I bought the 1220 in the Summer of 1997. The tractor has its original Tecumseh HH-120 engine.
As it need major repair, the parts was hard to find and expensive, I began to look for a more recent engine.

In the summer of 1999, I found was a twin 16 HP B&S (opposite cylinders) in fair shape. The engine has an one inch crankshaft drive and can be fitted inside the small tractor with some adjustement. The installation need lot of fitting; I had to move the hood up and forward to make enough space, built two plates to fix the engine on the frame, used plumbing pipes for the muffler and the most delicate parts, install a small plastic gas tank between the engine and the battery with two heat shield level between the exhaust pipes and the tank. This last part of the story kept me always worried even the fact the tank was in plastic and the two heat shields.

In the Summer of 2000, I was lucky to find an used Honda GX-390 13 HP engine. The four years old engine has an electric start, a new piston, an 1" shaft and ran as a new.