5 horse flathead carburetor bolt pattern??

[sparkwizard]

I have a 5 horse flathead I found in the corner of my garage. There was a gas tank with carburetor laying in top of it, so I assumed they would fit together.
They do not fit together. The holes in the block are much closer together that the bolt spacing on the carb. The numbers on the shroud tell me it is a 1982 engine, but from what I can find, the carb with the wider bolt pattern is newer. I can't seem to find one of the older carbs, so I started looking for an adapter to pit a Mikuni on it. Can't find one of those, either. Does any of you gentlemen know where I can find one?
Any suggestions? It is for a yard kart project my 9 year old and I are building this summer.

 

[Harquebus]

I'm not sure exactly what you have but there's differences in carburetors and gas tanks over the years. GOT PICS?

The older and newer style carburetors are all over the internet, Amazon and ebay are probably your best bet. There's new ones of both types being manufactured out of China. Lots of clone-kuni and genuine Mikuni carburetors too. I think it is overkill on an old Briggs but if you want to, go for it.

Problem is, you have to have an intake manifold for the Mikuni (or slide style carburetor) to mount it to your Briggs intake port, and then you have to mount a separate and different (cannot use the original without modifying it) fuel tank elsewhere on your bike and gravity feed it to the engine.

The beauty of the Briggs tank-mounted carburetors is they provide for a very compact setup with everything in one footprint. The tank, carb and exhaust is all on one side of the engine and not on either side like a Tecumseh flathead.

 

[Minimichael]

But keeping the stock tank/carb setup might depend on whether that whole thing'll even fit your frame.

 

[sparkwizard]

I want to keep the original type carb. I did find a few for this engine...130202...on Amazon. The pictures and the gasket look correct. Ordering it this weekend. Thanks for the help.

 

[creia]

I want to keep the original type carb. I did find a few for this engine...130202...on Amazon. The pictures and the gasket look correct. Ordering it this weekend. Thanks for the help.

I would recommend purchasing only OEM Briggs gaskets. Years ago I purchased one of those "discount" (aftermarket) copy-cat kits and was not pleased at all. Big difference in quality, especially the THICKNESS of the gaskets which is particularly important on the carb to tank gasket which are very prone to leakage.
Michael

 

[sparkwizard]

Thank you for that inspiration. I have purchased several Chinese carburetors, two of them for tractors, because I need the equipment running. In both cases, I was unable to get them to run correctly, ended up rebuilding the original carbs. I do not have an original to rebuild in this case. I do not want a Chinese copy on a yard kart. That was why I mentioned an adapter for a Mikuni. I think I will start looking in local junkyards for a flip choke carb with the correct bolt pattern. I will get a Briggs OEM rebuild kit.
I also could not find an exhaust reducer, but I did see pictures of some. Doesn't look too challenging to make. If I cant find a decent carb, I could make an intake for some other carb. I do like the idea of the tank hanging behind the engine so a stock carb is the first goal.

 

[Richard Trotter]

 

[Harquebus]

Hey good post there, Richard ^^

That shows the two types of carburetor gasket. For info purposes, the one on the left is the older Pulsa-Jet Adjustable Jet carburetor, which can have a slide choke or rotary (plate) choke and the one on the right is for the newer Pulsa-Jet Fixed Jet which is rotary choke only. Nobody really likes the latter style because they lack the finer adjustments but they seem to run just fine.

Old: https://outdoorpowerinfo.com/repairs/briggs_pulsa-jet_horiz_adj.asp

New: https://outdoorpowerinfo.com/repairs/briggs_pulsa-jet_horiz_fixed.asp

 

[Harquebus]

I wasn't suggesting buying new Chinese copies of those carbs. Plenty of horror stories about those not working right.

I'd look for used ones on ebay or wherever else you can find them. They are worth it even if they need an overhaul but they can be worn out around the throttle shaft and present a vacuum leak. There's a felt washer under the throttle plate (the rotating part that moves in response to throttle) that you can replace as it helps seal the shaft.

 

[sparkwizard]

I found one on Ebay that looks like an old Raptor carb. It has the right bolt pattern and no choke. Even has a nickel soldered into the mixture adjusting screw. It should be here this week. Thanks for the information!