And the repower has begun! (SS12)

8785 Views 25 Replies 9 Participants Last post by dmorrill22, Jun 5, 2013

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · May 2, 2013

Arrived home today for the summer. Immediately set to work opening the clone engine. Now for the bad news:

The gas tank had a few dents on it in various places, as did a bit of the shroud. I tried pulling the recoil, but the shroud was dented enough that the recoil wasn't quite lined up, and the shroud was pressing on the flywheel fins.

I don't feel like shipping the engine back for a replacement. If the engine itself is fine, I will just fix the shroud and remove the gas tank (I wasn't going to use it anyway). But I tried turning the engine over by hand, and it works well for several revolutions, and then gets difficult to turn over. Not sure if this is the normal compression portion of the starting process, or if something is wrong. Are these hard to start with the recoil starters?

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Oo-v-oO

· #2 · May 2, 2013

Several complete (360°) turns?

Two complete turns makes a complete 4 cycles, so you should run into compression before that, more like a turn and a half.
I wouldn't expect it to take more than one complete cycle to build up compression.

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 2, 2013

Must be just the compression. Seemed a little high to me, but I haven't put the pull start back on yet. Will find out tomorrow if it pull starts ok.

grem304

· #4 · May 2, 2013

With the recoil in place they seem to turn over fairly easy, I've been more than pleased with mine, ease it around to compression stroke,set choke and give a good pull, starts first pull everytime.

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 3, 2013

Spent the majority of today working on the tractor. Had to take the engine tin work off and the recoil starter apart and hammer both into shape again. Shipping was not good to the engine, or loading it damaged it. The bottom of the recoil starter was dented in, preventing the spool from turning.

Got everything hammered out, put the tins back on, and gave it a couple pulls. Turns over fine.

The engine is a tight fit in the tractor, but it should work fine. Here is a sneak peak at where I'm at:

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ILOVESNOW

· #6 · May 3, 2013

How are you planning on positioning the engine relative to the stock crank centerline?

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #7 · May 3, 2013

As it sits now, the crank is horizontally positioned the same as the old Tecumseh. The engine sits a bit higher though, maybe 3/8'-1/2", but this shouldn't be a big issue. The clutch will certainly need to be thought out. Right now, it hits on the starter motor housing, so it will need to be modified.

ILOVESNOW

· #8 · May 3, 2013

What clutch setup are you using?

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #9 · May 3, 2013

Going to use the stock pulley setup, but weld the pivot point to the stock battery tray. Going to have to slightly modify the pulley bracket too, but this is plan A. Hoping it works like I think it will.

ILOVESNOW

· #10 · May 3, 2013

I'd be curious if a battery tray and clutch setup from an onan tractor would hit with that 16 of yours.

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #11 · May 3, 2013

I have thought about that, but I suspect it would be the same story. But I didn't want to buy one, it should be easy enough converting this setup.

Plowthesidewalk

· #12 · May 3, 2013

Sounds interesting. Keep the pics coming.

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #13 · May 7, 2013

7

Finally was able to get back at this project, hopefully will be up and running within the next few days.

Got the holes drilled for the engine, almost ran out of frame to drill them in, but it worked out:

Here is a bigger view of the engine in place:

And the side. Note the clearancing needed on the battery tray in order to clear the engine tabs:

A close up of the clearanced tray:

As others have said, the Tecumseh pulley guard for the drive belt bolts up to the clone engines. I had to shim the guard with two 3/8" nuts on each bolt:

And lastly, the clutch. I cut the pivot post off the engine bracket from the Tecumseh. I will weld this pivot piece to a small length of 1/4" flat stock, and then position it on the battery tray. After finding the position needed, I'll weld the flat stock to the tray. Here is the pivot ready for welding:

And finally, the clutch bracket itself. I had to cut off the stop, to allow the clutch to work properly with the arm suspended from the battery tray. I will go into further details with the clutch setup later as I progress.

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dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #14 · May 7, 2013

5

Began work on the wiring today, as I will essentially start from scratch. Planning on keeping the key switch I had (bought from Tractor Supply) and using the relay setup to kill the engine as it did before. Also made a junction block with wood to take up the extra space on the battery tray. Should make adding things much easier, rather than going behind the dash. Here is the start of it:

A shot of the engine bay as it sits now:

And a couple of shots with the hood and grille on:

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grem304

· #15 · May 7, 2013

Looking good, very clean install.

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #16 · May 10, 2013

Got a bit done today. Half of the wiring is done, just need to wire in accessories like lights, alternator, etc. Ran the engine for the first time today, started up easily and ran very smooth. I also adapted the tractor supply key switch to the engine, so that I can still have the accessories switched on with the key. Also began mounting the alternator, it fits well. I'll take some more detailed pictures tomorrow, but here is a shot of the progress:

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TAHOE99

· #17 · May 10, 2013

Looks nice.
Does the hood actually shut correctly? Looks high in the back in the pics, maybe just how I'm seeing it.
Never thought of making my own distribution pad out of wood, neat idea.

tiretrx

· #18 · May 10, 2013

Looking good :fing32: I'm enjoying your thread, thanks for sharing!

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #19 · May 10, 2013

TAHOE99 said:
Looks nice.
Does the hood actually shut correctly? Looks high in the back in the pics, maybe just how I'm seeing it.
Never thought of making my own distribution pad out of wood, neat idea.

Thanks!

Surprisingly, the hood shuts with room to spare on the battery end. There is about a 1/4" gap between the terminals and the hood, but I will still be adding a rubber pad to cover the positive terminal. The top tab of the alternator only clears with about 1/8" or 1/4", but I won't be using it anyway. :thThumbsU

lobsterbox

· #20 · May 10, 2013

I like the way you have adapted the stock belt guard mount to fit that tractor, very convenient. The one for my SS/16 V-twin had to be modified. What do you think of modifying the oil drain by adding a section of pipe so you're not draining directly off of the frame? I have modified several of my oil drains that way, saves a ton of clean up from the mess that oil creates.

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