Archive through February 01, 2010

[fcurrier]

Dennis -- a storehouse of info AND up before breakfast!

 

[jmuncie]

...Frank's from that remote corner of Maine where no one gets up until after breakfast.

 

[dfrisk]

FRANK - You have to go to sleep before you can get up!

 

[gfedwards]

Frank-- Those fine-splined axles are far superior to anything IH made.

 

[nbextermueller]

Hey guy's for those of you looking for good pulling tires. I just bought 4 of these at my local SafewayTire for about $86 each.

http://www.denmantire.com/catalog/page10.pdf

I had actually never heard of Denman tire before. But man are they nice. and the best part is they are NOT currently discontinued.

 

[dbeirnes]

Does the 18hp k361 cam in a otherwise stock 16hp k341 allow you to step up to 3rd gear instead of 2nd gear when pulling? Or does the cam not make that much difference.

 

[kredlinger]

Just installing the cam won't inprove that much in power to pull the 26 tooth 3rd gear.

 

[rlsmith]

i am pulling a stock 10hp cub cadet and i want to be able to do a little bit of tuning up im only 14 my first year pulling. Any suggestions?

 

[dturner]

Richard , welcome to the sport. You need to work on traction. Time will teach you where to put the weight. Gription or traction is the key. Go to the Brian Miller website on pulling tips and read it. My philoslophy is don't spend alot time and money on the motor untill you can get the power you have to the ground. Good Luck

 

[crlamb]

My grandson plans to pull his Cub...It is a 1977 built 10 HP Kohler 241AQS and is stock as far as we know. Would the Bosch Blue Coil cause any problems with this age engine ? Is the "spark" too hot ? Any advantage of the Bosch over the standard Kohler Coil ?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts....

 

[dfrisk]

CHARLES - The Bosch Blue coil won't hurt anything in your grandson's Kohler. Really no such thing as "Too hot of a spark".

Without other modifications or unless the old coil is about to fail there won't be any noticable difference in performance.

A good solid copper conductor plug wire from the coil to the plug really helps as much as anything. Resistance wires reduce spark energy. Also clean contacts on the ignition points and a good spark plug really help. And one of DAVE KIRK's Points-Saver ignitions really help extend the life of the points and keep ignition timing consistent.

 

[tbelue]

Can someone tell me if a K321 can be bored enough to put the stock 16 hp K341 piston in it?

 

[dfrisk]

TIM - K321 was 3.500" bore originally, and Kohler offered oversize pistons/rings in .010", .020", & .030" O/S.

K341 (16 hp) was 3.750" bore, had a different block & head casting, used ten head bolts instead of only nine. You probably already know all that!

Probably not enough thickness in the cylinder walls to handle that large of an oversize piston. I've never tried it, those 16 HP blocks are TOO expensive for me to play with.

 

[tbelue]

Thanks Dennis,
I have built quiet a few automotive engines but never broke into a Kohler but dad has. I had been told by someone that you could bore a K321 to 3.750 but I didn't trust what he was telling me. I have been a machinist for a long time and when something doesn't add up I am hard to believe it.

 

[dfrisk]

TIM - The small flywheel K321 I built several yrs ago was still stock 3.500" bore and I only went .010" O/S. I wasn't too worried about cyl. wall thickness. With 1/8" removed per side of the bore I think the cyl. walls would be really thin & weak, Probably wouldn't break thru but blowing the top off the jug would be a real possibility. Those cooling fins make excellent stress risers! I have seen some pullers bolt heavy steel bars or plates from the crankcase over the head to try to keep the block & cylinder intact.
I watch NTPA pulling on RFD TV on Tuesday afternoons and they advertise a video showing engines blowing their blocks in two! Tooo much cylinder pressure!

There's old K341 (16hp) blocks made by Kohler with thirteen cooling fins that will accept up to a 4.000" bore, but they're scarce and therefore expensive. An aftermarket block is probably a better choice and not a whole lot more money.

These old K-series Kohlers are really simple once you get inside them. I really wanted to put a "Stroker crank" in my K321 but when I found out that to use more than a 3-1/2" stroke required moving the camshaft I didn't think it was worth the money for a "lawn mower".

 

[mkreek]

I'm looking for a project, I have a K341 block I would at one time or another finaly use in my pulling tractor. However I want to get as much cheap power out of it as possible. I plan to buy a cam to compliment what ever machine work I end up doing to the block.

I have thought about using the offset valve guides and increasing the valves to 1.6", how much of a power increase would I be gaining if I did so?

Whats your opinion, what can I do to increase performance with a budget?

Thanks

 

[vthomley]

Matthew, simplest way to increase power in that K341 is to follow some of the steps from the Killer 301 write up.

Also shave the head, take the whole lip off. Make sure this is done on a machine shop grinder so it is perfectly flat!

Make sure you have a free flowing exhaust and same for the intake, I pulled with NO air filter.

Get a cam for an 18hp K361, or get one ground for a K361

Have your valves ground like a Nail head - remove a bunch of the material under the valve, then get the 3 angle ground done on the valves.

Look at the rules at your local pulling club! Make sure you are in compliance - and MAKE SURE YOU HAVE FUN!

Advance the timing by adjusting the points. hoepfully you have access to a dyno, you can easily play with the points gap and certainly increase power rather quickly. If your K341 a newer one with a built in starter? if so take off all the charging parts, the stator, etc. These things draw a little power from the Motor.

With the max speed set at 3800 or 3900rpms I had a K301 Dynos at 27hp a few years ago at, by removing the belt for starter generator I gained another 2hp to 29HP !!!

My K341 was dynoed at 34hp, then if fell on its face. I found my spark gap had changed(literally closed) for the spark plug had hit the exhaust valve. It was very late in the evening and these motors are rather loud with the straight exhaust, so we quit for the evening. The next day and the rest of that year I used 2 spark plug washers - but never got the motor back on the dyno. Never ran out of power either!

Every little bit helps! I've won by only a couple inches, I've taken 5th place being within 1 foot of 1st!

Read all the older posts about pulling - tips, tricks, etc. Ther are Sponsors at the top of this age who sell parts to help ya!

Lastly ask more questions! Someone will repsond with more knowledge than me!

 

[mkreek]

Vincent, I have ported and polished to a mirror finish, both intake and exhaust runners to the 1.2" bore. I've also undercut and swrill polished two aftermarket 1.375"(stock size) stainless steel valves on my lathe. The bore is 3.76", more cubic inches has always been the easiest route to gaining power, but if I'm just going to get the block bored 30 over then I feel that I'm not gaining much by doing so.

This is where I get stumped, how big of a bore can I go and not have to increase the valve size to compensate for the increase in air flow.

Oh btw, Rules allow anything, cept we are limited to 4000rpm's.

Matt

 

[vthomley]

Matthew, my K341 had the Stock Piston in it, was not even bored .10 yet. So I agree boring it .30 over would not gain you much.

Another thing to help is removing the stock flywheel, or removing the fins from it - takes power to move air...

I have a broken 16ph (magnum?) engine that I was going remove the flywheel and install onto my K341. But never did, last year I sold my puller, I certainly miss it! The flywheel on this engine will fit right onto a K341 - and the fins are plastic bolt on fins, I would have removed them.

 

[nbextermueller]

Hey guys,

At a local swap meet this past weekend I was talking to a friend of mine and he mentioned a guy in IL that was making stroker kits for the K181's. Crank, cam, rods, pistons... Its even rumored that a few of the guys in our club are running them. But given the nature of tractor pullers, their lips are sealed.

Has anybody heard of this guy or at least know where to get performance parts for the 8hp engine?