Since I'm two full zones different, I don't feel quite competent to address the questions, but I'll take a crack at them. At least until someone with more relevant experience wades in! We have a 20 x 24 foot hoophouse, intended for use year-round (deep winter slowdowns are expected of course). We have doors at each end and roll-up sides. The layers are plastic with a blower fan to inflate some space and keep the plastic taut. Ventilation We do not have any form of mechanical ventilation and we do fine. Our hoophouse does not get any shade in summer. Air temperatures peaked at a little shy of 120 F last summer--hot, but all the plants--including cool-weather varieties--lived. It is often safer to keep the ventilation means simple, to avoid complications if something goes wrong (power goes out for example). But if there is not someone who will be around to correct things in case you forget to open doors or roll up sides, then a backup system (like an automatic vent) would bring some peace of mind and perhaps save some of your gardening efforts from setback! Securing plastic Ours does have the baseboard and roll-up sides. I wouldn't do without them, especially since it's so easy to make adjustments. In fall and spring, yes, one typically rolls the sides up every morning, and back down by late afternoon--all depending on the temperature in the hoophouse, ambient temp, and cloud cover. It's not a difficult task--only takes about 20 seconds a side (not including walking and checking out what's going on in the garden). But if someone isn't available, then once again some automatic system might help. The sides typically stay up in late spring, summer, and fall. But if a severe storm threatens, or even just a strong winds, then one has to run out there and roll down the sides and shut the doors to keep the structure safer. Insulation Particularly with the winds around here, I wouldn't consider doing anything but two layers with inflation. I don't know what wind conditions you have there--that might be something others will like to know in discussing your project. :) I hope that helped somewhat and didn't muddy the waters. I love hoophouse growing though and am always very happy to talk about them with others. May your project bring you much pleasure and many wonderful veggies!

Walt...Thanks for the help, I got the thing running finally it took it a while must of had to prime the carb but it ran...So I spent about 2 hrs adjusting the governor through trial and error and it seems OK but I am not sure it is quite right yet. I saw you had posted some instructions on other threads and thought you might be able to help. Here is what I did... 1. First adjusted the idle adjustment for idle condition. 2. Set throttle cable position based on the idle position allowin gthe "cam bracket" to interface with the governor arm pin. 3. Now the fun part...Throttle full on, I rotated the governor arm (into block) counter clockwise and rotated the linkage arm clockwise and locked into place. Again, this seemed to provide the best results but just not quite right. Any help would be appreciated. The modle is a 461707-0143 20hp opposed Briggs.

The low idle point of operation is accomplished by the pilot, or idle jets in the carb. The fact that you can't get the RPM down without stalling probably means the pilot fuel jet is clogged. A good carb cleaning including blow all passages out with compressed air should clear that up. Regarding the range of travel afforded by the throttle cable. If your throttle cable (disconnected from carb) does not give the 1-3/8" range of travel, the problem lies in the cable control structure on the dash. If the cable control is a lever type handle, there might be some wear in the handle pivot that is eating up some of the cable motion, OR........you may be looking at a case where the dash control unit is not compatible with the requirements of the engine, as you said this was a "swapped out" engine project. So, if the dash control is not configured to provide the range of motion require in the cable for this engine, you will need to replace the dash control with one that does give the required range of travel. You are not going to set the low idle speed by adjusting the position of the throttle cable. There is an "idle stop screw" adjustment that permits adjusting how much the throttle plate is allowed to close when the governor moves the throttle linkage toward the closed position.

Well, there is no band-aid fix for a leaking head gasket, and while they start out appearing to be a nuisance (the oil smoke), it is much more insidious than that. The true picture of what is actually happening with ANY uncontrolled or improper loss of compression/combustion from the combustion chamber is more akin to a "blow torch" flame issuing through the breach than just a little puff of air. The searing hot combustion gasses that are passing through the gap are removing metal from the head AND the block as they consume the remnants of the head gasket itself. USUALLY.......the engine will become unusable BEFORE the head and block become "trashed" by the flame etching, but it is not advisable to continue running an engine that has ANY amount of head gasket leak. Refer to the old adage "A stitch in time, saves nine". It means that if you sew up (repair) the garment when it needs only a single "stitch", you won't be sewing up an entire seam later (nine stiches). That ought to paint a clear picture of why the head gasket (if leaking) needs to be fixed "rightaway". And if that ain't enough to worry about......all that excess oil going back into the combustion chamber will pack carbon into the piston rings and make them less proficient at what they do.