It's Alive!!!

Yep, the Moto-Mower is running now. I still don't have the transaxle quite ready yet, so it doesn't drive yet, but I managed to get about a 1/2 hr run time on the engine. The original plan was to have a heliocoil installed in the old head since the threads were shot. Well, the guy I took the head to could not find the right size insert to go in there, so he gave me a different head that was in much better shape anyways. I got that, a new gasket, and a new plug from him for $30, not a bad price in my opinion. I did a little more additional cleaning on the block surface, got everything bolted up and torqued down, installed the fuel line and fuel filter. dumped some gas in the tank and hoped for the best!
I really didn't do too much cleaning to the carb, but it seems to be running fine for now so I'm not gonna mess with it just yet. I gave it a shot of ether, and it still didn't fire right away, but after a few tries it was up and running. I shut it off and restarted it a couple times without fail. Its running great, but there's one thing that concerns me, there is some side to side play on the crank shaft. I didn't notice it at first, but if you look at the output side of the engine where the pulley is, and look at the flywheel side, its easy to see that it has about a 1/4" of side to side play. Anyone have any ideas??? I'm not planning a teardown yet as it runs pretty decent other than that. I took some video of it, but its hard to notice the play in the video.

good work ev

Well it now drives too. I flushed the tranny out with kerosene, and then refilled with fresh gear oil and took it for a spin down the road to the neighbors. All gears work good. The only problem is my belt is slipping a bit. Also my fuel shutoff was leaking, and that is now tightened up and not leaking anymore. I also managed to change the air filter out too. So all in all a good day.

looks great glad it all worked out for you.