Briggs and Stratton FH engine serial numbers

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Everett Hayden’s Briggs & Stratton FH engine that he picked up on eBay.

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On April 13, 2008, I purchased this Briggs & Stratton FH engine block and a few other assorted parts for sale on eBay.

What’s really interesting about this FH is the very seldom seen old-style slant fin crankcase breather on a round fin block. When I initially looked at the eBay listing, it did not register with me what I was seeing. I had never heard of any FH being fitted like that and did not quite believe it was the “real deal.” Using the best parts I had on hand to replace what I didn’t get, I ended up with what you see.

I made a couple phone calls to find out if I was just the last to know about this variation FH. Charley Camara told me he had seen one other like it at a show back east, 25 years ago, and none since. Another widely known early Briggs & Stratton collector informed me he could find no reference to this variation in any of his original or reprinted literature.

I did quite a bit of digging and found the following in an original FH owners’ manual: This block was sold as a no. 68989 cylinder assembly consisting of, among other things, a no. 67901 cylinder. Reading the manual you would think this was a same ol’ round fin FH without the inclusion of a new- style breather. There was absolutely nothing to suggest that a no. 67901 cylinder has the old-style breather. I suppose everything is open to speculation but I have come to the conclusion that this variation possibly never came from the factory as a complete engine. I suspect the blocks were supplied as a replacement part for a rebuild.

The engine in this article was wearing a pressed steel governor wheel when parted out. Since it was drilled and tapped for the dust cover used with a cast iron flywheel, I used that instead. There is reason to believe it may have been ordered as a different assembly than I listed in this article. That assembly number would have been fitted for the iron flywheel dust cover. I just cannot be certain given what little is really said in the parts list I used. The serial number on the shroud I got with it was no. 40124 and again, I am not at this time convinced there are round fins from the factory with that low a serial number. One well-known collector has a slant fin with a serial number of around 52000 on the brass tag, but who knows – without a lot more input from Briggs & Stratton guys and gals, that number may not hold up as a valid serial number.

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