firstly, i cannot seem to get the forum notifications to cooperate, so my apologies for taking so long to get back to you @minton .
carb -
my pug does not seem to be a standard configuration, as it has an B&S 18HP vanguard (v-twin) engine, and all the info I found says it should have been a 16HP in this build. Anyway, when I bought mine, it had trees growing though it and everything above the carburetor body was missing, so naturally it was full of water and besides corrosion, a winter had apparently cracked the spacer below the carb. My carb was too far gone and I had to replace it. I used this one: Amazon.com : Butom 845906 846109 Carburetor Carb for 809013 844041 844988 844039 809013 808252 807943 807801 809017 808370 808253 807905 844988 846082 845906 809011 : Patio, Lawn & Garden again, mine is 18HP. Worth noting that the float that came in that carb had a pinhole in it (soldered aluminum floats suck) so i did use the plastic float from the original carb. As the carb is pictured there at amazon, facing you is the bottom, the bottom of the pic would go toward the front of the pug, the top of the pic toward the rear of the pug, the right of the pic toward the passenger side of the pug, etc. So in that pic, the adjustment screw near the top of the pic is the idle adjustment screw. In the pic, the screw on the middle right is the rich/lean adjustment (which took a lot of guessing to get set correct-enough). With that carb, I had to also buy: Amazon.com: BH-Motor New Fuel Solenoid For 692094 FSL90-0009 B1692094 807664 692094 BC : Automotive again - because my carb was ruined by water. If you end up replacing the carb, get enough gaskets to go on each side of the plastic spacer under the carb, do not overtighten, those plastic spacers are hard to find.
other, fuel related -
try replacing the fuel pump, the vanguard engines dont like running with a failing fuel pump. also use some fuel line and replace the valve cover line that feeds/operates the fuel pump. A small leak could act similarly to a failing fuel pump.
compression -
have you checked the leak down compression on each cylinder? again, from my water issue, I had an exhaust valve sticking open on one of my cylinders (which is apparently also a symptom of these vanguard engines when stored for an extended duration (i.e.: a couple of years or more). I freed up the exhaust valve by removing the exhaust and the valve cover, and worked the valve, being careful not to scar it - while using a lot of PB blaster. I went from effectively running on one cylinder to two properly compressing cylinders.
sticking gas pedal linkage -
not sure who did what, but when i got it, the gas pedal linkage would catch and bind multiple places under that floorboard cover between the driver and passenger. As it was, I didnt see how it could ever work correctly, I completely overhauled it, repositioning things until everything worked freely.
overly worn torque converter belt -
rough acceleration could be a worn belt. I truly hope your pug was built better than mine.. to take the belt off or even adjust the tension on it - requires unbolting the engine from the frame and possibly modifying the frames' mount slots (if tensioning is what you need). My vanguard engine had a second set of mount holes which i had to tap and use because i twisted off 3 of the 4 non-grade-8 mounting bolts trying to get the engine loose. I went back with grade-8 bolts and a torque wrench.
is there oil in the air filter from the breather tube? -
mine had a split in the diaphragm of the breather valve, which after extended higher rpm runs, would pump enough oil in to the carb area that it would run rough and also soak the air filter, which would then compound the problem. replacing the breather valve cured that. I even ran a catch bottle on a line to the breather tube for a while after that replacement to make sure some other foul up wasnt also causing oil to escape the breather. I have since remove the catch bottle, and so far, so good.
Hope there is something helpful in here.
