Toro Clone Engine Is Killing Me Help!

tom3

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I suspect the alternator is a set of magnets on the underside of the flywheel with some coils under there to provide the current, exterior piece might have been the rectifier/regulator, might be missing at this point. For the hot start I'd try to wire the choke open after the intial startup even though the thermostat seems to be working.
 

Normstorm

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***RESULTS OF VALVE ADJUSTMENT*** So I did the valve adjustment. I would say I turned both screws Clockwise about 1/2 turn or less to get feeler gauge to slide with a little bit of drag. So they were somewhat out of adjustment. Just realized I should have carefully measured what they were at B4 adjustment so you guys could have said they were way off or "sounds about right" for a used engine.

Put it back together and pulled cord. Engine started immediatly! Went out and mowed about 8,000 Sq Feet of wet grass with quite a few leaves. I would say I emptied bag and re-started engine 20 - 30 times. Most of time used the electric start but also used pull cord a few times. Engine started every time. It still became somewhat slower to start toward the end but it did start every time. This could be partly due to electric starter slowing down due to use. I have no idea what would be normal for this mower as far as how many times should electric start work B4 having to Re- Charge It.

Anyway it maybe improved somewhat but it wasn't any "night & day" difference. Mower completed the job and bagged wet leaves and grass very well. Maybe its good enough.

Since I don't have the gauges and stuff I don't think I will explore the compression testing. I guess maybe a blown head gasket would be an "easy fix" but anything else would mean the engine is older than I thought or had a ton of use? Wouldn't a "blown gasket" be obvious and it wouldn't run well while mowing?

Most likely will try to sell it on C List. Chock it up as a good (but expensive) learning experience? ! Thank You everyone for helpfull advice.
 

bertsmobile1

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Check the valves again.
I could not even remember just how many have come into the shop with an impossible to fix mower that they had spent near $1000 on replacing everything that bolts on.
It turns out to be common valve lash.
People are used to modern cars with twin overhead cams fitted with roller rockers, bucket lifters or hydraulic lifters.
These of course never need to adjusted for the life of the vehicle
Fifty years ago monthly adjustments were considered routine maintenance, along with adjusting the points .
While it is an advancement technically speaking, it has been a giant step backwards educationally speaking.
So now 99.9% of the population have no idea what happen with their vehicles when they turn the key.
Prior to 1964 when mowers changed from points ignition to Hall Effect triggered magnetos the average Joe Blow could tell from the way the mower was running if the capacitor ( condenser to some ) had failed or the points were too wide or were losing up.
So dads would eventually devote a 1/2 to do some mower maintanance.
Remembering that back them a petrol push mower was 3 to 6 months wages so it was worth putting the effort into this, and while he was there he would grease the chassis parts and check all of the nuts & bolts, perhaps even look at the air filter although we had snorkels so, an air filter was good for 10+ years.
Post 1964 mowers no longer required constant attention to the ignition system and owners quickly forgot how to diagnose their mowers performance so now days I only see them when there is no blades left or they won't start.
This situation was made even worse when the Powertorque engine was introduced in 1984 because it requires next to no maintanance so none got done till it took 2 hour of handle pulling to get them to start.
 

Normstorm

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OK Bert I will check the valves again out of curiosity. Ah the old "points and condenser". My first foray into engines was with a lawn mower at thrift shop. Friend convinced me to buy it for $5 saying he knew for sure it was just needing a condenser. We never could get the flywheel off though and he moved away. My dad had few tools so rented a puller at some point and got flywheel off. One $2 condenser later and it worked!

Pretty funny since now I can afford a $20 puller but I'm too cheap to buy one. So on this current "Toro" project I dented the crank shaft threads trying to get the flywheel off by tapping lightly (I thought) with a small hammer. Didn't know about the special "knocker nuts". But now I know how to use a $25 split die to repair 14x1.5 mm threads AND how to drill and tap multiple holes in flywheel in order to use a puller! I wasn't going to tell you guys about that!

Thank god for internet. I actually replaced a $2 oil seal on my Toyota Tacoma a few years ago. Was quoted $2,000. I had to pull the shaft out of the rear differential and a bunch of stuff. Common problem so lots of Utube videos on it. So far so good. Usually seems like I do at least one stupid thing if I try to work on gas engine driven stuff.
 

bertsmobile1

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If you are just sorting out a single thread and will probably never need it again then the cheap & cheerful method is to get a nut & cut it in 1/2 length ways .
Sharpen the cut face by rubbing on a stone then clamp it below the damaged section and run it back up .
Do this several times clamping it tighter each time till the thread is restored enough to get the full nut back on.

When removing the flywheel, leave the nut on the crankshaft , just back it off 1 to 2 turns
Put a socket on the nut and strike the socket to break the taper lock.

FWIW I use an air chisel with the point ground round and a couple of builders window wedges under the flywheel
 
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