126 repower

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Klapatta
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126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

The engine in my 126 is getting tired. Over the last two years or so it's been smoking more and more when under full load. I have to check the oil level with every use now and the spark plug needs to be changed every 6 hours or so otherwise it will not touch off when cold. I'm needing a Winter project anyway. It's a factory installed engine that is 51 years old, it had a good run for sure.
I have this other lump up on the work bench now for evaluation.
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It's from a 124 so the block is period correct but some of the tins and other externals would need to be changed out to be correct, no real issues there. I rebuilt this one 15 years ago and it has about 250 hours run time on it. I opened it up to take better look inside.
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There is quite a bit of carbon build up on the intake side so I checked the valve and can detect no excessive movement, I'm sure that is well within tolerance.
On to the crank case-
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No evidence of metal in the oil pan. Everything seems nice and tight. This is looking a lot more like a likely transplant candidate now.
The cam shaft and connecting rod are K361 items. Back in those days if you looked around enough that stuff was still on the shelves. The piston is a +.010 for a M12.
I washed out the oil pan for good measure, made a gasket, and bolted the pan back on. Back up into the upper end later.

Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

The valves cleaned up nice. An adjustment of only .002 or less is all that was needed.
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Picking the grease and dirt off. I can see metal and paint now. This is going to take a while. Speaking of paint 3 of the tins are the wrong shade yellow.
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mortten
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Re: 126 repower

Post by mortten »

Looks clean inside

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dag1450
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Re: 126 repower

Post by dag1450 »

Looks great. Did you blast outside of the cylinder? So shinny.
127, 1650, 1572, 1872, 2072 . A mower, blower and blade for each.

Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

Dave, the silver cooling fins that you are seeing in the photo is a light coat of high temp aluminum paint. I wanted to offer that area some level of rust protection and the yellow paint will always burn off in that area in a matter of a couple of hours.
It's time to move into the sheet metal.
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Four tins and only one of them, the carb heat shield is the right color. The head shield is the wrong one anyway, this series used the one half open style.It's obvious to me by now that I'm going to be taking some smaller items from the old engine, something that I really did not want to do.
One HeliCoil in the driver hub had backed out a couple of turns. With a sharp pair of cutting pliers I was able to hook onto it and remove it, then install a fresh one. Phew.

Right color wrong part.
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This early style full side fin cover will be replaced with the smaller flat, half open rectangular type. I have one here somewhere and need to find that before paint begins.
While the older style full side fin cover probably provided better air circulation out past the exhaust valve area they had the bad habit of trapping dirt and small grass clippings in the cooling fins which is probably a reason why Kohler discontinued it.

Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

There was just enough paint left in the can to spray three tins. But once dry these items are going to take me a long way up the road toward reassembly.
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I'm not looking for a showroom quality restore. But what's what's important to me is the color is right. That all the bolt on attachments are correct for that era.
Once the entire engine is together I'll spray paint the whole thing over again for a good color match. I'm beginning to suspect that the block is a THIRD shade of yellow.
It's time to think about ordering up parts. Head gasket and more paint for sure. Probably a bunch of other stuff as well. I need to sit down an write a list. While the engine is out of the machine I might as well rebuild the clutch while I'm at it. It's 18 years old any how.
I need to pirate parts off the old engine. Head studs. Side die cast cam cover and dip stick. Top heat shield.I hate having to do that since it still runs well enough. Not any more after I do that, it will be the pint of no return and have crossed the Rubicon. :roll:

Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

The proper side shield just turned up inside one of my milk cartons of stuff.
I scuffed it up and with soaking the spray can in hot water was able to coax that last few drops of paint out of that can. I'm smug now. :lol:
Here it is alongside the other one.
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It was painted black but underneath there was a shade of blue that looked like Sears blue. If this stuff could only talk and tell.

Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

I have 2 cans of Case IH Iron Gard spray paint on order so until that gets here I'm starting to get low on things to do.
I have checked the factory engine and it has the low boss style head with the spark plug directly between the valves. It is retained by five studs and four bolts. From memory I am sure that it is open style head. So at this point I'm left with three choices, rework the factory head or use one of these other two.
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The head on the left is open chamber design. The replacement engine ran very strong with this piece. However it is the high boss style so that more or less rules it out.
The head on the right is ready to go and it is the low boss type. However it is a camel hump style head. This is said to somewhat increase compression.
I'm not so sure if that's exactly what I'm after for this. I happen to believe that the open style heads flow better in a stock application. That said everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
I'd hate to open the first engine up with the onset of Winter approaching so I'm unsure where that's heading at this point. A brand new genuine Kohler head gasket turned up in the gasket bag so there's nothing else holding thing back from making something happen.
More unfortunate news. The cam shaft cover which I want to change out to the dip stick style is not easy to access with the engine bolted in place. I suppose it could be done but it's very close quarters getting at the bottom two bolts.
As far as the head studs go I think that I'm going to start looking around for them. Perhaps an auto parts store stocks something close that I can modify if needed after sketching up dimensions.

Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

Waiting on paint to get here.
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Have decided to run the open chamber head with bolts. This is just the mock up. I turned the internet upside down looking for the 5 correct length grade eight studs.
And no, I'm not in the mood to make them either. :lol:

mortten
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Re: 126 repower

Post by mortten »

You can get the Kohler studs but they’re $8.00 a piece.

Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

Doug, you are right about that one. My parts manual shows it all right but listing for it falls under the 147. KH- 237277.
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The 126 listing shows (3) 2 1/2" and (6) 2 1/4" bolts.
Is this an undocumented mid production change :?: Both engines are k301's for sure.
I will order the new studs. If they have them. I'd rather leave the old ones alone. Keeping everything up top it as is for now, a head and top tin change is easy enough to accomplish with the engine in the machine.
Thank you for the info :)

Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

Ugh. Another setback just now arrived at my door. New vendor, super fast delivery, wrong color. I said yellow three times.
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Anyone here need red paint? :P

mortten
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Re: 126 repower

Post by mortten »

2 1/2 sounds right on the studs. The 122 uses 5 studs. 3 for the tank mount and 2 for the heat shield. The length of the bolts will depend on the head. Low boss used shorter bolts.

Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

That head stud is listed as NLA according to the Kohler parts web site. They do however mention that the riser collars are .406 x .625 x .719, and that's handy info to know as they easy enough to make.
For the low tower head on a 147 according to my book (4) 3/8 16 x 1 1/2" bolts and 5 of the studs are called out which is exactly what my machine came with.
There are many things I think that are off with my parts manual. it's dated 1991 and I really do believe that there were a lot of revisions made on that printing if compared to earlier issue manuals, probably as an effort to streamline parts inventory.

mortten
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Re: 126 repower

Post by mortten »

CC Specialties has the studs.

JMotuzick
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Re: 126 repower

Post by JMotuzick »

Ken
That 1991 revision is the only MTD paper revision I’m aware of. Of corse I could be wrong. It is the newest paper copy for sure. I bought the same revision in 1998, I have found older copy’s from the late 80’s printed by IH.

If you need spacers, let me know, I’ve parted a few Kohler’s with thrown rods and save both the spacers and all the mounting hardware, (studs and bolts).

Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

I have had lingering questions about my TC-113 manual for a very long time and Joe you just answered them all 8-)
Even for the 122 which Doug mentions head bolts instead of the five studs are called out and that's obviously wrong.
This is not a high priority project for me and I'm fine with the keeping the engine up on the bench for a while, but it would be nice to keep things moving along. I am not planning on running the snow thrower this Winter with it and have moved the 126 into storage for the duration. That engine is starting to get pretty loose and it's best I think not to place it under the kind of strain that a snow thrower dishes out, that could window out the block.

My snow plow man does a great job, shows up at ten minutes before Midnight right when I need him the most, and prices me right. ;)
I'd rather not pay out 40 bucks for five studs just yet. Thanks a lot Joe, and I'll be keeping your offer under consideration :D

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l palma
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Re: 126 repower

Post by l palma »

Ken,
I have a TC-113 from 1970, here is a pic of the same pages as yours.
Hope this helps.

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Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

Thank you Lewis very much for providing the images, the manual is of the same era and your reasoning is sound.
I pulled the head off the old engine today to get the top tin. The head is of the open chamber low tower style. I whipped up a set of spacer risers for just in case.
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The brown truck turned up in my neighbor's drive in the Afternoon with a package for ME. Gathering together my acorns I am :lol: Now it's time to get back to work-
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Even the paint is the right color, yippie!

Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

The old engine is actually still in pretty decent shape. There's a good size ridge at the top of the bore but I've seen worse. I slapped it all back together to keep this one a runner and sealed up for Winter storage.
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The head is still in need of work, a glass beading and face skim cut at the least for sure, I bolted it on the align the tins. Other than that this is pretty much going to be it.
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The cam cover dip stick and ID tag are items that can be added on at any time.
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Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

I'm not sure how the factory machined these heads and it really don't matter any how. For what I need to do there has to be two parallel surfaces for me to clamp on to and that is what this is about.
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The muffler side is always fairly straight and I did that one first having to take off only .010 or so off. The flywheel side will always be much rougher as the mold gates are on that side. I took off roughly double that there.
Over to the glass bead machine and nobody will ever know.