Separately from your questions, today I fabbed up a receiver hitch and custom hitch extension to be able to rear mount my winch or tow a trailer. the front receiver was a much easier project. you can see that I do not have the electric/hydraulic lift for the bed, would love to find the specs of what is needed there.
custom extension just clears the bed, and the receiver itself just clears the bed's footwell when dumping. of course the bed cannot dump with the extension in place.
extension clears the rear by just over an inch. pay no mind to the upside down winch, i was using it as a trampoline to see if i could get the front tires off the ground.. i could not.
carb -
my pug does not seem to be a standard configuration, as it has an B&S 18HP vanguard (v-twin) engine, and all the info I found says it should have been a 16HP in this build. Anyway, when I bought mine, it had trees growing though it and everything above the carburetor body was missing, so naturally it was full of water and besides corrosion, a winter had apparently cracked the spacer below the carb. My carb was too far gone and I had to replace it. I used this one: Amazon.com : Butom 845906 846109 Carburetor Carb for 809013 844041 844988 844039 809013 808252 807943 807801 809017 808370 808253 807905 844988 846082 845906 809011 : Patio, Lawn & Garden again, mine is 18HP. Worth noting that the float that came in that carb had a pinhole in it (soldered aluminum floats suck) so i did use the plastic float from the original carb. As the carb is pictured there at amazon, facing you is the bottom, the bottom of the pic would go toward the front of the pug, the top of the pic toward the rear of the pug, the right of the pic toward the passenger side of the pug, etc. So in that pic, the adjustment screw near the top of the pic is the idle adjustment screw. In the pic, the screw on the middle right is the rich/lean adjustment (which took a lot of guessing to get set correct-enough). With that carb, I had to also buy: Amazon.com: BH-Motor New Fuel Solenoid For 692094 FSL90-0009 B1692094 807664 692094 BC : Automotive again - because my carb was ruined by water. If you end up replacing the carb, get enough gaskets to go on each side of the plastic spacer under the carb, do not overtighten, those plastic spacers are hard to find.
other, fuel related -
try replacing the fuel pump, the vanguard engines dont like running with a failing fuel pump. also use some fuel line and replace the valve cover line that feeds/operates the fuel pump. A small leak could act similarly to a failing fuel pump.
compression -
have you checked the leak down compression on each cylinder? again, from my water issue, I had an exhaust valve sticking open on one of my cylinders (which is apparently also a symptom of these vanguard engines when stored for an extended duration (i.e.: a couple of years or more). I freed up the exhaust valve by removing the exhaust and the valve cover, and worked the valve, being careful not to scar it - while using a lot of PB blaster. I went from effectively running on one cylinder to two properly compressing cylinders.
sticking gas pedal linkage -
not sure who did what, but when i got it, the gas pedal linkage would catch and bind multiple places under that floorboard cover between the driver and passenger. As it was, I didnt see how it could ever work correctly, I completely overhauled it, repositioning things until everything worked freely.
overly worn torque converter belt -
rough acceleration could be a worn belt. I truly hope your pug was built better than mine.. to take the belt off or even adjust the tension on it - requires unbolting the engine from the frame and possibly modifying the frames' mount slots (if tensioning is what you need). My vanguard engine had a second set of mount holes which i had to tap and use because i twisted off 3 of the 4 non-grade-8 mounting bolts trying to get the engine loose. I went back with grade-8 bolts and a torque wrench.
is there oil in the air filter from the breather tube? -
mine had a split in the diaphragm of the breather valve, which after extended higher rpm runs, would pump enough oil in to the carb area that it would run rough and also soak the air filter, which would then compound the problem. replacing the breather valve cured that. I even ran a catch bottle on a line to the breather tube for a while after that replacement to make sure some other foul up wasnt also causing oil to escape the breather. I have since remove the catch bottle, and so far, so good.
Hope there is something helpful in here.
Separately from your questions, today I fabbed up a receiver hitch and custom hitch extension to be able to rear mount my winch or tow a trailer. the front receiver was a much easier project. you can see that I do not have the electric/hydraulic lift for the bed, would love to find the specs of what is needed there.
custom extension just clears the bed, and the receiver itself just clears the bed's footwell when dumping. of course the bed cannot dump with the extension in place.
extension clears the rear by just over an inch. pay no mind to the upside down winch, i was using it as a trampoline to see if i could get the front tires off the ground.. i could not.
