Replaced the tired engine in my BigTen today. Removed the old one and cleaned all the muck out of the frame. There was a mouse nest but no signs of mouse pee yet.Stupid mouse made a bad choice with his winter provisions.In with all the clippings, weed seeds, thistle down etc. where he built his nest I found a chunk of the mouse bait I have around my shop.Guess it was his last meal.
After removing the original engine I prepped the replacement. Took off the sheet metal to clean out the mouse nest. After removing the nest I found that the ignition has been replaced with the magnatron system and the flywheel repolarized. Whoo Hoo. Great spark. I did get the replacement engine installed and bolted down; driveshaft reconnected; wiring hooked up and battery installed. It turns over with a nice fat blue spark. Tomorrow I will hook up the throttle and choke and fuel line; fill it with fresh oil; add gas and see how it runs. This engine is also from a BigTen but has a lot more compression and the guy I got it from said it runs good with no smoke so we will see. If all is well I will reinstall the grill and hood and mount my backup snowblower for the winter. Here are some pics from today.
Money can't buy you happiness. It can however buy you a beer. And that is close enough.