Stock VS modified engines

We all love the idea of making something better, faster, etc. Hence why we modify mowers. With that said, I'm going to make my case for using stock engines... And hopefully some young guys can have fun for less money.

They are cheap, and darn near bullet-proof. Even a worn out 8hp engine was enough for us to have a blast, and do 30mph. Over the course of the last 15 years, we've used 10-20hp engines, all stock. Only thing done to them was bypassing the governor. If you do blow up your engine, another one is fairly cheap(most I've paid is 50 bucks for one).

Mower transmissions/transaxles have enough of a hard time keeping together, just with stock engines. Big horsepower equals big breakage. We've modified our transaxles to take abuse, and still have work on them 1-2 times a year.

Slap a 14.5 and up on your mower, and it will easily do 45mph. That's plenty fast for off road work, rarely do we run above 25 mph off road. 11 to 12hp, transaxles lasted a lot longer, and did 35mph.

Start modifying an engine, and you will soon have big bucks in it. Could have spent that money on tires, rims, brakes, and steering parts, and had a reliable mower.

There are cases where modifying your engine is a good idea. Sanctioned racing, where engine size is limited, and modifying is allowed. Only way you going to keep up is to dump some serious cash in the engine.

Or if you already have a decent setup, and like to tinker, modify away.

Agreed. There's no need for high performance unless your racing. I mean big engines are for mig mowers and mow decks. The mow deck is basically half the what the engine is putting out. Remove it and have fun

I shall never be satisfied! MORE POWER lol Thats like building a mud bogger with a 350 in it.. Yes, thats awesome and all, but when you put a 502 in it with some motor work done to it, your gonna feel it

At least until you twist off the drive shaft anyway LOL

Stretch44875 wrote:

We all love the idea of making something better, faster, etc.  Hence why we modify mowers.  With that said, I'm going to make my case for using stock engines...  And hopefully some young guys can have fun for less money.

They are cheap, and darn near bullet-proof.  Even a worn out 8hp engine was enough for us to have a blast, and do 30mph.  Over the course of the last 15 years, we've used 10-20hp engines, all stock.  Only thing done to them was bypassing the governor.  If you do blow up your engine, another one is fairly cheap(most I've paid is 50 bucks for one).

Mower transmissions/transaxles have enough of a hard time keeping together, just with stock engines.  Big horsepower equals big breakage.  We've modified our transaxles to take abuse, and still have work on them 1-2 times a year.

Slap a 14.5 and up on your mower, and it will easily do 45mph.  That's plenty fast for off road work, rarely do we run above 25 mph off road.  11 to 12hp, transaxles lasted a lot longer, and did 35mph.

Start modifying an engine, and you will soon have big bucks in it.  Could have spent that money on tires, rims, brakes, and steering parts, and had a reliable mower.

There are cases where modifying your engine is a good idea.  Sanctioned racing, where engine size is limited, and modifying is allowed.  Only way you going to keep up is to dump some serious cash in the engine.

Or if you already have a decent setup, and like to tinker, modify away.  

Once again, I find myself in need of a "Thanks" button. Stretch has hit this thang right on the "go" button. Folks, you'd be amazed what a stock engine can do. Keep in mind everybody the following two things.

1)Lawn and Garden tractors are powered with the idea that they must be able to not only MOVE, but to power an implement at the same time. Remove the implements, and you have a LOT of freed up available power.

2)These days, manufacturers put in MUCH bigger engines than needed, because of what I will call "tractor" envy. Size ain't everything, but it sure sells tractors! When Mr. Jones figures out he can afford that 22hp monster, he's gonna buy it. Why? It's bigger than Mr. Brown's 20hp model. Sex sells. HP numbers are sexy.

With, say 12-15hp as an average example, there's nothing you can't do. Furthermore, HP is a more-or-less fictitious entity. Torque brings home the bacon. And torque at the wheel depends as much (or more) on gearing as it does on horsepower.

Thanks Stretch- If this sucker ain't stickied yet, I'm doing it now. Information like this is an absolute godsend to folks just starting out in a hobby, or thinking about it! This hobby is one of the not-so-many that do not require gobs of money.

think about it a little easier. 4 wheelers run anywhere from 50cc to 1000cc and you think a standard lawnmower is around 350 cc. my 17.5 hp is 500cc. now thats power in the 4 wheeler world. stock 500 4 wheelers take down mud holes no problem and so does my mower with a stock 17.5 hp.

Yes, and no. There is no directl correlation between displacement (cc or CID) and power (whether hp or torque), especially when trying to compare different engine configurations.

Consider a 500cc tractor engine, and a 500 motorcycle engine. With the same load applied, the the bike engine wins everytime. There is just too much difference. That tractor engine is a low-revving machine, with a vary narrow RPM range, designed and built that way. That bike engine on the other hand, has no problem spinning up past 12 or even 14K. The internals are much more precisely manufactured, with closer tolerances, finer balancing, etc. It's apples and oranges, you just cannot make a comparison, and there is no mathematical formula for that.

that is very true.

crazykid1994 wrote:

that is very true.

It's best to stick to the truth

I've been stickeyed! Is it supposed to smell this bad?

Thanks Doc.

As long as it sayes OHV on im in. My 16.5 high performance B&S beats the snot out of my 20hp oppy. More power. Not nessaseraly. Just better performance.