Stormin Mormon wrote:
If it's the Briggs I've worked on, the valve clearance can be LOT more
than that, and still run. The clearance is just so that when the engine
warms up, the valves get longer, and they might not close completely.

Good.

Try a dry spark plug. Gas in the cylinder probably flooded it all to hell.

Did that.

I missed a lot of this thread. Did you just pull the cylinder head, or did you
have the crank shaft and cam shaft out?

Way back I had the crankcase open & thought that I had mis-timed the
valves. But I checked that & it's OK.

Thanks,
Bob