wheelhorse656 20 #1 Posted September 16, 2011 I am rebuilding a k181 kohler to put on a lawn ranger. I was wanting to set the ranger up for pulling but i want to the engine off of alcohol. I know a little bit about it but i need to know more like do i have to use special parts on the engine to run it on alcohol do i need to set the timing diffrent? i know i will probley need to set the carb diffrent. any help with this would be great. Also on the second hand what do i do beef up the spark to make it hotter? Thanks, Jordan :thumbs2: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rmaynard 16,333 #2 Posted September 16, 2011 If you haven't already been there, you might want to explore Brian Miller's web site. http://gardentractorpullingtips.com/index.htm Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wheelhorse656 20 #3 Posted September 16, 2011 If you haven't already been there, you might want to explore Brian Miller's web site. http://gardentractorpullingtips.com/index.htm Thanks for the link Bob!!!! :thumbs2: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wheelhorse656 20 #4 Posted September 20, 2011 BUMP!! :thumbs2: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rmaynard 16,333 #5 Posted September 20, 2011 Did you consult with anyone at Brian Miller's shop? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shorts 182 #6 Posted September 23, 2011 It's going to want twice as much fuel, so find a cuople of spare carbs and be prepaired to do some serious rejetting to get the fuel flow right. also look into something like a MSD box for the ignition as well as a hot coil. then find someone with a dyno so you can dial it in. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jim_M 179 #7 Posted September 23, 2011 You'll also need an electric fuel pump, a plastic tank and alcohol proof fuel lines. The timing will depend on your camshaft and compression ratio. Its going to be between 28 and 35 degrees BTDC. If you're running a stock cam, head, piston, rod, and crank I don't think you'll be happy. Unless you can raise the compression considerably, you won't see enough horsepower gain to offset the cost of the fuel system parts alone. In fact, with stock parts you may even lose horsepower. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rydogg 186 #8 Posted September 24, 2011 My brother and I used to race go karts on the local dirt tracks we used Alcohol powered briggs 5 horse motors that were pushing close to 30hp with a lot of modifications. Alcohol is corrosive to aluminum so make sure you remove as much as you can and let the rest evaporate we also ran special fuel lines and the carb needed to be drilled out to allow for double the fuel flow. We stored our fuel in well sealed race fuel containers since alcohol will draw moisture from the air if not properly sealed, we also ran Klotz Racing Castor oil but i'm not sure what the pulling guys use, we were running these little motors at 6000+ rpm so a good race oil was necessary. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wheelhorse656 20 #9 Posted September 24, 2011 Thanks for the comments i think what im gunna do is just keep it on gas. It sounds like it would be very expensive to just modify the engine to run on alcohol. Im thinking maybe gear it gearing it lower to get more torque instead has anyone tryed this? Thanks, Jordan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites