A little off topic but

[Greg Vickers]

As the back of my TEA20 lies buried in the snow drift, and the transmission and engine are tucked away in the shed, I find myself involved in other projects. I have an old walk behind snowblower that I refuse to retire every time I see how flimsy the new ones are. It has a 10hp Briggs and Stratton engine. Earlier this season during a heavy storm I think she took a bit of a heating. I shut it down to talk to a neighbor, and when I went to fire up again she was bound tight. Tried it an hour later and all was fine. She has started smoking, so I have opened her up for a look. Everything is like new except the cylinder. She is scored pretty good. Aluminum block with no sleeve. From what I have read it seems that the cylinders are hardened on the surface at the factory. Once that hardening is removed, they tend to wear faster. Has anyone had any luck boring out these little engines? I guess it comes down to cost vs value. I can get a Jap built Briggs for less than 500 bucks. Any thoughts
 

[matt p]

I don't know!! but the guys garden tractor forum may,they helped me with my 18 hp briggs, lots of good info there.
 

[Jason S.]

I've bored lots of Briggs aluminum block engines over the years. Go carts tend to be hard on engines. Never had any issues boring one and putting oversize rings and piston in. A hardened aluminum block? I've never seen one, all I ever saw were the aluminum bore blocks and the steel sleeved aluminum blocks. Yours isn't like some motorcycle blocks and has a chrome or nikasil plated cylinder does it?
 

[Greg Vickers]

It has something to do with the cooling process. You can scratch the outside of a new engine pretty easy with a screw driver, but it takes a bit more pressure on the cylinder wall. Similar to tempering steel. It seems to me that oversize rings are made of a softer material than standard when it comes to aluminum block engines. I know what you mean about the nikasil. My sled has it. My Briggs is a 74, so nothing so fancy. Perhaps I will take her to the engine machine shop. It's not a restoration thing like my Ferguson, it's just me being cheap. But the less money I spent on the blower, the more I have for my TEA20.
 

[Jason S.]

If you could hone most of it out you could get the chrome rings from Briggs for the slighly oversize and out of round bores. If they are still available for it. I would think that they are.