My local lawn mower guy I visit once in a blue moon was servicing a 7hp Briggs and he found out through a rep ,who was their at the shop ,that its all built in a little old town in China now,the newest problem their seeing crop up out of the engines is a plastic spacer at the carb area, they lose their seal after warping when the engines get hot during operation ,I really dont think they test anything over their for performance, its all due to a lack of passion to build something well,when your paid 10c an hr you get 10c of craftsmenship in a product ,no pride.
They all laughed at the rep when they caught the problem ,he kind of left feeling like a heel.