Shhh... Don't tell Lynn...

The other day, Bitmonkey posted a picture of a 1938 Briggs and Stratton WMI 1/2 hp engine that followed me home from the Twinline motorcycle swap meet.  These were used on washing machines and mowers.  Don't ask me why, I am a sucker for a project, and it's so cute and needed a home and we all know '38 was a good year for flathead engines...

Since then I have been watching eBay and Seattle CL for some missing parts, namely the sheet metal shrouds that cover the flywheel and cylinder.  I happened to stumble across a CL listing for this 1948 Briggs WI 1/2 hp engine (another good year for flatheads):

 So I am thinking, hmmm, it's got the sheet metal that would fit the '38 WMI, along with other parts, and it's local, so no shipping...  and Lynn is at Mom's weekend in Pullman...

Those of you that share my affliction will see where this is going...  It's mine now.  It also runs, although it's missing the gas tank.  How could I tear this one apart when it has survived this long and it ran so pretty for me?  So I found tins on eBay for the '38 after all...



Y'know, I'll bet with a little tuning, and some proprietary hop-up tricks, I could probably coax another 1/8 hp out of this thing...