More Power???

[hiballer211]

Looking to get more power out of my Vanguard 16HP engine. What do you recommend?

[Twizted1]

Looking to get more power out of my Vanguard 16HP engine. What do you recommend?

I will be following this one. I would like a lot more power out of my 20 hp kaw.

[hydromike]

There is a LOT of reading to be done on this subject. Start with a simple few-horsepower boost by throwing an 18hp carb on it and yanking the exhaust restrictors out. After you get bored with that, upgrade the valve springs, retainers and pushrods to get more rpm out of it. After a couple months of living with that, pull the engine and throw in a new camshaft and upgrade the carb/manifold (etc... read the first link below) to the 20hp unit.

After THAT is done, grab a nice 14hp block (30 cubic inch/ 480 cc) and slap in the crank shaft from a 16hp/18hp (35 cubic inch, 570 cc) and throw on some pistons from a honda GX160 engine and some ARC long billet rods (6276 ARC Billet Rod, Briggs Vanguard 4.262) which will increase your stroke and decrease your reciprocating mass (with a strong rod). Through all this, you'll likely need to open up your heads a bit since they'll really be restricting the bajeezus out of your airflow. There's a lot of debate on HeyMow on exhaust tube length and what the right range is to maximize power with the bazillion different combinations, so you're on your own there.

If you don't like to tinker, folks will tell you to just go out and buy a Bandalero engine. Accumulating parts and bolting stuff together and making it work is 95% of the fun for me, though.

Spend a few weeks gleaning information from these links (especially the last one) and report back....

http://www.6x6world.com/forums/engines/26083-briggs-vanguard-14-16hp-18-20hp-engine-upgrades-identification.html

http://www.6x6world.com/forums/engines/1274-14-hp-briggs-performance-parts-replace.html

E.C. Carburetors

Briggs OHV & Vanguard

[amphibious drew]

Mike makes a lot of good points. I am still learning the engine building stuff though, and a have limited my personal fleet to only 4 machines. 3 are for the trails and 1 is for the races. I have a similar issue with my Max IV and it is my only family wagon. My solution will be to buy a 23 vanguard and sell my 16. I know it's not as creative as building up a smaller engine, but there is something to be said for running an engine unmodded. Although you can still get a modded engine to run reliably, it is much more difficult for a newbie. Also, maintainance costs and or time sometime increase. The other big advantage is that you can swap engines in a few hours which really limits the amount of time you won't be able to be driving. I figure my swap will cost around $900 if I get impatient and just buy an engine off eBay. And my patience is wearing thin.

[chris davison]

Buy one off EBAY thats where I got my vw motor they posted a youtube vid of it running $250.00.

[akranger72]

Yes sell your 16hp vanguard on craigslist and upgrade to the 23hp vanguard. You will be very pleased. I purchased my 23hp vanguard off ebay for $1000 and free shipping. Minus a muffler though so that was another $180.00. Good luck

[jpswift1]

I totally agree with akranger. The 23HP Vanguard is an amazing engine and will give you the most bang for your buck. Just make sure you order one with a 1" keyed shaft so you can use the same drive clutch that's on your 16HP Vanguard.