# 12.5hp flathead Briggs



## Chris86 (Jun 8, 2013)

Hey guys, question for you. I have just acquired two free Briggs & Stratton 12.5hp flathead, vertical shaft engines. One of them has the cast iron sleeve. The one without the sleeve is on a Murray wide body and sounds like it's not far from slinging a rod thru the block, I don't know about the other except that the charge wire has been torn off of the alternator.

Have any of you ever had one of these engines rebuilt and if so could you give me a general idea what it would cost?


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## BigT (Sep 15, 2014)

Hello Chris,

You can buy a rebuild kit for that engine for about $100, and do it yourself. Includes new piston, rings, connecting rod, wrist pin, seals, gaskets, etc. I've done such a rebuild on a Tecumseh engine many years ago. It ran fine for 6-7 years, then I bought a new mower. 

To have the rebuild done by a shop would probably cost as much or more than a new engine. They would probably bore it oversize, and go with an oversize piston and rings. You can get a new 12.5 hp engine for about $400 - $450.


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## FredM (Nov 18, 2015)

G'day Chris:

When I used to repair mower engines many years ago, I could buy short Briggs motors, it was just a matter of changing over the head, carby and manifold, linkages etc., I guess this may be still available in the States.

The first thing you need to do is remove the head from the cast iron bore engine and check out the bore for scoring, you can also check the wear in the valve guides by rotating the flywheel until you have valve overlap, just a matter of wriggling the valves to check wear, from this you will get an idea of how far the overhaul will need to go.

I agree with BigT, if you can get a new engine for the price quoted, I would go for it, besides you most likely could get an OHV with more HP to boot, just a matter of making sure the output shaft where the drive pulleys fit is the same as the old motor shaft.

If you are handy with a soldering iron, you could reattach the wiring to the alternator, depends how bad the break is, give us a photo of the alternator if you want to go this way, nothing is impossible if you want to have a go at repairing.

Hope this helps


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## Chris86 (Jun 8, 2013)

Thanks BigT and FredM!


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