Briggs Valve guide lubricant equavalent???

markus

Well-Known Member
#1
rebuilding 3 later 1960's 3hp engines currently, so I am all over ebay trying to find and order oem/nos valves, seals, rods, rings, etc........x3o_O I was noticing that some of the old stock valves came with a grease pill and some didn't. I don't mess with the briggs to much but I have noticed during teardowns and junk ones that have come on bikes that should not have been on there ( and usually just ended up in the recyclers truck when he comes by) is that they like to stick valves. So I went to the repair manual and see they say to use #93963 Valve guide lubricant when assembling. Of course that is an NLA item, I did find someone with some old stock of it and placed an order for a can. Its actually an anti seize but from what I read when trying to find some cheap (its kinda of expensive but actually cheaper still that current types of anti-sieze). that it has lead in it so that probably is the reason its no longer sold. Kinda works out cause theres just about nothing left of my current low budget anti-sieze can here so I was due for a new one soon anyway.

Just curious if there is something comparable, or even better to use. I dont know if any current anti seize compounds would be fine to use for this. I normally just use assembly lube on the stems during rebuild, never thought about any type of anti seize in that application but might have better long term effects.
 
#2
rebuilding 3 later 1960's 3hp engines currently, so I am all over ebay trying to find and order oem/nos valves, seals, rods, rings, etc........x3o_O I was noticing that some of the old stock valves came with a grease pill and some didn't. I don't mess with the briggs to much but I have noticed during teardowns and junk ones that have come on bikes that should not have been on there ( and usually just ended up in the recyclers truck when he comes by) is that they like to stick valves. So I went to the repair manual and see they say to use #93963 Valve guide lubricant when assembling. Of course that is an NLA item, I did find someone with some old stock of it and placed an order for a can. Its actually an anti seize but from what I read when trying to find some cheap (its kinda of expensive but actually cheaper still that current types of anti-sieze). that it has lead in it so that probably is the reason its no longer sold. Kinda works out cause theres just about nothing left of my current low budget anti-sieze can here so I was due for a new one soon anyway.

Just curious if there is something comparable, or even better to use. I dont know if any current anti seize compounds would be fine to use for this. I normally just use assembly lube on the stems during rebuild, never thought about any type of anti seize in that application but might have better long term effects.
I just hit up one of my avid shooting buddies. He uses tiny amounts of LP-250 on specific gun mechanisms. It’s an Armite brand product. Anti-seize with lead. It can be bought in small amounts.
i would have to do some reading on other applications and suitability.
All I got
 

markus

Well-Known Member
#3
I just hit up one of my avid shooting buddies. He uses tiny amounts of LP-250 on specific gun mechanisms. It’s an Armite brand product. Anti-seize with lead. It can be bought in small amounts.
i would have to do some reading on other applications and suitability.
All I got
thanks, I was looking on the grainger site and was astounded by the varieties of different anti seize that they have available. Never thought about it, just always just had a tub of the auto parts store anti seize and only used it on a few things. I didnt see any lead listed in any of them on their list (grainger) but they had aluminum, copper, some zinc etc.. Then of course the price, yikes! I thought I was crazy plunking $14 shipped for a dusty old stock briggs can......I got away cheap!!!!
 

I74

Well-Known Member
#4
thanks, I was looking on the grainger site and was astounded by the varieties of different anti seize that they have available. Never thought about it, just always just had a tub of the auto parts store anti seize and only used it on a few things. I didnt see any lead listed in any of them on their list (grainger) but they had aluminum, copper, some zinc etc.. Then of course the price, yikes! I thought I was crazy plunking $14 shipped for a dusty old stock briggs can......I got away cheap!!!!
I buy all kinds of stuff from Grainger.
Just got a really nice finished B sprocket for 9 bucks.
We have a big store semi close to where I live.
I just call the 800 number, & have the stuff shipped there , if it's not in stock,, & pick it up @ the store.
I
 
#5
thanks, I was looking on the grainger site and was astounded by the varieties of different anti seize that they have available. Never thought about it, just always just had a tub of the auto parts store anti seize and only used it on a few things. I didnt see any lead listed in any of them on their list (grainger) but they had aluminum, copper, some zinc etc.. Then of course the price, yikes! I thought I was crazy plunking $14 shipped for a dusty old stock briggs can......I got away cheap!!!!
When I was a fleet mechanic I stopped using the crappy aluminum anti seize and started using nickel and copper antisieze. Never looked back. Nickel is particularly good with stainless fasteners ime. And copper for high heat parts.
 
#6
A can of white lead would probably be ideal for this use. Since it was outlawed 40 years ago your only chance to find any would be from a machinist (it was used to lube dead centers) or deep in the bowels of a flee market.
 
#10
I think there are two issues here. If you are finding a stuck valve in an old junk engine it is from sitting and corroding in place. Not fron what was used as as an assembly lube 50 years ago. Most any modern lube is going to far exceed the quality of what was made in the 1960's.
 

markus

Well-Known Member
#12
so in most parts of the manual is just says to use their part number (briggs), In another section I saw this quote this morning:

NOTE:Apply “LED-PLATE” or Part #93963, Valve
Guide Lubricant, to valve stems and
guides before installing. Be sure that no
“LED-PLATE” or Part #93963 is on the
ends of the valve stems or tappets.

So I googled"Led-Plate" ......... It is the Armite LP-250 so you guys were right on the money there :) I still got away super cheap ($14 shipped) and got a brush top 1lb can buying the old stock Briggs labeled can so I don't feel like a total tool not doing research before I bought it....and I have cool old looking can for the shelf-this is from the listing for it on ebay hopefully the can isn't in any worse shape than this one is, they are listed as NOS.


In regards to something newer or better to use, that is sort of what I was wondering, although now that I see that the LP-250 is what the Briggs stuff was (or comparable) that's cool. Just looking at ones listing the different bases like aluminum, copper, zinc etc... I was just curious if there was something that's possibly mo-better in this type of application. The 3hp blocks appear to be just drilled no inserts unless there is some sort of coating in the "guide", They call for the lube to be applied across the board though (and the 5hp with inserts are where I have found stuck/dry exhaust valves the most, not just some old crusty engine that has gotten corroded over time).

Tecumseh makes no mention of this that I have ever seen, but this is something I would like to add to my builds of those as well. Since I am usually always tightening all the tolerances up on the engines as much as I can anymore, and the stems and guides get virtually no lubrication on this type of engine I want to give the valves and guides best chance they can get for long term survival :)

Thanks everyone!
 
#13
I have done a LOT of valve jobs on both Briggs and Tecumseh engines, long ago. I have found a handful that had stuck valves, a few that had loose seats and many that had worn guides. We would ream out the guide and drive in a new brass one when we found that. It only took a few minutes and really tightened things up. I am not sure if the guides are still available from Briggs, I still have the tools in the shop to do it. We used the same tools and insert (from Briggs) on Tecumseh engines. As far as we knew there were no factory inserts for Tecumseh engines, but the stems were the same size on both engines so we used what was available. They were mainly worn on mower (horizontal) engines but occasionally did them on vertical engines too. We always used grease during reassembly. I don't suspect the lube lasted more than a few hours of engine running. Lubrication to the valve guides would come from splash oil on the spring side.

A slight turn off topic, but I thought of this when markus commented there were no inserts from the factory.
 
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