Just thought I'd update...
Before I made my original post, I had the engine on the bench with the electric clutch and the head off. It still seemed to turn hard. I ended up taking it apart where the rod and the crank were the only things that were together. It was way too tight! The crank
should have been turned .010", but I don't know if he did it right (he might have just polished it or something). No, I am not using Kohler parts. I know that OE parts > aftermarket parts, but it was either use the cheap stuff that my dad wanted to buy, or see this tractor go to the junk yard...
I can't remember what the brand of the rebuild kit is, but when I ordered it I ordered it .010" on the crank, and .030" on the piston. The rod has a hole drilled in it, so it should be .010". So either the machine work wasn't done right, or the rod was mismarked.
Want to know what really makes me angry? I asked the guy how tight the rod should be when measuring it with plastigague and his exact words were "put it together and don't worry about it". He usually does good work, but if I took it back it would A) take forever to get back, B) he'd probably tell me to eff off. That's what happens when you have no competition.
Speaking of crappy machinists, the guy that did the heads for my Town Car (different machine shop) effed them up royally. Before I even took it out of the machine shop I noticed that one of the heads had a huge gouge in the middle of it. I made him rework both of them before I left. I got the heads back on the engine turning it by hand, and one of the valves was sticking bad. When I took the valve out I noticed that he had only lapped them, and didn't do the three angle that he charged me for. That turned a 12 hour job into a 20 hour job. He wouldn't rework the head claiming that I must have overheated the engine (the engine never ran, nor did I crank it over with the starter). He also wouldn't reimburse me for the head gasket or TTY head bolts. By the time it was all said and done it cost be about + $200. I found out after the fact that the dealership I worked for had to take back the last 5 things including my heads to have reworked.
Long story short I took it to a guy that I knew would get it done right, and I'm having him double check everything. Even if the ACR wasn't working when he got it, he should have told me that it wasn't.
I guess I'm in the wrong field. I'd love to do crappy work, charge people an arm and a leg for labor, and then tell them tough crap when I don't do something right.
The guy I took it to won't be able to get at it 'till the end of next week tho.
