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I'm looking for a little advise here. As mentioned in another post, the K-181 in my 1975 B-80 had massive internal failure. Initially, I thought the only damage was the rod and piston, but after a thorough cleaning and some additional inspection, I realized that there was a chunk missing from the bottom of the cylinder wall. I had one engine shop tell the me the damage is low enough and small enough that it shouldn't matter, however the machine shop was not so confident, basically saying it MIGHT be fine. That means I'm looking at $225 in machining costs plus about $150 in parts to repair an engine that may or may not be repairable. My initial thought was at that price point, it would be worth the relatively small investment to pick up a used block, but that got me thinking even further....if I'm spending the money anyway, what if I wanted to upgrade? I've done some searching here on the forum about engine swaps but I'm still a little unsure, so I apologize in advance if I'm asking a "what is the correct color" type of question! What I'm wondering: Is the K-241 (10 hp) or K-301 (12 hp) a direct bolt-on replacement for the K-181 (8 hp)? If not, what sort of mods am I looking at? What if it's not a Wheel Horse (Cub, Deere, Ariens, etc) engine? Is there a good resource for knowing which ones will work, or what to look for? In a related question, what if I purchase another K-181 block but it's from a non-WH machine, assuming I'm replacing all the guts, are the blocks fairly universal, or are they different depending on their original application? I welcome your comments and/or links to threads that have already covered these issues. Thanks in advance for your input! CB
