656 Restore

[ohiostate454 19]

So I have been working on a 656 I picked up at the end of last year and I did my first ever motor rebuild by my self on it. However it seems that I have lots of play in the piston and some slop at TDC more then I should have. So to finish the year mowing I am thinking of doing a predator swap while I go over the engine again. I am sure several people have done this before and I have a spare mounting plat to make it work. I am wondering if anyone has any pictures of ones they have done for help along the way. I know I will need a adapter to use the factory pulley and I don't want to destroy any of the sheetmetal since it is in good shape. I will keep you posted as I go along and eventually when I get the hh60 back together correctly to re install.

[Pullstart 63,054]

Hey @ohiostate454, as you probably know...   

 

when you had the engine apart, did you mic the cylinder bore, or have it machined by chance?  It’s possible you have an STD piston in an oversized bore.  That would lead to the piston skirts allowing the slop at TDC, along with undersized rings not filling the gap properly.

 

as far as the predator swap, take a couple measurements or where the crank center is and try to see if you can duplicate that with the predator with spacers if needed then mount as needed.  

 

But id love to see a restored 656, picked one up with the hh60 (still runs good!) at the big show 

 

[ohiostate454 19]

[ohiostate454 19]

Those are the before pictures, don't really have any of it right now lol. I ended up buying a short block of Ebay that "needed rings" because the block that came on the tractor was blasted to bits for the previous owner never putting oil in it. So the flywheel, carb, pulley, etc came from that motor and the piston, rod, crank, etc where from the used block. I honed the cylinder put new rings in it but now I am wondering if I should have went with a whole new piston and rod assembly. New bearings in the block and rebuilt the carb. I want it to be original but my bolens deck needs to be rebuilt bad so I am thinking of using the predator to mow with this and pull trailer for leafs etc the rest of the year.

[953 nut 55,700]

Take a look at this thread, may be helpful.