O.T. 8hp briggs carb

I have an 8hp briggs lawnmower engine that I got used to replace the one that threw a rod last month. The guy I got it from said it was either fairly new, or a recent rebuild, I am guessing the latter. It is model number 194702. The type and code have been ground away for whatever reason. The guy said it ran, but it has sat in the weather for a while. I changed the oil and drained the gas, and the gas was WAY far gone bad. The throttle and choke butterfly wouldn"t even move. So I checked the compression to see if it was worth messing with the carb. I got 100 psi dry, and figured that was good enough. then I checked the spark, and got a nice blue spark. Then I took the carb apart, and soaked everything overnight in parts cleaner. I used a whole can of carb cleaner and put it back together. I poured a few drops of gas back down the throat and she fired right up, and died 10 seconds later. We (me and the motor) kept repeating this until I convinced myself that I had missed some varnish in the carb. I tore it down 3 more times, cleaning it more and more each time, and had the same result!!!! This is a 2 piece carburetor. What in the world am I missing????? ?
Only other thing I can add is that there is no adjustment valve in the bottom of the float bowl, only a bolt. Is there a screw in that tube in the center of the bowl? If so, that"s what I missed. I am fairly sure the needle valve is clean as a whistle, cause I hosed it really good and blew everything out with compressed air. I am out of ideas, but like I said, if anyone can help, its you guys! Thanks a lot! Sorry for the long post, but I figured the more details the better. OH YEAH, one more thing, I put my spark tester on the plug, and on one of my many atempts I found that I had spark up until it sputtered and quit, so I am pretty sure its a carb problem. Thanks again!!

• Briggs

• Cartserver

Remove the bottom bowl. There will be a plastic float.. that float is held on by a metal pin.. push the pin out. Now the float has a bracket holding onto the little wedge shaped brass needle.. which usually has a viton tip. In both of mine.. that needle was glued to the sides of the valve body with varnish. A spary of carb cleaner cleaned it.. then I gently lifted the needle out. I sprayed carb cleaner in there and used a qtip to swirl around in there, constantly swabbing it.. and respraying. I did the same thing to the needle.

Once you get that done.. make sure you can spray thru the tube which is the main venturi.. and get spray into the throttle chamer opening. Also spray into the fuel inlet to make sure it gets to the bolw. replace the needle, float, and pin.. Make sure the float moves freely.. replace the bowl.. slap it back on the mower.. add the air cleaner.. connect the fuel line ,drip some gas into the carb, and pull the crank.. mine fired on the first attempt.

Soundguy