lack of power (answer)

[swampdonkey]

playing around with the machine last nite and was wondering why it was bogging so much in the snow.. looked at the spring from the governor arm to the throttle assembly and noticed it was pretty weak.(to long for the job it was doing) so i bent about 1/4 way up the spring and put it back in the hole.. plenty of power now i dont know how much i should take out of the spring for fear of damaging the motor but if someone wanted a hell of alot of power they could by pass the governor assembly all together.(wont find me doing it though) by the way its a 20 hp kawi

[eddieb1965]

Bypassing the governor is NOT recomended.It take's many modifications to do this safely. Get a tach,and make sure you dont go more than 1000 rpm over manufactures spec.This will get you a little more speed but no more power(Governed 20 hp motor puts out 20 hp-Ungoverned 20 hp motor still puts out 20 hp. The Vangaurd V-Twins will do 4000- 4500 rpm all day long,as long as it is still governed(and still make the same hp).To get more power you have to do more than adjust or bypass the governor.

[swampdonkey]

like i said i will not bypass the governor altogether. i bent spring to shorten it up. spring that was being used was way too long and wouldnt move governor arm with twisting the throttle. id like to know the size of spring that is supposed to be used here to replace but the argo dealer i was dealing with are not good at all. wrong parts are coming constantly

[LarryW]

You throttle may have never been full throttle. That is actually a good thing to check, Have someone apply throttle and watch it and make sure it opens all the way. There are a lot of different engines but most will open the butterfly all the way and then when governed speed is achieved it will close some. Yours may have never been opening all the way?

[Jeff t-boss]

I would think it more of a matter of spring guage/tension as opposed to length. The heavier gage spring you get, the more tension it applies, restricting your governor/throttle linkage from full travel. And a lighter guage spring will obviousely do the opposite. Possibly allowing over-rev.

[jerseybigfoot]

I have been running 2 18hp vanguard equipped machines for about a year with the governors disconnected. On one unit the original governor created bogging and other issues. After many attempts to adjust it I finally reworked the linkage and disconnected the governor. Realizing the engine could self destruct due to valve float I installed high performance valve springs retainers and keepers. What is interesting is the stock carb and exhaust kill the efficiency of the engine and the extra power and speed is minimal. One benefit was the excellent throttle response. If you remove the governor you should operate the engine like any other ungoverned engine like your car, snowmobile or quad. You should always use a tach when when doing your testing to confirm your results.

[Roger S]

I didn't like the governor, too much slop in the throttle response. Besides hooking up the throttle to the carb, like everything else I've ever driven, I reduced the throttle twist travel. But governors will hold a steady rpm so they have their uses.

I recommend leaving some spring tension on the vanguard governor rod, to hold it in a counter clockwise manner. The governor weights will push a collar up against the block. Created some very minor scoring by a cam journal. But very minor over a few years. The weights and collar can be removed from the cam, leaving the compression release mechanism intact.

JBF, is it time to add a vanguard project to the Skunkworks?

[swampdonkey]

larryw. exactly what i was saying.. i dont think my governor is opening enough to allow full acceleration. the other nite i tried making it up a hill onto a road that i had just come down.. it wouldnt make it because the throttle response wasnt their and by the time it got the power needed i was already pushing to much snow. with the governor adjusted as i have it now its no problem.. put her down and hang on.. i will have to get a tach on it to see what its running at but as long as u dont hold it full open all day you shouldnt have a problem.. governor just their as safety assurance.