Worst engine ever?

[Le TVR]

After last weekend, I have a candidate.
No make that a guaranteed winner.

I give you the Brigg+Stratton "Diamond Plus" 13hp motor

Tappet adjust?? - Easy, just remove the valves and grind the stems down until you have the required (unspecified) clearance.

From there it just gets worse - believe me.

[apache]

They're just disposable engines, try a 2.3 S6 Rover SD1 engine, truly awful. I had one drop a liner into the crank get rebuilt, drive 3 miles and have the cam seize

[chassis 33]

I dunno, my 2.6 SD1 engine was the most reliable part of the car, everything else failed/rotted around it!!!

Regards
Iain

[Pigeon]

They're not called "Briggs and Scrap 'em" for nothing...

[scuffham]

Pigeon said:

They're not called "Briggs and Scrap 'em" for nothing...

maybe so, but for $100 what did you expect? BMW's F1 engine?

[Pigeon]

The hundred dollars would be better spent in yen.

[tr7v8]

Is this a side valve? If it is it's quite a common way of adjusting valve clearances
and was used by other manufacturers. Not an issue as they don't need adjusting a lot. Try a E93A ford 1172 side valve, their is a a special tool to remove the valve & guide as the valves have a mushroom to bear on the cam. EG too fat to get past the guide with the collets removed!

[bluespanner]

I love the Briggs engines, the little 3.5hp horizontal cranks, the 11 or so hp verticals and even the flat and V2s. (Which sound very nice)

They are all very simple, and the technology is pretty much the same across the range.

They are also quite tuneable; i kid you not - one of mine has a big bore exhaust, high flow air filter, and the improvement is noticeable.



I have no candidate for worst engine; most engines, if used appropriately are good at what they are supposed to do, however ease of maintenance and parts pricing would put me off some.