Jump to content

Unofficial Home of Old Simplicity & Allis-Chalmers Garden Tractors

Repower Question?


Bunky

Recommended Posts

I see a lot of articles about Repowering these older Tractors with the onans and KT series engines using Honda, Briggs and Kohler engines, Has anyone used Kawasaki engines?? Is there a reason you don't see much talk about Kawasaki engines??
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am not sure how many people have done this but, if you look at www.smallenginewarehouse.com and look under the repower link and look up Simplicity 7117 it shows me that the only kit for this is in fact the Kawasaki.. Now I have read about alot about one of these engines having problems but I can't remember what engine (Honda or Kawasaki)it was or what the problem was with them..It was a post that Al made a reply to though..Sorry I can't help with more details though.. am thinking the problem engine was the Honda's
Link to comment
Share on other sites

HI, I don't know of any of the engines having problems and All are high quality engines. I tend to use more Kohlers, because of being asked several years ago by my distributor to look at the market potential in the repower business when the other shoe fell with the EPA regulations getting tighter. The same request and offer was made to a few other dealers they felt were qualified and experienced enough in the repower area. I was the only person that had any interest, and over the last 6 years have accumulated a virtual library on what is out there. The Kohler factory has been very helpful when I need help and I have a number of people there in service and support engineering that I can contact and get info and help and advice from. I also religiously follow ALL of their specs regarding application requirements from temperature to crankshaft bearing loading and the EPA requiremnts on exhaust, base flatness tolerances etc. Whether people realize it or not, selling exhaust systems in a kit that cause the engines to go out of spec as far as emmissions are concerned qualify us to be eligible for a 10,000.00 fine per unit for willfully not attempting to comply. When we do a new exhaust system, if it has not been previously certified with the engine we are using, we send it to Kohler and they run it on the appropriate engine in a test cell and certify it. If a system has been certified on an engine like a CH25, it can be used on the smaller CHs, but to use it on a 27 it would need to be re-certified. We use some Hondas in some things we do as well as Briggs and Kawasaki. My Honda distributor is very helpful, but there are so many more flywheel drives and mufflers out there for Kohlers than any other brand, that add that to the co-operation that Kohler has given me, I tend to dance with those that brought me to the dance. Also the more Kohlers I do, the more little special brackets etc we don't have to re-invent. We do the same heat testing that companies like JD and Simpicity do. We don't have to do this, but by doing so when Kohler or other Cos. sign off that our kits meet their requirements, we can sell them any place in the world and we don't have to worry that we would have a failure for ex in Texas and the failure could be blamed on heat recirculation etc by the engine mfr and we would have to pay for the engine. If anyone in the kit business wants to avoid having warranty rejections, they need to be sure their kits meet the MFRs requirements. By doing the heat certificatin tests, the engine companies certify our kits don't have these problems and the engines are cooled to their requiremnts. We hook 11 thermocouples up to the tractor and engine. Then we tap the manifold and connect a manometer to the exhaust system. We monitor the cooling air at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o-clock 1/2 inch back and 1/2" in from the edge of the cooling fan intake, the cylinder head temperature under each spark plug, the oil at the inlet of the oil pump in the crankcase, the fuel temp in the float bowl of the carb, the air temp in the venturi of the carb. We also monitor 2 points under the hood to assure we meet the CPSC safety temp requirements. The unit is connected to a dyno in a hot room and a person representing Kohler comes in and calls out the loading and takes the readings . It takes about 3 hours of continous running with the final hour under full load utilizing every ounce of power the engine can produce. At the end of the 3 hour run, they reach over and shut the engine off, full load, wide open. Then they monitor the fuel temp in the carb float bowl, It just soars. When it plateaus they turn the key it MUST start in less than 5 seconds without choke or anything. If it doesn't we then have to FIX the vapor lock problems. If any of the temp readings are out of spec, we have to fix our heat problems and either way repeat the test. We do not have to temp on engines that are out in the open, but we look very carefully for recirculation paths and it is to our advantage to head off any problems there. As some of you are aware we have provided kits to both Kohler and Simplicity to deal with some warranty issues on the TH engines. If we did not go by the book we would not qualify to be a vendor to either. As far as the new engines are concerned, I believe that all of the players build very high quality engines and when the new MTBFs (mean time between failure) numbers are considered all should outlast the last generation engines by at least 2 to 3 times on the average. Sorry, you asked for the time and I tried to tell you how to build a watch. Al Eden
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Al, always a lot of helpfull information. This means a lot to me while I do my own engine swaps and modifications. It's always easier when you know something about how it was scrutinized to start with.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...