I’ve past the point of no return on the amount of racing parts and work done on my motor to steal the last bit of power from my 13 hp Honda . The last stupid thing I did was have a machine shop mill the head and grind the valves.

The motor sounds and runs awesome but now I can barely pull start the SOB.

It yanks the pull start from my hands and takes a couple of cranks to get going.

What can I do to remedy this ?????

Quit f ing with that 13hp and buy a 25hp Koehler

that actually sounds like a timing or incorrect valve lash problem

Does it have a performance cam?

It prolly doesn't have a compression release on the cam or the head work is making it have too much compression to pull start, I once dealt with a stock 6hp that had a bad compression release and you couldn't pull start it.

The easiest to check and a likely cause would be valve lash though

or check into adding electric start

Thank you for all the great ideas !! No cam added

I did beat the prop off with a 4x4 while engaging the fly wheel. Also reset the valve lash to .006/.004 but they look to be sitting deeper into the head after the valve job. Not sure if that is important? Valves did go tic tic tic due to lash setting but I wanted to try it loose first.

The motor was holding 80 psi prior to the valve job. Now it’s holding 110 psi and zero leak. Honda spec calls for 90-120 psi.

Will check flywheel and valve lash today.

Thank you.

Put a D-type handle on it so you can get a really good grip on the starter without it being able to pull out of your hands.

Also get a spare rope cause if you are trying that hard to start it guaranteed it will snap one morning.

shear the flywheel key? and if ya aint put a racing cam in it yet then ya still have some more power to get out of it. port and polish. bigger valves. bigger carb. the list just keeps goin

Fixed it.

Screwed up valve lash. Re did valve job and working great once again.

Thank you all.