I ordered my first crate engine today!

...unfortunately, it's for my lawnmower and it was stupid expensive.

Sadly, there was no Predator (or similar) option.

Womp Womp 

Ended up in the same spot when my JD ate a rod (did it have oil in it?). I almost got a predator V as an upgrade but was worried I didnt have some little bits to adapt it and chickened out.

Woody (Forum Supportum) said:

...unfortunately, it's for my lawnmower and it was stupid expensive.

Sadly, there was no Predator (or similar) option.

Me too!

the old kohler courage was done after 14 years. So I'm replacing the 23hp with a 25hp Briggs. 

Our John Deere decided to kill itself, and I considered putting a Predator motor in it.  I said screw it and bought a whole new mower.  My life is so much easier now.  Should have bought it three years ago.

This is a Kawasaki V Twin. Harbor Freight had an engine that might have worked, but it was discontinued last year. Nobody seems to remanufacture these things. But I'm glad I didn't try to cobble something together.  The dealer said that even among Kawasakis, some won't work in my application, as they don't maintain enough voltage to keep the electric PTO engaged. 
 

This should be a direct drop in, and I'm going from 17 to 19 HP. 

Woody (Forum Supportum) said:

Harbor Freight had an engine that might have worked, but it was discontinued last year.

RIP vertical shaft Predators.

Northern Tool still has some workable options, but they're more expensive than the HF stuff was.

In reply to STM317 :

I was ready to pull the trigger on the 25hp Briggs from northern until I saw the shipping cost. $194 in shipping. Prime had the same engine for $40 more listed and free shipping so I saved $154. 
 

we put a new hydro in 2 years ago so all that's left mechanically is the other hydro. 

Neighbor and I just did a resto-mod on his plow tractor. 

I kind of expected the crate to be a little more impressive...

Impressive cord reel you have there Woody.

17 hp to 19 hp is almost 12%.  That ain't hay.

I'll see myself out.

Got mine installed and running last week. 

had to order a muffler for it and replace the battery. Smooth and strong like bull. The old motor was pretty thrashed. 

23( when new, probably 15 now) to 25. Boom. Literally everything plugged in, bolted into place. Had to modify nothing. 

I have accumulated some neat things in my life, but never a Fuchs cord reel.

Loweguy5 (how many cars will I buy this month before my wife leaves?) said:

I have accumulated some neat things in my life, but never a Fuchs cord reel.

About ten years ago, I went to the Porsche swap meet at Hershey with the intention of buying the cheapest, rattiest, most curb rashed Fuchs wheel that I could find. I think I paid $40 for it and cleaned it up with an angle grinder. I wouldn't run it on a car, but it looks really good. I left the faded spokes that way intentionally. I made the base out of cedar and mahogany and used brass bolts. It's coming with me when I sell the house. 

Noddaz said:

Impressive cord reel you have there Woody.

The short cords hang above it on the knockoff hub from a Triumph TR-4. This was one of my Corona Timekiller projects early in the pandemic. 
 

And now, back to the crate engine:

I drove it out from the barn and backed up onto ramps under the power of the old engine, which still fires right up and runs nicely, it's just leaking oil at an alarming rate.

Update:

I think I've mowed with this about six times now and, no surprise, it works flawlessly. There's no electric start and pulling it is a little harder because of the extra 80cc's, two ponies, and all the compression, but that's a fair trade. The mower isn't any faster, because it's a hydro, but it never bogs down on the hills anymore. In all fairness, the old one only started bogging down as it started to get up there in age. The machine was never slow.  
 

I haven't decided what to do with the old engine yet. I'm not really motivated to tear into it. I bought about $100 worth of gaskets for it last year, but they took a couple of months to arrive due to supply side delays. That was back when I just thought it was an oil leak, so I don't remember if I ordered head gaskets or not. 

Does the electric starter from the old engine fit the new guy?

In reply to Brotus7 :
 

The old one didn't have electric start either. I could have gotten it for the new engine, but it would have taken time and effort to fabricate some stuff and the budget was already maxed out to begin with.