Intek 40 Series Pushrod Length vs Adjustment Range

[kbowley]

Just wanted to update the topic.

There were abnormally high winds here that blew the leaves away, so didn't end up needing to mulch mow them last fall, so didn't use the mower again until today.

Mowed for an hour and so far the repair described previously is holding up, though I'm sure the head will get hotter in the middle of summer, but so far, so good.

I did do a (cold engine) compression test on both cylinders to see how they looked and was surprised to see that even with this B&S having that compression release-whatever feature to aid in starting, both cylinders were around 170PSI. It's a crappy cheap compression tester so possibly it is inaccurate, but I was under the impression that the compression numbers would have been lower than that, even with an engine in good shape. I did do the valve lash adjustment again on both cylinders, so it's not that. Possibly my valve adjustment wasn't perfect, but it's not burping when trying to start it like it was back when I had to do that adjustment the first time.

Regardless I was happy to see that the cylinder for the head I'd worked on, was close to the PSI for the other one, even has slightly higher compression than the one I hadn't touched (due to lapping the valves, I'd assume). I don't recall if I mentioned all the details but I had a concern about whether my lazy attempt to not take the intake manifold off, had prevented enough clearance to get the head to seal well against the head gasket, but apparently it's sealing fine, even with the generic $10 all-gaskets kit I got off ebay a few years back, which as I mentioned previously, had a little oversized cylinder bore hole like it was also meant for the next size up displacement B&S engine.

Now that I've written all that, it will probably grenade itself, but fingers crossed...
It's a 26 year old consumer grade mower so I'm not hoping for it to last another 26, just a while longer.

You will have no issues if it doesn't overheat via a mouse nest. Not the way I would do it, but hell, you had fun! And yes, you should have removed the intake; it is very easy, and it only takes a minute to remove the other two 3/8 bolts with a 1/4" drive socket and long extension, save the top one on the left side, which requires an open-end wrench. Then just set the carb/intake down on the frame, control rods permitting. Makes things much easier.