Posted by Blue_Tractor_Man on December 01, 2018 at 13:28:50 from (209.177.134.152):
You guys have probably seen me posting lately about my Kohler 6.5 KW generator with the L600 4 cylinder flathead engine. They built that engine up until 1985. I posted the question to YT'ers as to your opinion on why Kohler would continue building what many would consider an obsolete engine. I appreciate the replies.
Well, I got to doing a lot of research on flathead engines and what I learned is that for lower RPM engines (1800 in the case of a generator), that the flathead engine does not really have any drawbacks, except not-so-great emissions.
It appears that old is new again. A company has been developing a flathead airplane engine. The latest is the D-Motor LF26. 2.7 litres, (165 cubic inches), 88 HP, flat four, water cooled engine. 8.1 compression ratio and burns 91 octane pump gas.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Motor_LF26
From Wikipedia:
"This direct-drive aero-engine is unusual in two respects: it is very oversquarewith a bore:stroke ratio of 1.295:1, and it has a side-valve (flathead) valvetrain. The designer determined that since maximum continuous power output (65.3 kW[3]) was to be developed at only 2800 rpm, the extra weight and complexity of overhead valves (OHV)would be superfluous."
They claim that at lower RPM (2,800) that there is no advantage to overhead valves, and that the flathead design has several advantages, some of those being simplicity, lower parts count, and that a valve failure does not take the engine down. They claim that their combustion chamber design with its "squish effect" gives very complete combusion at the RPM level it runs. I am guessing that the electronic fuel injection helps tremendously over carburetion.
4 cyliner version: https://youtu.be/WOD2Us4rtn8
To keep this tractor related, how about fuel injecting old flathead engines? I see where someone is building kits for 4020's. Maybe 8Ns are next.
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