The spot faces are very consistent from what I've seen doing these things. And it's all shined up too.I keep around a set of bungs to install as risers just prior to setup in the vise.
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By using the three point method very small adjustments can be made using shims to adjust the top surface setting and I was able to get that surface within .006 or so before taking the actual cut. The bungs allow the part to rest in a free state prior to clamping as well. Important to not over do things when clamping the vise, this is only cast aluminum and it can be bowed with excessive force. The area not supported within the vise is prone to chatter as it's unsupported. By packing modeling clay or plumbers putty between the fins the problem is eliminated.

And here we go, I was cautious starting off and made several passes. 10 minutes or so total.
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I wound up taking about .012 total off, the majority of damage around the exhaust valve even with a .005 height correction, no surprise there.
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I'm eager to get this thing off my bench and hardware is next on the to do list. Almost there.

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dag1450
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Re: 126 repower

Post by dag1450 »

Looks great. So is the cam dip stick the factory original location on these units? That's where my 127 is but it's a factory replacement engine. The original owner had a dealer install.
127, 1650, 1572, 1872, 2072 . A mower, blower and blade for each.

Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

I don't think that they ran the die cast style cover for more than a couple of years or so. From what I have seen over the years they can be most commonly spotted on the 1x6,7 series. Knowing the history of the machine I'm certain that is the factory engine. All he ever did was run it till the wheels fell off and shove it in a barn for fifteen years. It also has the short top fill stick. The far more common style seems to be the stamped type, these most likely came later. And I'm pretty sure that all replacement engines came with them as well. It was probably cheaper to manufacture too as only a minor change was needed to the first version of that stamping tool.
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These die cast ones don't seem to hold paint well and when I do swap it out I'm going to glass bead it to get more adhesion.
I went with mortten's advise, the studs are on their way. Thanks for that tip.

Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

BooBoopDeDoop :D
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mortten
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Re: 126 repower

Post by mortten »

Make sure those nuts don’t hit the tank. The originals were thinner. My studs were also a little tall. I trimmed them. Are you going to run a heat shield?

Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

The heat shield was a minor adjustment but your right about the studs. They are about 1/8" too tall and the gas tank is resting on them. I checked that before thinking it was probably all right but there can't be any rubbing there so they do need to get trimmed down a bit.
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Your comment is much appreciated, and a strong second opinion can come in very handy, thanks.
So I'm not quite done yet and celebrated a bit too early, but Betty don't mind. :lol:

Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

The interference issue is more like a quarter inch than one eighth.
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Looking at the old engine this Morning it's plain to see those studs stand up quite a bit less. Both are fitted with heads that measure .8 thick at the spot face.
I would not have suspected that new in the bag parts could create such an issue. I'd like to take one of the old studs out to compare but at the time they seem locked and stuck in place pretty solid which is one reason why I let them alone and put new ones in. It sounds as though this is a simple enough fix and I'll adjust them down Monday.

mortten
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Re: 126 repower

Post by mortten »

I believe I cut 1/4” off. I only did the ones under the tank and left the other 2 be.

Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

The upper heat shield was far more warped than I had ever realized. It fit like a glove on the 126 but when I took it off the thing went haywire on me. I'm assuming that the thousands of burn and freeze cycles had something to do with that.
Our plant manager who restores vintage military vehicles gave me some really solid advice, step back away from it for a while and re evaluate and that's just what I did. With a rubber hammer and some tweaking in the vise it is much flatter now, while not perfect it does have a much more proper look to it at trial fit and I'm glad that I listened to him. I'm no sheet metal person by a long shot for sure but this is more than plenty good enough for me now.
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I removed a quarter inch from the studs. If more needs to be taken down I can do that. Hoping for adequate clearance to the gas tank. We will find out eventually. I'd like to get this thing off the bench and into the wagon already.
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From what I have seen the gas tank brackets were made in two styles. Partially slotted at the bottom and fully slotted. If I recall correctly this one came from the 124. The partially slotted ones were on the earlier machines I am to assume. They are a real pain to install using the stud arrangement.
Should I go ahead and slot this thing out? I checked the bracket from the 126 and it is full slotted style.
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Klapatta
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Re: 126 repower

Post by Klapatta »

Waiting on the repainted shroud to harden up, in the meantime I'm looking into this muffler support shield. These things seem to be very prone to cracking and good ones can be difficult to find. New replacements are expensive. I can't justify that.
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I have Tig welded these up in the past but the result always seems to be the same in the end. They last for a few years and then fracture again in pretty much the same area as before. The material is probably all vibration stressed out. Planning on making a support bracket this time, something as outlined and weld in three places. 3/16" thick should be about right I would think.

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