Experts ,gotta love them

[Al Smith]

You get a lot of comments on varied things some coming from genuine factory trained experts cautioning they know more than you the unlearned .Not always the case I might add .
One recent case was a 5 HP Briggs engine on a roto tiller that came over on the Mayflower .Never did seem to have enough power .I changed it to a solid state coil which was cautioned it would not work, had to be a genuine Briggs replacement "magnetron " unit with a matching flywheel .By some miracle it worked fine .
I reset the intake valve by filing the intake valve stem ,evidently a no no .Gee now all the sudden the power level increased as the compression rose .It won't stall at slightly above idle even breaking up driveway gravel digging to China .Maybe I just got lucky or something or maybe I'm not as stupid as some think I am . Problem is now I need D-Handle because that thing can really snap back sometimes on a start .

 

[Larry B]

What you did was defeat the easy spin feature. With the intake lash set properly the intake valve stays open a few thousandths till piston is almost to to TDC. This makes the engine easier to start. If you open up the valve lash it does two things. Gives it more low end torque and makes the engine hard to start and prone to kickback.

 

[Al Smith]

I knew that thank you .One thing you do not need on a front tine antique tiller is running the rotors at a fast speed on hard material .It will beat you to death unless you're built like a gorilla .My poor old 73 year old bod at 195 pounds couldn't take the wear .The avatar pic I'm pushing the scales at over 220 and it was all muscle not flab like today . Believe it or not other than the occasional kick back it starts easy .Just like a ported chainsaw you have to get serious to start one ,no bunny tugs .