My threads are knackered on the end of my flywheel for the pull start is there any way to bodge it up even if it means welding a bolt on the top just to hold the flywheel on:confused:

Unless you can get someone to clean them up and or try and re-thread it.. no... the flywheel has to be torqued down or you'll just shear flywheel keys every time you start it.

Thanks for the info.
I got it rethreaded and put a homemade key in ,it run for about 2 minutes then sheared the key, are homemade keys any good or do I need to get the real mcoys

Go get oem.. not even aftermarkets are as good as oems...

http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/1914/santapodsept06122zxcbw1.jpg


Should the crankshaft fit flush with the flywheel ,mine has a big gap and I've tapped it down ,but it don't look right to me

Yes it should...

I've got a feeling this isn't the right flywheel for this engine ,because there's no way it will go down another half inch

Wow, half a inch... (never saw the pic before, just looking at it) Did you maybe just get this engine from someone else? They might have tried to use this flywheel on it.

Thanks for all your info
I've decided to do what I should have done in the first place ,put my good running 10hp in the mower and chuck this 13 hp out
A few more questons though I've got my 10hp in now and the bottom pully was slightly bigger on this engine than the 13 one will this be OK and also why is it when I electric start at first its really slow to wind over but then finds is life and winds over quick ?

Slightly bigger is fine (it'll just run the blades a little slower)
The starting deal could be a weak battery, or the engine was on the compression stroke when it starts (which they usually stop on the compression stroke)

One more for you what is the black and red wire for that bolts on near the throttle linkage ,om my 10hp snapper I only had the black on there but on this 13 hp snapper it was black and red
What is recommende oil amount for the 10hp engine

The only wire that should be on that side is the kill wire... (unless the engine has a fuel solenoid, then it will have a red and black wire going to that.)

Oil recommendations are...
HD-30 weight above 40 degrees Fahrenheit. (I wouldn't use it below 50 though)
5w-30, or 10w-30 below 40...
OR 5w-30, or 10w-30 all year round (summer through winter)
Change every 25 hours.

I recommend either using 5w-30 or 10w-30 synthetic all year round...
Or 5w-30 conventional in the winter, and 15w-40 conventional in the summer if you don't want synthetic. (may also use 5w-40 instead of 5w-30) these engines do great on 5w-30/10w-30 synthetic all year round, or 15w-40 in the summer, 5w-30 in the winter.
You can see, 15w-40 will be a diesel rated oil... fine to use.