Rod-connecting 494504S

I disassembled the engine. I discovered that the rod had seized to the crank, but I had shut it down before the rod broke. I soaked the aluminum off from the crank using oven cleaner and then polished the crank in a lathe. I marked all the parts and found the engine to be in spec, so I installed the rings, slid the piston home, torqued th ... Read more e rod to spec and turned the engine over to check for binding. It was fine, so I torqued the rest of the crankcase and head to spec. After reinstalling the engine to the tractor I added oil and fuel and it fired it up. I let it run for a couple minutes keeping an eye on things. It seemed fine so I took it out mowing. I like to break an engine in under load with out abusing it, so I put it under a varying load at various throttle settings. After about an hour of this, it had quit smoking and was running nicely.

One additional thing I did that doesn\'t pertain to the original problem is bring the valves to spec. On this engine, the stems have to be ground a bit at a time. I also tapped the valves to the seats. I consider the project a success. The parts come with any unusual techniques or specs needed to do this.