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They both have Kawasaki engines and 48" decks but the LT has a good 17HP twin cylinder and the 245 has a 14HP with a bad sump gasket. The deck and trans in the 245 are higher quality than the Lt180 so I want to take the engine out of the LT and put it in the 245. After an initial look at the two motors it looks like the wiring harness won't need changed. I'll check output shaft diameter, rotation direction and motor mount dimensions next week. Is there anything else I should check? Anyone tried this before?

You should be fine.
Only catch will be the alternator size and the solenoid as Kawasaki can have a piggy back solenoid or a remote solenoid

Thanks Bert! I'm going to go look at the 540 engine tomorrow. The deck on the 245 is electric PTO clutch and the 180 is Spring loader idler tension so I'll need to be able to swap the drive pulleys. I'll measure the shafts, distance between drive pulley an trans pulley and check rotation direction. Hopefully I can end up with one very nice mower out of this!

Pulleys should be fine but the alternators could be different.
Mowers with a manual blade clutch do not need as much alternator output as those with electric clutches so are often fitted with smaller output alternators .

Isn't it just a stator under the flywheel on the motor? I will follow the harness back and get the regulator. I know the igniters are a little different too....

There may be fewer magnets on inside of flywheel also. I put Kohler CV15S in place of a Kawa 14HP and had to change stator and flywheel.

When I pull the motor all that is coming along, I'm thinking about pulling the entire wiring harness and all the interlock switches with the motor. The 420 has a WOT choke and the 540 has a separate line and knob. I'm pulling it all and once I get the motor started in the 245 frame and the transmission drive connected so that it will move I'll start integrating everything else and making sure it's going to work. Probably won't get started on it till mid late summer when the grass slows down enough to give me time...

You are making a lot of extra work for yourself unless you want to keep the harness for spares.
All mowers have a single plug that connects the engine to the mower .
The engine will them have a plug or two on the engine side of the mower plug to enable things like the alternator & regulator to be replaced .