I think I have the cheapest Honda engine made for lawn mowers with the Sears Craftsman high rear-wheel, front variable speed self-propelled mower I bought. According to Northern Tool Supply, the engine retails $40 cheaper than the standard off-the-shelf Honda 160 GCV. It explains why I was able to get the mower for $300 after begging for additional discounts.

It is a (63/64") 25 mm shaft, n3 type crankshaft, rather than the standard 7/8" shaft, n1 type crankshaft. It seems to use a different camdrive instead of the push rods according to a commenter on the engine. This is the specific engine, just made at a different factory location...

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200390414_200390414

It has a new spark plug, new air filter, new oil (generic SAE 30). I've replaced the air filter about 5 times and the spark plug and oil about 3 times.

I have roughly 500+ hours on the engine and started to have problems with it this past week. It is about a year old. It is guzzling gas, faster than even a B&S on a Murray, gives out a small puff of black smoke about every minute of use, builds black carbon on the spark plug quickly, and starts to run at really low RPM after about a minute of use in bermuda grass that has barely grown due to lack of rain here. If I stop to the lift the front wheels, it will increase in RPM again.

I took apart the carb and checked everything, though not much to check. The float valve and pin worked great and really clean. I did have to cut a new gasket since one out of the 4 (!) tore while taking it apart. The linkage seemed weird but very easy to put it back together. The governor assembly seemed fine and even cleaned the plugs. There was a little wear (hadn't broken through the insulation yet) on the spark plug wire where the cover touches so i put electrical tape on it. The breather valve seemed fine.

My dad helps extensively. He has professional and educational training in electrical and mechanical repair, as well as self-taught in combustion engines. He seems weary about taking apart the engine to check the camshaft. I'm weary with any mechanical work, and I want to take it apart after seeing how simple the Honda carb has been.

I think I added 20 oz of oil instead of 18.5 oz though i probably spilled about 0.5-1.5 oz trying to get it in the "easy access" oil checker/filler/drainer spout without a funnel. It doesn't act like I over-filled it with oil since it isn't constantly blowing black smoke and spurting and since it started having reduced performance before I decided to change the air filter and oil again. I routinely bang the air filter on the truck to clean the dust out of the air filter. I recently put heavier weight oil (sae 20w-50 that i typically use in the truck during 95 degree weather) in the engine before I changed it last time so I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it and is why i changed it back to the standard sae 30w that comes with the engine. now that i understand how the ohc engine works, i wouldn't have used 20w-50 since i'm not sure how it would effect the performance of the cambelt.

For those who are curious, I also had to replace the front wheels and wheel assemblies. It had an odd spring washer that broke, causing the gear to grind the plastic teeth on the wheel. I bought both assemblies and wheels because of wear on the bearings and tread (I have the bad habit of keeping the drive belt fully engaged while lifting the front wheels). I have a new baffle kit now held with 2 hardened steel bolts with lock nuts instead of 2 sheet metal screws that came with the mower. They were no longer holding the baffle and the baffle already had about the top inch of the baffle chopped off by the blades. The replacement part is sent with 2 regular bolts and locknuts. The skirt/striper got shredded during the first week. The washout port is a useless feature, especially after being clogged up with 500 hours of use. I cut the bagger door cord since it got tangled and broke, more intuitive to unrelease the door at the door rather than the blade brake/engine clutch handle anyway. The recoil on the starter is very slow as others have indicated after some use. The choke isn't very automatic since I have to manually move it unless i clean the dust and grime build-up on the assembly with an air compressor. However, I rarely use the choke anyway since it tends to crank first pull in 95 degree weather. The performance has been decent though I sometimes have to use the side discharge attachment in really thick conditions where the grass starts to clog up the decking rather than mulch into dust to clog up the air filter and leave everything in a coating of dust to blow off with blower.

I wish I could afford the GSV 190 Honda mower with the professional controls and Nexite decking. The Honda blades seem to be made out of harder steel, and I hear stories that the Honda mulching blades will even lift sweet gum balls out of zoysia. I normally use the Arnold premium mulching blades (gator/predator-style), adding a spacing washer for correct height, since it has best mulching performance and leaves the most even cut in Bermuda grass. However, they go dull rather quickly, with the edge starting to look like butter after about 4-5 hours of run time, especially in sandy, pine debris, and stick-ridden conditions. I can't find any better blades for it from stores around here. 22" format isn't very popular either. The star connector tore off so i can use the universal blades. Is there a blade/pulley adapter one can find to use Honda blades on the GCV, on the 25mm shaft? I hate custom OEM models. I wish everyone wouldn't add sand to their bermuda lawns. They don't need sand with all the silt and red clay so i'm not sure why people add sand to bermuda when they would be better off adding 3 lbs of nitrogen per 1k sq. ft. per year, some Ironite every 3 years, some potash, and some phosphate where it is thinned and hummus/manure if they want to overseed, and perhaps renting an aerator. Spreading sand and only 1 lb of nitrogen per 1k sq ft every year doesn't make sense.

The Sears manuals have full schematics. However, Sears rarely stock parts in their part stores and overcharges you on shipping. And most everything is non-standard and most everything comes with a high replacement part price tag. That sort of negates the store discounts for the new purchase and not having to buy a shop manual for schematics.

You can take the Honda engine apart with nothing but a 10mm socket wrench and a phillips head screwdriver. The 4 gaskets on the carb is a little strange, but the carb itself is so simple I was able to eliminate it as the problem. Honda did an excellent job building an engine with ease of repair in mind (i'd also imagine they save money on tools to assemble it so i don't understand why they cost so much). The engine does have a slight vibration to it, from day 1, but nothing like a Murray with a bent shaft welded to the broken decking.

I have been happy with the low fuel consumption of the Honda engine as well as the lack of bent shafts under part-time commercial use. It packs a good bit of torque with those 4.4 camels.