Right, there's no reason you shouldn't mulch with a Hi-Vac. The only functional difference is that the bottom lip on the deck is turned under for a Hi-Vac and outward for the dedicated mulchers with the A.I.R. designation. I mulch with a Hi-Vac all the time, and so do a bunch of lawn crews. Dan, I'm not familiar with a smaller OHV Robin. That would be interesting. I am familiar with the old L-head Robins, that I think might have been called WT1-185V or something like that. Although displacing the same as the EH18V, these would be much smaller and lighter due to the L-head configuration. They would also make a lot less power. But as you say, I'm sure they are anvil reliable. I thought about buying one on eBay once for a mower project, but never got around to it. My current mower is a C216012RV (commercial Hi-Vac with the monster Robin EH18V but no self-propel) that I added self-propel to. This thing was the deal of the century: the guy was local and listed it on eBay as a "Robin" mower instead of Snapper for $50 buy-it-now, IIRC. So nobody with a "Snapper" search ever saw it, and I snapped (pun intended) it up asap when I saw it. I went to pick it up, and it looked brand new. They guy couldn't start it, so he figured it was disposable. I got it home, cleaned out the carb, and it ran great. I added the drive system with parts I mostly had laying around, and now I have the Cadillac of Hi-Vacs (Cadi-Vac?).

N_W, thanks for the added engine info. For the original poster, it may be best to go ahead and buy a Sprint/Classic/Quattro as he advised, since those are cheap and your engine is on it's way out. BTW, I found the manual for the 1992 Snapper AP21509B "Classic," which which is very much like yours except it shows the Quantum engine I was talking about. Owner's manual: http://manuals.snapper.com/Manuals/manuals/24332.pdf Service manual for all V-series mower (I think): http://manuals.snapper.com/Manuals/manuals/07001.pdf Parts manual for the Classic: http://manuals.snapper.com/Manuals/manuals/06192.pdf According to the parts manual, the Quantum model # for this engine is 124702, with the mfr type 3251. If you could find _that_ engine and then get the throttle cable indicated in the parts manual, that would be the choice setup, I think. The Briggs parts manual for that engine (among others similar to it) is: http://www.briggsandstratton.com/pdf/illustrated_parts_list/100/MS5839.pdf And that manual shows the fuel tank as being part# 494358, "TankÂFuel(Black, Special)". You might be able to buy just that tank and retrofit it to any Quantum motor (but try at your own risk). If so, then your search for a good Quantum engine could be easy.

The "thing" connected to the sparkplug wire is the ignition coil. The two small wires coming from the backside of the coil are to "kill" the ignition. One wire is connected to operator presence control (Zone start). The second wire goes to safety switch which tells whether the discharge chute is properly in place. Both of these are safeties which shut off the engine by shorting out the coil. The operator presence is the bail on the handlebars. The bail must be engaged to start and keep the engine running. The other safety kills the engine if the chute is removed, or if the chute (or mulching cover) is not installed properly.

Make sure you engine is properly tuned-up first before anything else,then check the belt tension on the drive for the blower,to be sure it's not slipping.........there are specs for the rpm's in theese engines....and usually they're allright as installed on the machine,unless someone fooled around with them.......