cover stampings , other than that its a guess at close to an age . oil plug / where is it n stuff like that . bottom of sump low down is really early , surestart is different again , points . no points , its why not many do it and guarantee it , if they come here with no tinware they are wrecked out for parts . i couldnt do it to someone unless it was a rebuild with no age . how do you know they only need a decoke ? you have a way of checking rod knocks on a non runner ? if its smoking ? excessive oil use ? worn rings ? bad valve seats ! or just fit it to a spare base and run it i hope

just my thoughts

I do start them first with a random starter first to see if they are good enough to continue with.And I wouldnt sell anything that I wouldnt own myself which is why under the house is full of junkers.I dont see how the age makes any differance if it is a solid engine.There is very little in the way of profit in the mowers I sell I do it more as a time filler and have'nt had an unhappy customer yet.From what I have seen your average person just wants a mower that they can go out to the shed on a sunday grab the mower that starts without a sweat then get back to cutting up the onions.

well, you have a bit of a dilemna on your hands post some pics, a few different angles, inlet manifolds, linkage setups, head designs, they all help piece the puzzle together.
Also a dead blow hammer square to the head "helps" the gasket come off in one piece rather than prying it off.

Here I just part those out here too. Too time consuming for what the customer are will to pay for. Here by the time those need major parts the parts cost more than new replacement equipment as the rest of the equipment is usually pretty well worn out too.

By all means if you replace the tins transfer the old numbers to the new tins. It really frustrating to receive an engine where someone have changed out the tins and you get one with the wrong numbers or no numbers at all. When this happens we end up falling back on our experience and our ability to do puzzles.

Thanks fellas it is not really a big issue for me.I wont bore you with posting pics but even too part them out I thought it may of been easier to know what series they were. I guess eye-balling other engines to put the pieces to the puzzle is the best way. I did have one that was almost new and all it had wrong was a dead plug, the previous owner must not of known how to check plugs and by the time I got it there was no starter.I put another starter on it and now it lives on my my mower.

I got 280000 series OHV engine that the previous owner removed the starter, carburetor and intake just because the engine would not turn thru a cycle. LOL it was only a valve adjustment. Just waiting a donor engine to do the repairs as new parts cost more than what I can sell the used engine for.

As for the series all you need to basically is the CI displacement, crankshaft orientation, starter type and get get you the basic number using the Briggs numbering system. Still won't get the exact model number or type number but at least have idea of what it is.

Exact model model, type and date code are needed when rebuilding as things like piston, rings and other options usually have changed during the life of the series.