So one of the very first problems I ran into on this build was the engine smoked like a freight train. The previous owner said he thought it needed piston rings. I ran able to get it started and drove it around the yard twice and I noticed two things: A. The head gasket was blowing oil onto the back of the muffler and B. Yes lots of smoke comes out of the muffler itself.
I checked, and double checked and triple checked the valve clearance and the .006 intake and .010 exhaust is set correctly. The starter, sheet metal, valve train, and SSI were all good.
Being as the ring kits were upwards of $60 bucks, and I lack the tools to remove the rockers and valves I decided to re-power.
Lucked into a nice guy on Craigslist who had a Tecumseh OH140 14hp engine, with a bad SSI. Since I had a known good one I figured it'd be a good buy. We tested the starter before exchanging money and it turned over very well, which mine did not. So I bought it and brought it home.
I spent quite a few days cleaning the new engine. and then putting on and testing the SSI swap. Now what I don;t know is, at some point during the SSI testing I somehow either killed mine or it just stopped working. Damn. Replacement SSI units even on eBay run almost $250! No way would I spend that kind of dough on it so in my many googling sessions I stumbled across Ed Stoller's website about converting SSI ignitions into coil/battery setups.
Engines and Magnets
Of Note: Be careful scraping off the existing epoxy, once it gets hot and you start pushing with the flathead the pieces will basically shatter off and they are hot to boot so yeah..watch out for burns.
Secondly: Do NOT try to crank the engine without a spark plug attached and grounded. The SSI (if working) will build up current and end up shorting some internal component as it tried to find it's own ground.
Anyway after breaking the trace, and soldering both the jumper and the diode my SSI is now a pickup coil :)
I've gotten excellent spark with Ed's setup and it's MUCH cheaper than replacing the SSI with either new or even refurbished modules.
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