Just a short time ago they had Briggs Quantums for ~ $129 that fit those. Better engine all around and a big plus is the company is still in business. Call them.

Got it going today! New plug. Blew everything out with air. Took the tank and carb off, cleaned and reinstalled. Changed the oil (twice... the second time after the oil was good and hot)and did a Sea Foam treatment. It was a bit difficult to start, but once running, it was fine. Although it had a pretty widely oscillating tempo. Fast and slow... fast and slow. But later in the afternoon, I bought a new air cleaner to replace the totally ruined one that was on it. Actually... I had been running it without the air cleaner to facilitate the Sea Foam treatment and I also doubted that it would even run with the gummed up old filter. Anyway... with the new air cleaner on, the oscillating tempo was gone... ran as smooth as could be! I didn't get to the points today. Where I got my parts, they had the replacement coil that does away with the points. It was $36... didn't buy it. But might, if you think it would help with the starting. I do have to yank on the cord quite a bit to get it running. BTW... last night, I didn't have much hope for the engine as my compression test showed only about 50 lbs. But it sure doesn't run like it has low compression. Thanks to all for your suggestions. Perhaps I can keep this little engine running for a long time.

I'm hoping the rest of the lettuce plants don't bolt this early. I am not much of a lettuce eater, but Tim loves it so I grow lots and lots for him. I'm going to pull out each plant that sends up a seedstalk and put a small tomato plant in its place--Red Robin, Yellow Canary, Orange Pixie, Sweet-N-Neat Yellow, Tumbling Tom Jr., etc. I hate to see even 6 or 8 inches of bare ground with nothing growing in it. These are tiny tomato plants that won't get very big. By the time all the lettuce is out, perhaps the tomato plants will fill up that space in that long planter. If everything bolts early this year, I'll think long and hard next year about planting many cold-season crops out in the garden and likely would focus on growing them in the winter in the greenhouse. We went through all this early hot weather stuff in the early 2000s and I stopped planting just about all cool-season crops except potatoes and onions. I am about at that point again. Tractor Lady, My lettuce is on the north side of the detached, barn-style garage, and I have kept it well-watered and shaded on the hottest days, all to no avail. I probably should have shaded it more hours a day than what I did. While we think of bolting in terms of hot temperatures, the number of hours of daylight a day has something to do with it to. Research has shown lettuce bolts more quickly with more hours of daylight + heat than it does with only heat. It also bolts more quickly if it is dry in combination with the above. Next year I may try it on the north side of the chicken coop, which would get only about an hour of full morning sun early in the day and then dappled shade to full shade for the rest of the day. Dorothy, My kale looks like it is one step behind the bolting lettuce. I have three kinds growing and they are big and look really good, but they are being subjected to temperatures they don't like. The broccoli and cabbage look good so far, but you know that can change quickly. I've never had cabbage bolt until summer prior to this, but this could be the spring that changes that. Ezzi, If it is any comfort, the early heat is messing with everybody's gardens....not just the plants of the noobs. We're all suffering through the effects of the early heat together. I about halfway wish I had ignore all the cool-season crops except potatoes and onions and saved that space for warm-season crops. Dawn

I don't think you were wrong at all in believing they were bolting when the heads started getting loose. Once they start getting loose, they are just a few days away from blooming. For what it is worth, you can harvest and eat the loose heads, and even the flowers if you catch them and cook them on the first day the flowers open. I think the problem lies in purchased transplants. I always had trouble with my broccoli bolting when I purchased transplants instead of raising them from seed. Yes, to a certain extent bolting is caused by the hot weather, no matter whether you are using your own home-grown transplants or purchased ones from the store. However, other factors contribute to bolting and that's where the purchased transplants come into play. Stress of various types, not just the air temperature, can cause broccoli plants to bolt. One example of the kind of stress that causes this would be drought/moisture stress, especially in combination with warmer air temperatures than broccoli likes. When you purchase transplants, they're often rootbound and they've often been allowed to get too dry before being watered. Those are other stressors that can cause bolting. I think they when the broccoli seedlings are rootbound and their growth stalls, being biennials, they loosely interpret the stall in growth as dormancy. Then, when they are put into the ground and eventually overcome being rootbound and start growing again, they "think" (well, plants don't think as far as I know, but you know what I mean) it is their second season and is time to make seeds...so they quickly bolt. Poor nutrition also can lead to stress and poor production/bolting. I call broccoli a "garden diva" because everything has to be just the way she likes it or she won't form heads. In the years since I began raising my own broccoli transplants from seeds, I hardly ever have broccoli bolt until late May....and by then I've already harvested heads or am about to harvest them. This year's weather is horrible for cool-season crops that need to grow and mature in cool temperatures because we started hitting the 80s and even the 90s in March. There's not much you can do to combat that. This year's weather reminds me of the early 2000s through about 2005 or 2006, when we went from winter cold to summer heat with no mild weather in between here in my part of the state. After a couple of years of having everything bolt or produce poorly, I quit planting all cool-season crops for a few years except onions and potatoes. It was pointless to try to raise a crop like broccoli that prefers temps between 45 and 75 when we were having late winter and early spring highs in the 80s and 90s. Once the winters began acting more 'normal' with a slower transition from winter to spring to summer, I started planting more cool-season crops again. If only we could "know" in February if the weather would stay cool and mild for another 60-90 days or if we were going from winter one day to summer the next, then we'd be able to plant cool-season crops with some reasonable assurance they'd make a crop, or decide to skip them because it was getting too hot too early.