Silence is Golden . . .

 My little shit-box hundred dollar mower has had little to no attention since I bought it used from the Oak Hill hardware store twenty years ago . A display model they used to mow the strip in front of the store and sold cheap at the end of the season . 

 

I may have changed the oil in it once or twice but that's about it . It never fails to start on the first or second pull no matter how much I neglect it . I run it for fifteen minutes once a week in the summer to trim up the edges and corners I can't get into with the riding mower . In the last couple years it started surging a bit and fuel consumption was significantly greater , but you know how it goes . If it runs don't mess with it . This spring it started as easy a ever on the second pull , but the surging was definitely a bit worse this time around . All this means that the thing needed attention as the carb diaphragm was toast and it was running mostly on the choke circuit . So time for some attention .

It's one of those 500 series 3.75 hp Brigg and Stratton with the plastic carb mounted right on the tank .

This is the part you need . Diaphragm goes against the tank with the paper gasket over it .

 While it was apart I cleaned it and blew some carb cleaner through all the jets and passages and put it all back together . And it now starts and runs with absolutely no surging at all . 

Just for shits and giggles I replaced the two governor springs on the carb as the smaller idle control one had gone missing a while back and the larger one was mangled badly .

As to the silence part . . . yea this thing is not very quiet . It will rattle the fillings out of your teeth and leave your ears ringing in a couple minutes . It is downright painful .

So . . . 

About ten years ago I picked up a box of these brass drain fittings at Mardens Discount for about fifty cents a piece, figuring they may be useful for some project .

And I think this one is just about right after some modificating with a hacksaw, a drill and the right size socket to stretch the neck a little bit .  Smashed the end down over a large screwdriver, drilled some 3/16ths holes on one side and folded the corners over to pinch it tight .

It actually makes for a real nice press fit on the can that passes for a "muffler" on this thing.

And it drops the harsh rap of the engine to a much more tolerable level . 

Silence is indeed golden now .