Liquid cooled?

[curtisbyrne]

Is there anyway to make a kohler m 18 engine water cooled or liquid cooled of some sort or this a dream?

[TravisW]

Well there's no simple way to do it since the engine doesn't have the necessary plumbing running through the block for coolant to flow through..

I suppose you can shave off the cooling fins from the block so that you're left with a smooth surface, then add cooling blocks with pipes running through them to each side of the engine that the cooling fins were on, you'd have to use some kind of paste or other material that is a good conductor of heat to bridge the microscopic gaps in the two metal surfaces and aid with heat transfer, then connect that via hoses to a pump, reservoir, and your radiator. This is pretty much the way water cooling on a high-end PC works, just on a much larger scale. Now I'm no engineer so I can't say much about the efficiency of a system like that, but in theory it seems like it could work. Though the costs and effort associated with developing this system would probably outweigh the benefits.

Here's a basic diagram for how liquid cooling in a PC works: http://photonics.engr.uga.edu/waterc.../basics_tn.png

[Noel Woods]

Is there anyway to make a kohler m 18 engine water cooled or liquid cooled of some sort or this a dream?

If you want liquid cooling you will be best off going with a Kawasaki motor. In terms of re-engineering an air cooled engine, that would be a lesson in advanced engineering, so for all purposes here, no is the answer.

[curtisbyrne]

Thanks just wanted to weigh the possibility

[Vance in AK]

I live in a cool climate & my experience is limited so take this with a grain of salt....
I like the air cooled/carbureted engines (mine is an old 17hp Kohler) in my 1983(ish) model because when it comes to stuff I need to rely on way back in the middle of nowhere simplicity & dependability reigns supreme in my book. Less parts in a system (no water pump, hoses, radiator, etc) means less parts to fail. A carbureted engine may be a little bit more finicky & give up a little fuel mileage but if the carb fails I can take it apart & put it back together. Generally problems will not be terminal as there are no electrical parts in it.

[Noel Woods]

Vance:
I think you are 100% right. The more complex a machine, the greater the propensity for failure. The little air cooled motors, even in a heavy machine like your's are very reliable.
When the electric starter goes out, its great to have a rewind backup, the little nothing carbs can be jerry rigged to work, and even if they overheat, just give them a few minutes to cool off and your going again.
Having said that, EFI sure is great, liquid cooling gets you a quitter motor, with the possibility of having a heater.
Either way, they are great little machines.