Motor Question

[gwunited2]

Maybe this has been answered before, but I couldn't find it when I searched. Why do B&S club car engines "blow up" and the 5hp B&S go-cart engines we ran wide open back in the 80's never did? There were no rev limiters on them and we adjusted the idle screw so that we had to hold on to the go-cart once we pull started it or else it would take off on it's own. We ran those things into the dirt and they still kept on going.

I'm an adult now and don't have the cash laying around to just run my 2001 fe290 wide open so I am not going to disable the rev limiter or make other mods. Plus I have three kids, ages 6-12, who drive the cart and I like that it only goes 16 mph. I just had a random thought run through my head and thought I'd ask.

Thanks,

[invalidsession]

Originally Posted by gwunited2

Maybe this has been answered before, but I couldn't find it when I searched. Why do B&S club car engines "blow up" and the 5hp B&S go-cart engines we ran wide open back in the 80's never did? There were no rev limiters on them and we adjusted the idle screw so that we had to hold on to the go-cart once we pull started it or else it would take off on it's own. We ran those things into the dirt and they still kept on going.

I'm an adult now and don't have the cash laying around to just run my 2001 fe290 wide open so I am not going to disable the rev limiter or make other mods. Plus I have three kids, ages 6-12, who drive the cart and I like that it only goes 16 mph. I just had a random thought run through my head and thought I'd ask.

Thanks,

Club Cars have never run B&S engines and adjusting the idle screw just causes a super fast idle hence your need to hold things on the brake, just like a launch control on a drag racing car. I believe you may be confused here.


Chris.

[Rjl2006KR]

I think hes really refering to the fact that the old b&s motors could be revved to high heaven and still hold up, while the fe motors hit over 5000 and fold like a deck of cards.

[invalidsession]

Originally Posted by Rjl2006KR

I think hes really refering to the fact that the old b&s motors could be revved to high heaven and still hold up, while the fe motors hit over 5000 and fold like a deck of cards.

I bow to your greater knowledge and if that is the case; why did CC choose Kawasaki engines in place of Briggs motors ? Surely Briggs could have produced a relatively simple OHV motor of sufficient HP ?Perhaps cost or manufacturing tolerances were factored in, and then, warranty issues ? Tis a mystery to be sure.


Chris

[gwunited2]

Originally Posted by invalidsession

Club Cars have never run B&S engines and adjusting the idle screw just causes a super fast idle hence your need to hold things on the brake, just like a launch control on a drag racing car. I believe you may be confused here.


Chris.

I was confused. I've never really looked at my motor. I thought it was a B&S. I don't know why I had that stuck in my head. So the fe290 is a Kawasaki? I guess I better do more research on what I have. Those old B&S cart engines were tough though.

[bwiencek]

The REALLY old B&S cart engines were flat-head low compression engines that when stock floated the valves at fairly low RPM's and really self-limited the RPM's by the nature of the valves floating, the ports choking off flow, etc. The later ones (and most all of the constant RPM ones) have rev limiters built into them that were nothing more than a flap that when the fan blew so hard it would pull back the throttle opening to prevent over-revving - you could run those flat to the floor for hours and it would never over-rev... just like a mostly stock kawasaki engine would with the rev limiter in place.

In talking with several people trying to find a shop that can repair the crankshaft in the FE400 that I bought I believe some of the complexity in having the counterbalance weight is actually causing the damage when the engine is taken beyond 4500 RPM or so... I think eliminating that counter balance weight and just neutral balancing the rotating assembly itself would provide a higher revving engine with less parts breakage, I'd test that theory out but I don't have the luxury of spare engines laying around and need to get this one back together.